[ad_1]
Bolton told Axios he does not think the White House “really means it” when President Donald Trump pledges to halt the hermit nation from nuclear weapon development or “it would be pursuing a different course.”
“We’re now nearly three years into the administration with no visible progress toward getting North Korea to make the strategic decision to stop pursuing deliverable nuclear weapons,” he told the news outlet.
Due to North Korean measures to hide activities at multiple sites, the US cannot be certain what North Korean leader Kim Jong Un may order to be tested, one official said. One scenario suggests a test of a long-range missile or launch of a satellite on a long-range booster.
“Time is on the side of the proliferator,” Bolton told Axios. “The more time there is, the more time there is to develop, test and refine both the nuclear component and the ballistic missile component of the program.”
Those talks have been stalled — even as Pyongyang has pursued technical improvements to its program that increasingly could put the US within range of its rockets.
When asked about recent comments and indicators from North Korea that Pyongyang may be getting closer to a long-range missile test or some other provocative act, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley said that the Pentagon does not “discuss any intelligence or indicators” on what the US may be seeing in the way of preparations.
CNN’s Barbara Starr and Zachary Cohen contributed to this report.
[ad_2]
Source link
