Bolton Wants N.Korean Regime to Collapse

John Bolton, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, speaks to the media at the Japan press club in Tokyo Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2007. Bolton, who left the U.N. in December, said that the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons program have failed and the world should push the impoverished regime toward collapse. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder) (David Guttenfelder - AP)

TOKYO -- The six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons program have failed and the world should push the impoverished regime toward collapse, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said Wednesday.

John Bolton, who left the U.N. in December, said the United States and Japan should enlist China and South Korea in efforts to put further pressure on North Korea, which he said has no intention of verifiably giving up its nuclear weapons program.

"The only answer ... is the collapse of the North Korean regime and the hopefully peaceful reunification of Korea, and that should be our objective," Bolton, now a senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, told reporters.

The latest round of the six-party talks _ including the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, China and Russia _ ended in December with no agreement on disarmament or a new date for further talks.

Bolton said the North's missile tests in July and its first nuclear test, in October, showed the communist regime was determined to develop a weapon and greatly embarrassed its top ally, China.

Even if North Korea were to promise to give up its weapons program, Bolton said it was highly unlikely the regime would submit to invasive verification of its nuclear sites to make sure it was not cheating.

"If my conclusion that the six-party talks have failed is correct ... that means we have to switch to a new policy," he said at the Japan National Press Club.

Bolton said China and others could be persuaded to further tighten sanctions on North Korea, cut off Pyongyang's access to banks, and shut down shipments of any materials useful to its weapons programs.

Bolton, an arms control expert, also called for further U.N. Security Council action against Iran for failing to stop its uranium enrichment program.

The former diplomat, who was admired as a skilled negotiator but became increasingly unpopular among fellow envoys for his abrasive style, resigned last month as his temporary appointment as U.N. ambassador was about to expire.

He was in Tokyo on a weeklong visit at the invitation of the Foreign Ministry.