Trump’s ultra-hawkish security adviser hails Libya as model for North Korea’s denuclearisation
National Security Adviser John Bolton says Libya, which has been ravaged by civil war since a disastrous US-led military intervention, is ‘very much in mind’
Libya’s decision to give up its nuclear programme through diplomacy is a model for efforts to have North Korea do likewise, US National Security Adviser John Bolton said on Sunday.
“We have very much in mind the Libya model from 2003, 2004,” Bolton told Fox News Sunday when asked whether North Korea would have to fully give up its nuclear weapons, fuel and missiles before the US makes concessions.
“There are obviously differences – the Libyan programme was much smaller. But that was basically the agreement that we made,” Bolton said.
“We’ll want to test North Korea in this first meeting for evidence that they have made this strategic decision” to end their programme, he said.
But Libya’s move to scrap its nuclear programme also serves as a model of what North Korea fears will happen: its government was later overthrown by rebels supported by Western air strikes and weapons.