John Bolton’s Shots at President Moon

Published in Kukmin Ilbo
(South Korea) on 23 June 2020
by (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Sean Kim. Edited by Denile Doyle.
The best part of former United States National Security Advisor John Bolton’s memoir, “The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir,” is when he describes President Donald Trump's behavior as evidence that Trump is unqualified. The book describes Trump’s shocking acts of vanity, capriciousness, and, most importantly, his willingness to use issues of national security and diplomacy for his own political gain. However, upon examination of the copy of the memoir obtained by the Kukmin Ilbo, it seems as though one of former presidential adviser Bolton’s major motives for writing it was to display the unrealistic nature of the North Korean policy developed by President Moon Jae-in and his aides.

Throughout the memoir, Bolton displays a negative attitude toward President Moon. An example is his explanation of Moon’s insistence on attending the U.S.-North Korea summit at Panmunjom on June 30 last year, despite the refusals of both the United States and North Korean Chairman of the State Affairs Commission Kim Jong Un. He also explained that after listening to a phone call between Trump and the president the day after the North-South Korea summit on April 27, 2018, Bolton told Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that the call had been a “near death experience,” to which Pompeo, who had also been listening, replied that he was “having cardiac arrest in Saudi Arabia.”

This apparently expresses Bolton’s shock at Moon’s excessive optimism and Trump’s desire to use that to help his reelection. Bolton’s negativity is also shown in a passage of the book in which he writes that Moon said Chairman Kim had never even used the "North-South Head of State Hotline" telephone when North Korea revealed he would be discontinuing it on June 9.

However, these examples can be seen as reflecting Bolton's personal beliefs, the kind that someone who can be described as a hardliner among hardliners holds. Yet the part that hurts Moon the most, however untrue it may be, are the allegations that Moon and Cheong Wa Dae's national security office director consistently overestimated North Korea’s willingness for denuclearization and clung to the idea of a U.S.-North Korea summit. Although President Moon told Trump that “North Korea’s willingness to denuclearize is firm” and that “denuclearization will be complete in one year,” Secretary Kim made clear in the Hanoi U.S.-North Korea summit that he would not concede anything more than the closing of the nuclear facility at Nyongbyon. This mystery will continue burden Moon.


존 볼턴 전 미국 백악관 국가안보보좌관의 회고록 ‘그 일이 일어났던 방’의 백미는 볼턴이 보기에 ‘자격 미달’인 도널드 트럼프 대통령의 행태를 서술한 부분이다. 트럼프의 허영심, 변덕, 무엇보다 중대한 국익이 걸린 외교·안보 사안까지 자신의 정치적 이익을 위해 이용하는 거짓과 위선이 충격적으로 진술돼 있다. 그렇지만 국민일보가 입수한 회고록을 살펴보면 문재인 대통령과 그의 보좌진이 추진한 대북 정책의 허구성을 폭로하는 것도 볼턴 전 보좌관의 주요한 집필 동기였다는 느낌이 든다.

회고록 곳곳에서 볼턴은 문 대통령에 대한 부정적 인식을 드러낸다. 지난해 6월 30일 판문점에서 열린 북·미 정상회담 때 문 대통령이 미국 측은 물론 김정은 북한 국무위원장의 거부에도 불구하고 참석을 완강히 요구했다는 것도 한 예다. 2018년 4·27 판문점 남북 정상회담 이튿날 트럼프 대통령과 문 대통령의 통화 내용을 듣고 볼턴이 “거의 죽을 뻔한 경험”이라고 하자 마이크 폼페이오 국무장관이 “사우디아라비아에서 대화를 듣던 중 심장마비가 왔다”고 응수하더라고도 소개했다. 문 대통령의 과도한 낙관론과 이를 선거에 이용하려는 트럼프의 응수에 충격을 받았다는 의미로 보인다. 북한이 지난 9일 폐기한다고 밝힌 ‘남북 정상 핫라인’ 전화기가 있는 곳에 김 위원장은 전혀 간 적이 없다고 문 대통령이 말하더라는 대목도 그렇다.

하지만 이런 사례들은 매파 중의 매파로 꼽히는 볼턴의 편향적 시각이 반영된 것이라고 칠 수도 있다. 문 대통령에게 가장 뼈아픈 대목은 문 대통령과 정의용 청와대 안보실장이 일관되게 북한의 비핵화 의지를 과대평가하고 알맹이가 없더라도 북·미 정상회담 성사에만 매달렸다는 진술이다. 문 대통령은 트럼프에게 “북한의 비핵화 의지는 확고하다” “1년 내 비핵화를 완료하기로 했다”고 했지만 하노이 북·미 정상회담에서 김 위원장은 영변 핵 폐기 외에는 아무것도 양보할 의사가 없음을 분명히 했다. 이 미스터리는 두고두고 문 대통령에게 부담이 될 것이다.
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