North Korea hardliner Bolton is fired

U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday the dismissal of National Security Advisor John Bolton via his Twitter account. Following the removal of the extreme hardliner on North Korea and the key figure of neoconservatism after a series of conflicts with the U.S. president, its impact on the U.S.’ foreign security policies, including negotiations with North Korea, is drawing attention.

“I informed John Bolton last night that his services are no longer needed at the White House. I disagreed strongly with many of his suggestions, as did others in the Administration,” President Trump expressed strong dissatisfaction with the former National Security Advisor. “Therefore, I asked John for his resignation, which was given to me this morning. I thank John very much for his service. I will be naming a new National Security Advisor next week.”

Bolton himself found out about his dismissal through Twitter. “I offered to resign last night and President Trump said, ‘Let's talk about it tomorrow,’” he wrote in response to the president’s tweet. The Washington Post and The New York Times reported that key advisors of the White House were not aware of the decision.

Aside from the sudden announcement and timing, the potential replacement of Bolton has reportedly been discussed in and out of the White House for a while. The former security advisor had been in conflicts with the U.S. president on almost all issues while sticking to the hardline approach on key foreign security policies involving North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, Russia, Afghanistan, etc. President Trump complained about Bolton’s aggressive approach, saying, “If it was up to John, we'd be in four wars now,” and privately described his former security advisor as a warmonger. What had decisive impact on the dismissal decision was recent disagreement regarding the peace agreement with Afghanistan. President Trump was furious when it was reported by media that the former security advisor was opposed to the agreement with the Taliban leadership, on which the president worked hard by organizing a closed-door meeting at the Camp David, a country retreat reserved for the U.S. president. Although the president announced the suspension of talks with the Taliban on Sunday, he held Bolton accountable by firing the former security advisor.

Meanwhile, it’s been known that the relations between Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have gotten increasingly worse. “I wasn’t surprised at all (about the dismissal of the security advisor),” said Pompeo on Tuesday to a reporter’s question on the news about Bolton after he finished his briefing on anti-terror policies at the White House. The Secretary of State added that the president has the rights to work with people whom he trusts and values.


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