Bolton: "Pompeo, Zero Chance of Trump’s North Korea Diplomacy Success" (Summary)

Bolton Reveals Pompeo's Remarks in Memoir
Pompeo Talks Behind Trump's Back Calling Him a Liar

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] John Bolton, former White House National Security Council (NSC) advisor, revealed that Mike Pompeo, U.S. Secretary of State, mentioned that the probability of President Donald Trump's diplomacy toward North Korea succeeding was zero one month after the 2018 Singapore North Korea-U.S. summit. Bolton also disclosed that Pompeo sent a note during the summit calling President Trump a liar, and that Pompeo disregarded Trump after overhearing a call between Trump and President Moon Jae-in before the summit, saying it gave him a heart attack.

On the 17th (local time), The New York Times (NYT) reported this citing part of Bolton's upcoming book "The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir," which will be published on the 23rd.

The timing one month after the Singapore North Korea-U.S. summit mentioned by Bolton coincides with when Pompeo made his third visit to North Korea, which sparked controversy over a "bare-handed" visit. After the June 12 North Korea-U.S. summit, Pompeo visited North Korea on July 6-7 but failed to meet with Kim Jong-un, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of North Korea, causing controversy over his "bare-handed return."

Bolton also revealed that during the first North Korea-U.S. summit held in Singapore in June 2018, Pompeo secretly handed him a note containing disparaging remarks about the president. Pompeo reportedly wrote on the note, "He is so full of shit," referring to President Trump. According to Bolton's account, Pompeo, who was in charge of leading negotiations with North Korea, also evaluated negatively Trump's approach of leveraging his personal relationship with Chairman Kim to push for denuclearization through the Singapore summit and the subsequent visit one month later.

Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also gave a negative assessment of the North Korea-U.S. summit promoted by President Trump on the same day. In an interview with the weekly magazine Time, Ban evaluated that "(North Korea) seems to have effectively succeeded in obtaining nuclear weapons state status."

Ban said, "President Trump could have made a good contribution. However, unfortunately, he granted three solo summits to Chairman Kim, which probably catered to President Trump's 'ego' and 'vanity,'" indicating that Chairman Kim achieved his goals by catering to Trump's ego and vanity.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.