ASHEVILLE, N.C. — The time may come soon when the U.S. will have no other option but to attack North Korea militarily, former United States ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said here Saturday night.

Negotiations have not stopped North Korea's development of nuclear weapons and China has not done what it could to deter the North from proceeding with work that would allow it to hit U.S. cities with a nuclear weapon, Bolton told about 450 at the annual holiday dinner hosted by former Republican Congressman Charles Taylor. The event attracts Republicans from across Western North Carolina.

"Nobody wants to use military force against North Korea because of the risks to

South Korea. Nobody wants to see this happen," Bolton told the crowd at the Crowne Plaza Resort Asheville.

But he said the risks to the United States of North Korea having nuclear weapons may outweigh that concern.

"You have to make the choice at some point whether the risks are greater in preventing North Korea from getting the capability of blackmailing or actually attacking the United States against the dangers of, the consequences of, a preemptive strike," Bolton said.

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Bolton, now senior fellow at conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute, has served in several Republican administrations and was President George W. Bush's ambassador to the U.N. in 2005 and 2006. He is a skeptic of cooperation with international organizations like the U.N. and often a proponent of more confrontational U.S. policies.

Seoul, South Korea's capital, is only 35 miles from the border between North and South Korea and the population of its metropolitan area is more than 25 million. Some experts say North Korea would be able to kill hundreds of thousands of South Koreans in short order if a war began.

Bolton did not say how many Koreans he thinks the North would kill, but he continued: "I will just say this: The president of the United States' first duty ... is to protect Americans."

He said negotiations over the issue have failed and there is no reason to think that more would succeed. And, Bolton said he believes North Korea is producing weapons with financial backing from Iran and would be happy to sell nuclear weapons to Iran or terrorist groups.

"Whatever North Korea has today, Iran could have tomorrow by writing a large enough check," he said.

Bolton said suggestions by some that the U.S. can employ a containment strategy with North Korea much as it did with the Soviet Union during the Cold War are unrealistic.

"It's a myth to think that a regime as irrational in our terms as North Korea or as extreme ideologically as Iran are going to be deterred in the same way," he said.

Bolton did not call for military action now, but said North Korea may be able to target American cities for a nuclear strike by the end of 2018. People should be considering military action as a result, he said.

"I just think as citizens we've all got a responsibility to think about this, because if we don't stop (nuclear proliferation) here, we're not going to stop it anywhere," he said.

Bolton praised President Donald Trump's recent decision to locate the U.S. embassy to Israel in Jerusalem. He said Jerusalem is the Israeli capital and the move shows, "When Trump makes a commitment, he follows through on it."

Previous presidents have been reluctant to take that step. Other countries, especially those aligned with Palestinians, have historically viewed such a move as taking sides on issues — the location of the Israeli capital and the final status of Jerusalem — to be determined by Middle East peace talks.

Bolton scoffed at that. "It doesn't undercut the peace process. The embassy is going to be built in West Jerusalem, which no one has ever argued is anything but Israeli sovereign territory," he said.

Trump's predecessors were intimidated by the prospect that moving the embassy would spark violent Arab protests, Bolton said.

"There has been some violence, it's true," he said, "but basically the threat of violence didn't materialize."

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