WASHINGTON (AFP) – Libya’s decision to give up its nuclear programme through diplomacy is a model for efforts to have North Korea do likewise, US National Security Advisor John Bolton said Sunday (April 29).

“We have very much in mind the Libya model from 2003, 2004,” Bolton told Fox News Sunday when asked if North Korea would have to fully give up its nuclear weapons, fuel and missiles before the US makes concessions.

“There are obviously differences, the Libyan programme was much smaller. But that was basically the agreement that we made,” Bolton said. “We’ll want to test North Korea in this first meeting for evidence that they have made this strategic decision” to end their programme, he said.

But Libya’s move to scrap its nuclear programme also serves as a model of what North Korea fears will happen: Its government was later overthrown by rebel forces supported by Western air strikes.

Pyongyang regularly cites the fates of Saddam Hussein in Iraq – whose government was overthrown in a US-led invasion – and Libya’s Moamer Kadhafi, as evidence of the need for nuclear arms.