WASHINGTON, The United States and its allies have been unable to convince North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons largely because Pyongyang has never made a decision to do so, former U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton said Friday.

He also insisted the U.S. should have considered other options such as a regime change.

"There was never once convincing evidence that North Korea had made a strategic decision to give up nuclear weapons," the former White House official said in a webinar hosted by the Institute for Corean-American Studies think tank.

Bolton was considered to have played a key role in setting up the two historic U.S.-North Korea summits between former President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, held in Singapore in June 2018 and in Hanoi in February 2019, as Trump's top national security adviser.

In their Singapore summit, Kim agreed to completely denuclearize his country in exchange for new, normal relations with the U.S.

North Korea, however, has stayed away from denuclearization negotiations with the U.S. since the second U.S.-North Korea summit in Hanoi ended without a deal.

Bolton noted the North has frequently committed to give up nuclear weapons but never followed through.

"They're certainly prepared to negotiate for the relief from economic sanctions or to get tangible economic benefits. But when it comes to following through on their commitment to give up their nuclear weapons program, somehow it just never happens," he said.

"And that's because they don't want to, and that's something we should recognize because that colors every other possible option available to us," he added.

Bolton suggested other possible options could have, if not should have, been the use of force or even a change of regime in North Korea.

"One other thing I'd like to say is for all those people who for years have said it's not acceptable for North Korea have nuclear weapons but weren't willing to take other steps, weren't willing to consider the use of force, weren't willing to consider regime change, are you going to be held to account when North Korea has deliverable nuclear weapons that can hit any target they want in the United States," said Bolton.

He also accused China of not doing all it can to change North Korea's behavior, adding U.S. efforts to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula should focus on making China do so.

"I think at least one thing we can do, if you could get agreement within the United States, is to make China the center of focus," said Bolton. "Without China's support, without its shipment of oil and other fuels to North Korea, without its economic lifeline, the (North Korean) regime would fall very, very quickly."

Source: Yonhap News Agency