President Trump Criticizes John Bolton for Libya Comments

President Trump is right, that bringing up the Libya model to North Korea was not a good reference if trying to cut a deal:

U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday that former National Security Adviser John Bolton “set us back” in denuclearization negotiations with North Korea by demanding the regime follow the “Libya model” and hand over all of its nuclear weapons.

Bolton quit the administration on Tuesday following disagreements with Trump on policies including how to denuclearize North Korea.

The hawkish adviser had once advocated for the “Libya model” that calls for North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program before receiving any concessions in return.

“He made some very big mistakes. When he talked about the Libyan model for Kim Jong-un, that was not a good statement to make,” Trump told reporters at the White House, referring to the North Korean leader. “You just take a look at what happened with Gaddafi. That was not a good statement to make, and it set us back.”

Libya surrendered its weapons of mass destruction program in 2003, but its then-leader Muammar Gaddafi was toppled from power and killed by NATO-backed rebel forces in 2011.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but I think this statement also shows that President Trump realizes that Kim Jong-un is not going to give up all of his nuclear weapons. This means that he is going to have to figure out what amount of nuclear capability and capacity the United States is willing to allow North Korea to have in order to cut a deal.