I’m not ready to pop the cork yet, there’s lots to go through before any kind of assurances can be given to the American public that N.Korea has belched up its nukes.
Also, the Iranian dynamic needs to be factored in as well. Who’s to say that the NORKS aren’t pulling a Saddam Hussein during the run-up to the first Gulf War, when he parked his entire air force in Iran, a chief enemy of his. It’s could be very likely that Kim fat-boy is planning to do the same with Iran as well, just this time it’s nukes instead of planes. I can’t say for sure, but it’s something that needs to be looked at.
Bolton: U.S. Needs to See ‘Real Commitment,’ Not ‘Propaganda from North Korea’
National Security Adviser John Bolton discussed nuclear negotiations with North Korea on Sunday’s edition of Face the Nation on CBS.
Bolton’s position was that dictator Kim Jong-un’s promises and charming publicity stunts count for nothing; all that matters is what North Korea actually does to stabilize the Korean peninsula and commit to verifiable denuclearization.
Bolton said it remains to be seen whether Kim has concluded denuclearization is in his best interests. He gave President Donald Trump credit for applying the pressure needed to create the current diplomatic opening to Pyongyang, and noted that world leaders from South Korea and Japan to Europe have done likewise, but stressed that North Korea must now take concrete steps to prove that its overtures are more than just a time-wasting diplomatic mirage.
“I think we’re looking at the Libya model of 2003, 2004,” said Bolton, naming an example of effective denuclearization that his administration might not want Kim Jong-un to dwell on at length, given how things worked out for the dictator in question. He later clarified that the level of access Libya permitted to American and British inspectors to verify denuclearization is what he wants North Korea to emulate. He also pointedly stated that oversight from “international mechanisms” was not an acceptable substitute for inspectors from the U.S. and U.K.
