Former U.S. Diplomat Says North Korea Wants to Keep Its Nuclear Weapons and Normalize Relations with the U.S.

It is good to see that someone is listening to what the Kim regime has been saying for years, they have no interest in denuclearizing:

Along with massive economic assistance, the normalization of diplomatic relations with the West ― particularly with the United States ― has long been viewed by countries outside of North Korea as one of the carrots that could persuade the reclusive state from seeking nuclear weapons. 

But a former U.S. diplomat said that North Korea has no intention to get rid of its nuclear weapons in exchange for economic incentives or the normalization of diplomatic relations. Joe DeTrani said the reclusive state wants both: to normalize diplomatic relations with the West while keeping its nuclear arsenal intact. 

“The North Koreans have been telling us, and certainly they’ve been telling me from 2003 to 2016, when I’ve been meeting them officially or track 1.5 meetings with a deputy foreign minister, that North Korea wants to be accepted as a nuclear weapons state and they want normal relations with the United States ― they want both,” DeTrani, a former U.S. special envoy for negotiations with North Korea, said during a session of the Korea Times Forum on the theme “New Challenges for Korea-U.S. Alliance,” at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Seoul, Wednesday. DeTrani, now in Albuquerque, New Mexico, joined the discussion remotely.

Korea Times

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