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N. Korean leader should not be sleeping easily: McMaster

August 3, 2017

WASHINGTON, Aug. 2 (Yonhap) — North Korean leader Kim Jong-un should not be sleeping easily at night, President Trump’s national security adviser said Wednesday as he addressed the regime’s missile and nuclear programs.

In an interview with MSNBC, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster also said the North’s recent tests of intercontinental ballistic missiles pose a “grave” threat regardless of how far in the U.S. mainland they can reach.

“No, I think he should not be because he has the whole world against him, right?” McMaster said when asked whether Kim should be sleeping easily. “He’s isolated on this.”

The lieutenant general described the North Korean leader as being as brutal as his father and grandfather, former leaders Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung.

“But he’s doing some things differently. He’s killing members of his own family even,” McMaster said, apparently referring to the killing of his estranged half-brother Kim Jong-nam in February.

Asked if the current leader’s removal would change Pyongyang’s provocative behavior, he replied, “I’m not sure about that. I don’t think anybody has a very clear picture of the inner workings of that regime.”

hague@yna.co.kr