Miami Student

Issue date: 4/13/07 Section: Campus

Controversial speaker, John Bolton, comments on North Korea and the nuclear arms race in his speech Tuesday night in Hall Auditorium.

Former U.S. ambassador John Bolton spoke about the future of American security Tuesday night at Hall Auditorium - while entirely avoiding the topic of the conflict in Iraq.

Brought to Miami University as part of College Republican's Conservative Week, the former diplomat to the United Nations made a point to say that he was not going to be speaking about Iraq, because the history books will show that the real enemies of this decade were Iran and North Korea.

After being introduced by controversial Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones, Bolton began to outline the danger of North Korea.

He claimed that Kim Jong-il has created a criminal enterprise of arms dealing, counterfeiting American currency, trafficked narcotics and owned a large stake of the illegal gambling industry in Japan. Bolton added that what is most troubling to the United States is North Korea's obsession with obtaining nuclear arms.

According to Bolton, it is difficult for the United States to find supporters in northeast Asia.

"I believe China doesn't want North Korea to have nuclear weapons," Bolton said.

He added that China is afraid to act, fearing that if the North Korean government were to fall it would make the region unstable and this would be counterproductive to China's economic ambitions. The ambassador said China may also fear the possibility of foreign troops on the Yalu River, the river separating China's border from North Korea.

Multiple times during his speech Bolton referred to North Korea as a 17-million-person prison camp, citing the country is the only place where the average height and weight of their citizens is in decline.

Bolton stressed that Korea needs to be a united democratic state.

"That is the only way we will be safe from North Korea," he said. "Time is not on our side."

However, Bolton said that North Korea was not the only security concern for the United States.

Iran has wanted nuclear weapons for more than 20 years, according to Bolton. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claims the country is solely developing nuclear energy, not weapons.

"It's just fanciful to think that what (Iran is) doing in the nuclear field is for peaceful uses," Bolton said in a press conference in Hall Auditorium before the speech.

Continued...

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