During his confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Marco Rubio described Kim as "a 40-something-year-old dictator who has to figure out how to hold down to power for the rest of his life," adding that "he has used nuclear weapons as his insurance policy to stay in power."
When asked about the failure of U.S. policy to curb North Korea's nuclear and missile weapons program, he responded, "It means so much to [Kim] so that no amount of sanctions has deterred him from developing that capability and in fact that has not even kept him from having the resources to develop it."
Rubio then added, "What can we do to prevent a crisis without encouraging other nation states to pursue their own nuclear weapons program. That's the solution we'd like to get to."
But he questioned whether previous U.S. policies had made the U.S. "safer," "stronger," and "more prosperous" in his opening remarks, pointing out that "America too often prioritized the global order above our core national interests."
This would suggest that he aligns with incoming President Donald Trump's "America-first policy," which could have profound implications for North Korea's denuclearization
He also touched on global issues, saying "In Moscow and Tehran and Pyongyang, dictators, rogue states now sow chaos and instability..... and they fund radical terror groups and then they hide behind their veto power at the United Nations Security Council or the threats of nuclear war."
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