United States President Donald Trump on Thursday said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un can remain in power if he agrees to a deal on his nation’s nuclear programme, BBC reported. Trump was speaking to reporters in the White House.
Trump was commenting on National Security Adviser John Bolton’s statement that the United States would use the “Libya model” in its negotiations with North Korea ahead of the summit between Trump and Kim on June 12 in Singapore. “The Libyan model is not a model that we have at all when we are thinking of North Korea,” Trump said. The president said Bolton meant that the Libyan model would be used if Kim did not agree to a deal.
In 2003, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi agreed to terminate his nuclear weapons programme in exchange for a removal of sanctions on his country. Gaddafi, however, was killed by Western-backed rebels few years later. The comparison to the murdered leader was not received well by North Korea.
“The model, if you look at that model with Gaddafi, that was a total decimation. We went in there to beat him. Now that model would take place if we do not make a deal, most likely. But if we make a deal, I think Kim Jong-un is going to be very, very happy.”
Trump said that if a deal with Pyongyang materialised , Kim would be “running his country” which would be “very rich”.
On Wednesday, North Korea had said it might not attend the summit after a joint military exercise between the US and South Korea.
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