North Korean Diplomat Turned Defector Confirms Kim Jong-un Has No Intention To Give Up Nuclear Weapons

The North Korean diplomat turned defector Thae Yong-ho wasn’t kidding when he said he would become an outspoken critic of the Kim Jong-un regime after defecting from the DPRK embassy in London:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is determined to complete development of nuclear weapons by the end of 2017 and has no plans to give up the country’s nukes even if he is offered huge sums of money, a high-profile North Korean diplomat who recently defected to South Korea said Tuesday.

Kim is “racing ahead with nuclear development after setting up a plan to develop it (nuclear weapons) at all costs by the end of 2017,” Thae Yong-ho, formerly No. 2 at the North Korean Embassy in London, said in a press briefing. It was his first media appearance since he escaped his post in London in July to take refuge in South Korea with his wife and two sons.

“As long as Kim Jong-un is (in power), North Korea will never give up its nuclear weapons … the North will not give them up even if the country is offered $1 trillion or $10 trillion in return,” Thae said at the press briefing. “It’s not a matter of (economic) incentives.”

For North Korea, the year 2017 is “an opportune time” when South Korea and the United States will have new presidents, he said. “Due to domestic political procedures, North Korea calculates that South Korea and the U.S. will not be able to take physical or military actions to deter North Korea’s nuclear development.”

In the meantime, Pyongyang will try to open dialogue with Seoul and Washington’s new administrations as a nuclear-possessing state, Thae said of the North’s strategy to secure nuclear power status.

Until then, North Korea will continue to launch military provocations and conduct nuclear tests in a bid to frustrate Seoul and Washington’s sanctions-concentrated policy towards Pyongyang, Thae said. “North Korea believes that relentless provocations must shift new (South Korean and U.S.) governments’ policy lines into more stability-focused ones.”  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but Thae is just confirming what many of us have been saying for years, North Korea has no intention of giving up their nuclear weapons.  In the article Thae also confirms that the North Koreans can continue to get away with their nuclear and provocation strategies because they know that the Chinese will do nothing to stop them.