Then-National Security Adviser John Bolton watches President Donald Trump speak at the White House during Trump's first term. Bolton has criticized Trump's decision to scale back joint US-South Korea military exercises as a major mistake. [Getty Images]
Then-National Security Adviser John Bolton watches President Donald Trump speak at the White House during Trump's first term. Bolton has criticized Trump's decision to scale back joint US-South Korea military exercises as a major mistake. [Getty Images]

John Bolton, who served as national security adviser during Donald Trump's first administration, has called the decision to scale back joint US-South Korea military exercises a "big mistake."

Speaking to US broadcaster MSNow on Tuesday, Bolton said Trump "did the same thing when he first met Kim Jong-un — it was an unnecessary concession and a mistake then, and it's an even bigger mistake now." The remarks referred to Trump's abrupt suspension of joint military exercises with South Korea following the US-North Korea summit held in Singapore in June 2018.

Bolton warned that the fallout would not be confined to the Korean Peninsula. "Iran is also watching this situation and will see it as part of his desperation," he said.

He then turned to Trump's personal approach to diplomacy. "Trump said he fell in love with Kim Jong-un after meeting him — that's how Trump views diplomacy," Bolton said. "He thinks that having a good personal relationship with Kim Jong-un, Xi Jinping or Vladimir Putin means the United States has a good relationship with those countries. That's not how it works."

"This shows that Trump doesn't think strategically," Bolton added. "He cannot define what America's national interests are. He sees everything as a personal matter."

Bolton also criticized Trump's threat to bomb Oman — the country through which Trump had repeatedly negotiated with Iran over passage through the Strait of Hormuz — calling it "evidence that he is lost and doesn't know what to do."

Bolton is one of the most prominent hardliners on North Korea, China and Russia in American foreign policy circles. He served as White House national security adviser during Trump's first term but was fired in September 2019 after clashing with Trump over foreign policy. He later published a memoir exposing what he described as dysfunction within the Trump administration, after which Trump had him investigated on charges of illegally retaining classified materials, ultimately leading to an indictment. Bolton admitted to the charges and is awaiting sentencing later in October.


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