NSC plan to ‘assassinate’ Kim

The National Security Council has presented President Trump with options for dealing with nuclear threats from North Korea — including assassinating dictator Kim Jong-un and putting US nuclear missiles in neighboring South Korea, according to a report.

The two scenarios were suggested to Trump before his meetings at Mar-a-Lago this week with Chinese President Xi Jinping, NBC News reported, citing highranking US military and intelligence officials.

The council offered the option to target and kill Kim and his lower-ranking senior leaders in charge of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal and planning.

Mark Lippert, a former US ambassador to South Korea, said the scenario has huge downsides.

“Discussions of regime change and decapitation . . . tend to cause the Chinese great concern and tends to have them move in the opposite direction we would like them to move in terms of pressure,” Lippert told NBC.

US officials are hoping to convince the Chinese to use enhanced sanctions and diplomacy to convince their ally Kim to back off.

The United States formerly had nukes positioned in South Korea, but pulled them more than two decades ago.