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South Korea says Bolton's memory distorted over Trump-Kim summit



South Korea said Monday that Seoul's accounts were wrong in talks between US leaders and the two Koreas in his forthcoming book, US National Security Adviser John Bolton.


In the book, before and after three meetings between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Bolton describes how his second summit in Vietnam broke up.

The book, "The Room When It Happened: A White House Memoir," is scheduled for publication on Tuesday, but media outlets have released excerpts from it.

According to reports, Bolton noted that Moon, who is keen to improve relations with North Korea, has unrealistic expectations with both Kim and Trump for his "integration" agenda.

"It reflects the exact facts, quoting the details of the high-level consultation," South Korean national security adviser Chung Yui-Yong said in a statement.

Chung did not go into specifics about specific areas that South Korea mistook, but the publication called it a "dangerous example."

"Unilateral publication consultations based on mutual trust violate the core principles of diplomacy and seriously jeopardize future negotiations," he said.

Trump and Kim first met in Singapore in June 2018, citing their efforts to pressure North Korea to abandon its nuclear program instead of lifting sanctions.

His second summit in Vietnam collapsed in early 2019 when Trump rejected Kim's offer to leave North Korea's main nuclear facility instead of lifting some sanctions.

On the one hand, Bolton cites Chung's reaction that Trump's rejection of Kim's proposal is correct, and on the other hand, Kim's desire to end the Yongbyon facility is "a very meaningful first step" to reject the "undeniable."

Bolton refers to the moon's position as "schizophrenic."

When asked about Bolton's remarks to a top executive at Moon's office, he said: "Maybe he was in that position."

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