JOHN BOLTON/NORTH KOREA/NUKES/TRUMP PEOPLE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: [Martha Raddatz: “As we sit here today, would you say the threat from North Korea is greater today than when President Trump took office?”] “The threat from North Korea today is absolutely greater. Because while all these photo opportunities were taking place, there’s absolutely no doubt that North Korea’s work on both its nuclear and ballistic missile programs continued. It’s one of the most secretive societies on the planet…
So the president would say, ‘Oh, well, they’re not test firing missiles.’ Look, there come times and programs where you don’t have to test launch missiles. You can do rocket engine design modification underground. You can do a lot of technical work on the nuclear weapons design itself underground.
I don’t think the North Koreans slowed down one bit during these two years of negotiations. So like the eight years of Obama, we just lost another two or three years. And the North Korea and the Iranian and other rogue state capabilities continue to advance.”
-John Bolton as quoted by ABC News, “TRANSCRIPT: John Bolton Interview with ABC News’ Martha Raddatz,” abcnews.go.com, June 21, 2020