US President Donald Trump reportedly proposed that North Korea transfer all its nuclear weapons to the US, a denuclearization template borrowed from Libya before the NATO intervention and brutal murder of its leader.
The second summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in February wrapped up early, ending with a big question mark over the future of the talks and the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. In the wake of the Vietnam meeting, Pyongyang and Washington offered different accounts of what actually transpired, with the White House alleging that North Korea demanded all sanctions be lifted from it. Pyongyang insisted that it was talking only about partial relief. The essence of the talks was kept under a veil of secrecy.
Also on rt.com US wants N Korea to take ‘irreversible’ steps to de-nuke, similar to Libya’s denuclearisationReuters reported on Friday that it got access to a secretive plan that, in Washington's view, would potentially lead to a breakthrough in the stalled talks. The agency reported that the plan was similar to the one touted by US National Security Advisor John Bolton and was modelled after Libya.
READ MORE: After what happened to Libya, should North Korea think twice about ditching nukes?
Trump reportedly handed over copies of the plan, in English and in Korean, to Kim during their meeting on February 28. The North Korean side has never commented on the content of the bargain, but it apparently did not sit well with Kim, and the working lunch scheduled for the same day was cancelled.
The plan as outlined by Reuters envisions a complete dismantling of Pyongyang's "nuclear infrastructure, chemical and biological warfare program" as well as "related dual-use capabilities." Had North Korea given in to the US' demands, it would also have to destroy "ballistic missiles, launchers, and associated facilities." The US demanded that Pyongyang agree to give full account of its nuclear program and provide unimpeded access for international inspectors to the sites. Building new nuclear-related facilities would be prohibited and all scientists working at the old nuclear facilities would be assigned to the commercial sector.
After the summit ended with no deal, Washington attempted to salvage the talks, with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo saying in early March that the US is looking to send a delegation to North Korea soon.
Pyongyang took a pause after the failed summit as hopes of rekindling the momentum between the US and North Korea faded. In the first public assessment of the meeting on March 15, a senior North Korean diplomat decried the stand the US took at the talks as "gangster-like," hinting that Pyongyang might withdraw from the talks altogether and renew nuclear and missile tests.
If the US indeed proposed to North Korea a refurbished version of the Libyan disarmament model, it would mean that Trump backtracked on his own promise to avoid that specifically. In May last year, Trump was forced to disavow Bolton, who has been peddling the Libya-style denuclearization of North Korea since the early 2000s, after the hawkish national security advisor proposed it again, drawing anger from Pyongyang.
Libya struck a deal with the US to hand over its nuclear program components in 2003. Eight years later, it was ravaged by civil unrest backed by NATO-led bombing, which resulted in the ouster and murder of the country's long-time leader, Muammar Gaddafi.
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