Trump aide: North Korean missile tests violated UN resolutions

President Trump’s national security adviser John Bolton said Saturday that the latest series of missile tests conducted by North Korea violated U.N. Security Council resolutions, arguing sanctions against North Korea must remain in place.

Bolton said there was “no doubt” a violation of U.N. resolutions had occurred, The Associated Press reported, the latest charge levied by a Trump administration official against North Korea’s government as nuclear talks between the two nations appear to have stalled.{mosads}

“U.N. Security Council resolutions prohibit North Korea from firing any ballistic missiles,” Bolton told reporters in Tokyo ahead of Trump’s arrival Saturday. “In terms of violating U.N. Security Council resolutions, there is no doubt about that.”

Trump, who is in Japan and is planning to meet with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, will talk with Japan’s leader “about making sure the integrity of the Security Council resolutions are maintained,” Bolton reportedly added.

Bolton said that the possibility of a summit between Abe and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un would be to North Korea’s benefit, calling it an opportunity to resolve tensions over weapons tests in the region.

“Given Abe’s willingness to hold this meeting with Kim Jong Un … it would be certainly in North Korea’s interest to accommodate the prime minister,” he said, according to the AP.

North Korea has accused the Trump administration’s top officials, including Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, of deliberately causing a collapse of discussions between the two nations with unilateral demands for disarmament.

Washington, however, has argued that North Korea is refusing to push forward on agreed disarmament provisions over demands for U.S. sanction relief.

A statement in North Korea’s state-run news agency this week warned that the country would withdraw from negotiations unless the U.S. changes its strategy.

“We hereby make it clear once again that the United States would not be able to move us even an inch with the device it is now weighing in its mind, and the further its mistrust and hostile acts toward the DPRK grow, the fiercer our reaction will be,” read a statement from North Korea’s foreign ministry.

“Unless the United States puts aside the current method of calculation and comes forward with a new method of calculation, the DPRK-U.S. dialogue will never be resumed and by extension, the prospect for resolving the nuclear issue will be much gloomy,” the statement added.