Marco Rubio calls North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ‘dictator’ but backs ‘broader’ approach

WASHINGTON – Senator Marco Rubio, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for Secretary of State, on Jan 15 branded North Korean leader Kim Jong Un a “dictator” but backed a “broader” approach to ease tensions.

Trump in his last term took the unusual step of meeting Mr Kim three times.

He and his then Secretary of State Mike Pompeo refrained from critical language on Mr Kim, with Trump saying the two “fell in love”.

Mr Rubio, a senator and former political rival of Trump, acknowledged that he was sceptical of the then president’s overtures to Mr Kim but said “at least it calmed the situation quite a bit”.

“I think there has to be an appetite for a very serious look at broader North Korean policies,” Mr Rubio said at his Senate confirmation hearing.

He called for efforts to prevent a war by North Korea with US allies South Korea and Japan and to see “what can we do to prevent a crisis without encouraging other nation-states to pursue their own nuclear weapons programmes”.

But he acknowledged that Trump’s diplomacy did not produce any lasting agreement to end North Korea’s nuclear programme.

“You have a 40-something-year-old dictator who has to figure out how to hold on to power for the rest of his life,” Mr Rubio said.

“He views nuclear weapons as his insurance policy to stay in power. It means so much to him that no amount of sanctions has deterred him from developing that capability,” Mr Rubio said.

North Korea on Jan 14 fired several short-range ballistic missiles, the country’s latest launches before Trump replaces President Joe Biden on Jan 20.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken was also greeted by a launch when he visited Seoul last week.

He said he regretted that North Korea had rebuffed overtures by the Biden administration for dialogue. AFP