Trump’s Appointment of Bolton Raises Concern in Asia

HONG KONG — President Donald Trump’s decision to name John R. Bolton as his national security adviser stirred concerns in Asia on Friday about a hardening of U.S. foreign policy that could set the stage for conflict in an already tense part of the world.

Bolton has taken a hard line on North Korea, and he has expressed skepticism about South Korea’s role in arranging a meeting between Trump and Kim Jong Un. Bolton recently said Trump should tell the North Korean leader that unless he quickly commits in talks to total denuclearization, Trump should try “something else” — hinting at a pre-emptive U.S. military strike.

After months of painstakingly building a relationship with the departing national security adviser, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, South Korean officials now have to manage their “very bad chemistry” with Bolton, “who is all about sticks,” said Lee Byong-chul, senior fellow at the Institute for Peace and Cooperation in Seoul.

“We will have to see if Bolton opens his mouth and launches his verbal attacks against the North,” Lee said. “That will give North Korea an excuse to step away from its summit proposal. The Trump-Bolton team then will ramp up pressure. And we will hear more talk about a pre-emptive strike and see tensions rising again on the Korean Peninsula.”

Some saw Bolton’s appointment as a sign of confusion within the Trump administration, coming so soon after the announcement of the North Korea talks and the firing of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who advocated for negotiating with Pyongyang.

The appointment “adds to the perception of the U.S. basically being a headless chicken, which is bad for the world,” said Koichi Nakano, a political scientist at Sophia University in Tokyo.

The initial reaction from South Korea’s government was muted, a reflection of the delicate dance the country’s president, Moon Jae-in, is attempting as he tries to draw the United States toward engagement with North Korea.

A senior aide to Moon tried to play down fears that Bolton’s hawkish stance on the North could derail the latest efforts at dialogue, saying that Trump himself — not his aides — was pushing for a summit meeting with Kim.

The adviser, who spoke on condition of anonymity given the diplomatic sensitivities, said that Bolton would be a trusted adviser to Trump and that South Korea planned to consult with him as it sought to resolve tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Bolton has derided South Korea for trying to play peacemaker with Pyongyang, saying the South was “like putty in North Korea’s hands” and that “there’s a sucker born every minute.”

There was no immediate reaction from North Korea, which has recently refrained from its usual bellicose attacks on the United States. In the past, the North has refused to deal with Bolton, calling him “human scum” and a “bloodsucker.”

When Bolton was an undersecretary of state in the Bush administration, he called the North’s government “tyrannical” and described the lives of ordinary North Koreans as “a hellish nightmare.”

Japan’s foreign minister, Taro Kono, who recently met with McMaster, said that he was surprised by the timing of Bolton’s appointment, but that it should not alter the course of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s foreign policy.

“Our stance is completely coordinated with the U.S. government so I believe there is no change of direction,” he told reporters Friday.

Japan has much at stake in the Trump-Kim talks, as North Korea’s missiles can easily reach Tokyo and have already flown over Japan.

Nakano said some hard-line supporters of Abe would welcome the appointment. Bolton’s “hawkish stance on just about everything would be more in sync with the previous line that the Abe government has been pursuing, particularly on North Korea,” he said.