When North Korea threatened to back out of the nuclear summit with President Trump, they pointed the finger at one person — John Bolton — and blasted his calls for the so-called Libya model. Not even Bolton’s boss is happy with it. “Well, the Libyan model isn’t a model that we have at all.” So just what is Bolton’s so-called Libya model? It started in 2003, when Libya decided to dismantle its fledgling nuclear weapons program. The country even shipped parts to a warehouse in Tennessee. “These are aluminum vacuum tubes in which the centrifuge machinery themselves operate.” And according to John Bolton, it all went down in one fell swoop. No half-steps, no concessions. His take was that Muammar Qaddafi simply made a strategic calculation: Give up the nukes, and Libya would no longer be a global pariah — and avoid the fate of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. What actually happened with Libya is a matter of debate, but it became Bolton’s go-to model for how to disarm rogue states like North Korea. “Is it a requirement that Kim Jong-un agree to give away those weapons before you give any kind of concession?” “I think that’s right. I think we’re looking at the Libya model of 2003, 2004.” “The implementation of the decision means getting rid of all the nuclear weapons, dismantling them, taking them to Oak Ridge, Tenn.” Why is Bolton’s Libya model so offensive to North Korea? First, it’s a dig at the regime’s crowning achievement. As the official North Korea statement says, ‘It is absolutely absurd to compare North Korea, a nuclear state, to Libya, which had been at the initial state of nuclear development.’ It’s true that Libya was barely a nuclear startup. And North Korea actually has warheads, ballistic missiles and a vast network of labs and development sites. Second, North Korea calls Bolton’s model a “sinister move to impose on our dignified state the destiny of Libya or Iraq.” A few years after Libya’s nukes were shipped to Tennessee, U.S.-backed airstrikes helped overthrow Qaddafi: a vivid reminder to Kim Jong-un of what happens to leaders who give up their defenses. So why is Bolton invoking a reference that’s clearly so inflammatory? There are some who speculate that Bolton is intentionally sabotaging the North Korea talks, just as he did in 2003, because he believes North Korea can’t be trusted. This is him on Fox News just a few weeks before becoming national security adviser. “Why in the world would they agree to not halt the program, to give it up completely? It just doesn’t logically make any sense.” “Because they’re lying. You know, there’s an all-purpose joke here. Question: How do you know that the North Korean regime is lying? Answer: Their lips are moving.” According to Bolton, this is their real goal. “They want to buy time. Three months, six months, 12 months, whatever it is they need to get across the finish line.” Bolton says this was part of his life as a pundit. Now his job is to help the president achieve his goals. Which by all measures seems to include cutting a historic deal with North Korea. It could be that Bolton simply believes the only way to prevent North Korea from playing games is to demand a Libya-style playbook. But what is clear is Bolton’s repeated talk about the Libya model is antagonizing the North — and now apparently the White House. “The Libyan model that was mentioned was a much different deal. This would be with Kim Jong-un something where he’d be there, he’d be in his country, he’d be running his country.”