Bolton: North Korea’s Tests Didn’t Violate Pledge to Trump

Rockets flew about 250 km

The UN Security Council are holding a closed-door meeting on Thursday to discuss North Korea’s recent launches of projectiles off their coast. North Korea has confirmed that these were guided rockets.

The guided rockets flew about 250 km, and John Bolton says that they in no way violated Kim Jong Un’s pledge to the US to test launches. North Korea says the rockets were tested to confirm their usability.

Bolton clarified that the US would only consider ICBM tests a problem, and that certainly wouldn’t impact these rockets. This is also in keeping with Trump not being outraged by past short-range missile tests.

North Korea’s state media says that the rocket systems would be of major use in the event of a ground war. This is clearly once again aimed at South Korea, not the US. North Korea has been trying to develop rockets to shore up their forces, which historically are heavily reliant on artillery.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.