OPINION:
One of the most pressing situations for the incoming Trump administration will be the communist regime of Kim Jong-un in North Korea and its desire to obtain ballistic missile nuclear capability. For his part, the North Korean leader seems to believe it is now or never to develop the technology to threaten the West and its allies in the Pacific with atomic attack.
A former high-ranking North Korean diplomat, Thae Yong Ho, who recently defected, 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,” reported Yonhap News.
“North Korea believes that relentless provocations must shift new [South Korean and U.S.] governments’ policy lines into more stability-focused ones.” In other words, North Korea hopes to scare Washington into giving it what it wants on the nuclear question and to accept the North as a nuclear power.
“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.”
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