Trump adviser: North Korean leader not ready for a “big deal”
(Baonghean.vn) - On March 3, US National Security Advisor John Bolton affirmed that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was not ready to accept US President Donald Trump's "big deal" at the bilateral summit in Hanoi last week.
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| US National Security Advisor John Bolton. Photo: Yonhap |
Mr. Bolton refused to call the summit a failure despite failing to reach an agreement on dismantling North Korea's nuclear weapons program.
“I don’t view this summit as a failure,” he said in an interview with CBS. “I view it as a success defined by the president protecting and advancing America’s national interests.”
After the US-North Korea summit, Trump said at a press conference that North Korea wanted to lift all sanctions in exchange for partial denuclearization.
North Korea later denied that it had proposed a partial lifting of sanctions.
“The real question is whether North Korea is willing to accept what the US president calls the ‘big deal,’ which is complete denuclearization as the US president has defined it to Kim Jong-un, and has the potential for a great economic future,” Bolton said.
In a separate interview with Fox News, the adviser said Trump had been trying to convince Kim Jong-un to “accept a big deal that could really make a difference for North Korea.”
When that didn't work, the US President left.
“I think Trump has made a very important point to North Korea and to other countries around the world about negotiating with him,” Bolton said. “He is not interested in making a deal, whether with North Korea or anybody else, if it is contrary to the national interest of the United States.”
