Donald Trump could cut ‘reckless’ North Korea deal if he wins 2024 US election, John Bolton warns

The former US national security adviser, in a new foreword of his memoir, says such a move would ‘further alienate Japan and South Korea, and extend China’s influence’

Bolton predicted that deepening defence ties between North Korea and Russia would not dissuade Donald Trump from embracing Kim Jong-un

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Then US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un meet on the south side of the Military Demarcation Line that divides North and South Korea on June 30, 2019. Photo: YNA/dpa

Published: 7:30pm, 31 Jan 2024Updated: 9:43pm, 1 Feb 2024

Former United States national security adviser John Bolton has warned Donald Trump could strike a “reckless” deal on North Korea’s nuclear programme and isolate Seoul if he wins the presidential election in November.

Bolton, who served in the Republican’s White House in 2018 and 2019, wrote in the new foreword of his memoir, The Room Where it Happened, that Washington’s allies face a chaotic foreign policy in a potential second Trump term.

“Imagine Trump’s euphoria at resuming contact with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, about whom he famously boasted, ‘We fell in love,’” he said.

Bolton also said Trump previously “almost gave away the store to Pyongyang, and he could try again early in a second term”.

Then US National Security Adviser John Bolton (right) stands alongside then US President Donald Trump in Washington DC on May 17, 2018. Photo: AFP

“A reckless deal on the North’s nuclear weapons programme would further alienate Japan and South Korea, and extend China’s influence,” he said.