Clapper: North Korea will not abandon nuclear weapons
The Director of national intelligence James Clapper said on Tuesday that it was "a lost cause" to try to force North Korea to abandon nuclear weapons - a view that runs counter to official US policy.
"They're not going to do it," said Clapper in his speech at the Council on foreign relations in new York, where he discussed several challenges facing U.S. foreign policy. "They are under siege and they are very paranoid. Thus, the notion of giving up their nuclear capabilities, whatever it was regarded as a failure," added Clapper. The North Korean regime sees its nuclear program as "their ticket to survival," said the Director of Intel.
Asked about the comments by Clapper, the State Department said that the official U.S. position on the denuclearization of North Korea has not changed. While clapper said that there is no conclusive evidence that the regime in North Korea can hit US with a missile carrying a nuclear warhead, he added that the intelligence community continues to believe that Pyongyang is "the ability to launch missiles that can reach the United States of America, Alaska and Hawaii ".
Clapper also expressed concern that Russian anti-aircraft weapons could create a potential U.S.-enforced no-fly zone in Syria is dangerous for American personnel. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican Mike Pence expressed some support about a no-fly zone, which would be aimed