There's just "one true answer" to North Korea's escalation of its nuclear weapons program – to reunify the peninsula and engage China in the effort, former Ambassador John Bolton said Saturday.
In an interview on Fox News' "Justice with Judge Jeanine," Bolton said 25 years of negotiations with North Korea haven't worked.
"There is a reason for that," Bolton said. "The possession of deliverable nuclear weapons is their ace in the hole, their insurance policy to stay in power. Asking them to give that up is like asking them to give up power. So the question is: What else is available for to us do?"
"The one true answer here is reunifying the peninsula, and we have to convince China of that," he added.
Bolton said China won't cut off the supply of coal and oil to North Korea because "if the regime collapses, China worries without an agreement with the United States, the south will take North Korea back and American troops will be on the Yalu River" separating North Korea and China.
"I think [Chinese President Xi Jinping] knows that the situation with the North is acute enough that he's not going to give them forever.," he said.
He also warns the United States has to be understand as well that Iran "can buy from North Korea" whatever it can't get from China.
"It's two threats, Iran and North Korea," he said.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.