SEOUL • Once rejected by North Korea as “human scum”, US President Donald Trump’s latest pick for national security adviser has called for regime change in North Korea, prompting worries in Asia ahead of a historic summit between Washington and Pyongyang..
SEOUL • Once rejected by North Korea as “human scum”, US President Donald Trump’s latest pick for national security adviser has called for regime change in North Korea, prompting worries in Asia ahead of a historic summit between Washington and Pyongyang.
Mr Trump announced in a tweet he was replacing General H. R. McMaster with Mr John Bolton, a former US ambassador to the United Nations who has advocated the use of military force against North Korea and Iran, and has previously been rejected as a negotiating partner by Pyongyang.
“This is worrisome news,” said Mr Kim Hack Yong, conservative lawmaker and head of the national defence committee of South Korea’s Parliament. “North Korea and the United States need to have dialogue, but this only fuels worries over whether the talks will ever happen.”
At Seoul’s presidential Blue House, which has been forced to navigate between the unpredictable personalities of leaders in both Pyongyang and Washington, officials were circumspect.
“Our stance is that if a new road opens, we have to go that path,” a senior Blue House official who asked not to be named told reporters.
“Bolton has much knowledge on the issues regarding the Korean peninsula and most of all, we know him to be one of the US President’s aides who is trusted.”
He said South Korea’s National Security Office head Chung Eui Yong had not yet spoken with Mr Bolton, and Mr Chung’s reaction to Gen McMaster’s dismissal was “not bad”.
