WASHINGTON (Reuters) - US President Donald Trump's decision to appoint John Bolton as national security adviser has made alarm bells in Asia, the Washington Post reported.
Bolton has long espoused the idea of a change in North Korea's regime by using force if necessary.
Bolton's move to the inner circle came at a very sensitive time on the Korean peninsula, as the South Korean president prepares to hold a summit with the North Korean leader at the end of April, and Trump plans a similar move in May.
The newspaper quoted Kim Sung-han, former South Korean deputy foreign minister, as saying that Trump's use of Bolton was a message from Trump to the Pyongyang regime that he should engage in talks if he wanted to avoid a violent military response.
Bolton has called for tough action against North Korea since he took up the post of Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and the US Permanent Representative to the United Nations during the George W. Bush administration.
North Korea's Central News Agency repeatedly attacked Bolton repeatedly, calling it "human and bloody scum", "savage states of mind" and "suffering from mental illness."
"How do you know that the North Korean regime is lying? The answer: their lips are moving," Bolton replied this month when asked about his stance on North Korea's recent conciliatory moves.
"It is entirely legitimate for the United States to respond to the current need posed by nuclear weapons," wrote the new Trump National Security Adviser at the end of February in the Wall Street Journal, calling on the United States not to miss the opportunity to launch military action against North Korea. To North Korea by beating it first. "
Bolton also wrote in August 2017 after Pyongyang tested two intercontinental ballistic missiles, inciting Washington not to allow even its closest allies to prevent it from using force against North Korea to protect its citizens from its nuclear weapons.