Politics

Seoul accuses Bolton of ‘distorting’ dialog with Pyongyang in his book

Seoul, Jun 22 (efe-epa).- The South Korean presidential office criticized former United States national security adviser John Bolton on Monday for “distorting” the events surrounding the summits held between the leaders of Seoul, Washington and Pyongyang.

The Seoul government’s remarks followed the publication of some excerpts from Bolton’s forthcoming book, which are highly critical of US President Donald Trump’s administration as well as South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s government for its role during the dialogue with the Pyongyang regime.

“A considerable portion of it (the book) is distorted,” South Korea’s national security adviser Chung Eui-yong said in a statement.

Bolton’s book is based on his “own viewpoint” and not on “accurate facts,” added Chung, who also accused the former US national security adviser of unilaterally disclosing diplomatic conversations that were conducted in confidence between Washington and Seoul.

This violates the basic principles of diplomacy, Chung stressed, and could “very seriously” harm future conversations between the two allies as well as their security interests, according to South Korean news agency Yonhap.

Seoul hopes that the US government will take the necessary steps to prevent “such a dangerous case” from happening again, the South Korean national security adviser added.

Bolton’s book “The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir,” is scheduled to hit shelves on Tuesday although the Trump administration tried to prevent the book’s publication on the grounds that it contains classified information.

In one of the excerpts published by US media, Bolton claims that Trump did not want Moon to attend the third summit held between him and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in June last year and accuses the South Korean president of being more concerned about the form rather than the substance of these meetings.

The book also claim Trump was obsessed with giving Elton John’s “Rocket Man” song on CD to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

According to the Washington Post, after the first summit between the two leaders in June 2018, Trump asked US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to give Kim the CD during his follow-up visit to North Korea. EFE-EPA

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