Trump Rebuts Bolton, Says Libya Isn’t a Model for Kim Talks

President Donald Trump rebutted his national security adviser, telling reporters that he didn’t consider the nuclear disarmament of Libya a model for negotiations with North Korea over its atomic weapons program.

“The Libya model isn’t a model we have at all” for North Korea, Trump said Thursday during a meeting at the White House with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. Trump also suggested China, engaged in a trade fight with the U.S., could be encouraging North Korea’s turn toward a harder line on nuclear negotiations.

U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton drew the ire of the North Korean government for saying that the country’s nuclear disarmament should follow the “Libya model” embraced by Muammar Qaddafi, who after giving up his atomic weapons was later overthrown and killed in a U.S.-backed uprising.

That history is well understood by Kim’s regime. In a blistering statement Wednesday, North Korea’s vice foreign minister and a top disarmament negotiator, Kim Kye Gwan, said his government felt “repugnance” toward Bolton.

North Korea also ramped up its criticism of South Korea and warned of a “rupture” in ties. The White House has tried to tamp down concerns that a June summit Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un may be derailed.