John Bolton discusses possible Kim Jong Un meeting with Putin
Vladimir Putin could be set to give North Korea’s despot leader Kim Jong-un a terrifying new technology, according to former US National Security Advisor John Bolton.
The North Korean leader is set to travel to Russia to meet with a Putin desperate to secure munitions for his war in Ukraine.
Ambassador Bolton told Daily Express US that while both countries have denied a meeting would take place “it’s probably a pretty good assumption” that the summit will go ahead.
While Ukraine receives assistance from the US and NATO, Russia is running through its existing stocks of ammunition with minimal allies it can go to for support, he added.
North Korea’s artillery ammunition – and much of its other weaponry – dates back to Soviet-era systems meaning most of it can be used with Russian equipment.
“The big winner here is North Korea because this is this puts them back in the position they held during much of The Cold War when they really played China off against the Soviet Union,” Mr. Bolton said.
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He suspects that Pyongyang will ask for oil and gas from Russia but will also have its eye on weapons technologies.
“I’m sure the North Koreans want other things, too. Again, North Korean missile technology derives entirely from Soviet-era Scud missiles. [The Russians] have improved them and increased the range and a lot of their capabilities. But it’s the same basic technology,” Mr. Bolton said.
The Russian technology can likely be adapted to North Korean missiles which have the potential to carry nuclear warheads towards Pyongyang’s many enemies. But Kim is missing one tech that would allow the hermit kingdom’s nukes to travel much further.
Mr Bolton said: “What the North Koreans want more than anything else is targeting capabilities. They want the technology – we think they still don’t have – which is how to get a warhead back into the atmosphere when you send it on a ballistic trajectory.
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“When it goes into space and then comes back in the nose cone has to survive re-entry in a way that the nuclear device itself will go off. We don’t think they have that technology. Obviously, the Russians have had that for decades.
“I think the North Koreans see this as a huge opportunity, which it is.”
If North Korea were to acquire the technology to field effective intercontinental ballistic missiles it could put adversaries including the US and Europe well within range of their nuclear warheads.
Although Pyongyang has been working to develop long-range ballistic missiles, tests this year have seen missiles only fly about 680 miles.
This distance puts Japan and South Korea in danger of a nuclear strike while their Western allies – for the moment – remain safe.
If Putin were to give a rogue state like North Korea viable ICBM technology, it would have the potential to change the calculus in the region and for the world.
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