Bolton Says North Korea Summit an Opportunity for Trump to ‘Size Kim Jong Un Up’

Less than a month before the U.S.-North Korea summit, National Security Advisor John Bolton says it’ll be a chance for president Donald Trump to size up dictator Kim Jong Un.

Speaking to ABC News’ Martha Raddatz, Bolton said Trump is “very optimistic because he sees the chance of a breakthrough, but I don’t think he has stars in his eyes over this.”

A major takeaway from the summit, Bolton says, will be finding out whether Kim is serious about making a change, or whether it’s just talk.

“What we need to see from Kim Jong Un is that he and the entire North Korean regime have made a strategic decision that they will be better off without weapons of mass destruction,” Bolton said, adding that “President Trump will be able to size Kim Jong Un up and see if the commitment is real.”

According to Bolton, the non-negotiable objectives of the summit will include denuclearization, which he says is “absolutely at the core of it” and that it will mean more than just nuclear weapons, noting that North Korea has already said it would end its plutonium processing and uranium enrichment.

But any meaningful discussion during the summit will depend on Kim’s willingness to put those possibilities on the table, Bolton said.

“There are a range of things to discuss, and so that is really whether Kim Jong Un will come through on this and it’s the reason why the president is both optimistic but realistic at the same time,” he explained. “I think the objective for North Korea is to see if they want to become a normal nation.”

While Bolton expressed cautious optimism about the summit, he recognized that total success isn’t expected right off the bat.

“I don’t think anybody believes you’re gonna sign the complete ending of the nuclear program in one day,” he said.

Watch the clip above, via ABC News.

[Image via screengrab]

Follow Amy Russo on Twitter: @amymrusso

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