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| Former North Korean diplomat Thae Yong-ho speaks during a debate session on prospects of affairs on the Korean Peninsula at the National Assembly, Wednesday. Yonhap |
By Kim Bo-eun
The North Korean leader's stance remains the same in that the regime will keep its nuclear program, former North Korean diplomat Thae Yong-ho said about Kim Jong-un's New Year address.
"Reading the context of this year's address, we can tell there has not been the slightest change in Kim's stance of keeping hold of nuclear weapons," he said at a debate session on prospects of affairs on the Korean Peninsula, hosted by the main opposition Liberty Korea Party's (LKP) Oh Se-hoon, Wednesday.
Kim stated in his address a day earlier that it is the stance of the regime to work toward complete denuclearization.
Based on the North Korean leader elaborating on the state's ambitions to build its economy, hopes were raised that Pyongyang would make the decision to discard its nuclear program to get sanctions lifted this year.
However, Thae said "As a North Korean diplomat, I do not think there is a possibility that the North would engage in such rational thinking or decision-making."
Thae was North Korea's deputy ambassador to the U.K., who defected to the South in 2016. He is the highest-ranking North Korean official to have defected. Since he came to the South, he has been speaking critically of the Kim regime.
In an interview with Asahi Shimbun released Wednesday, the defector said North Korea does not want to give up its nuclear program, but rather scale it down.
He said North Korea wants the U.S. to acknowledge its regime as a nuclear state and for bilateral talks to be about reducing its nuclear program.
He said in the debate session that whether the negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington would be about denuclearization or reducing its nuclear program would determine the prospect of talks.
"If the U.S. agrees to talks on nuclear arms reduction, many negotiations would take place including talks on establishing a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula," he said.
"However, if the U.S. insists on denuclearization talks, the North's relations with the U.S. as well as the South will not see as much progress as in 2018."
Thae also said sanctions relief and a peace treaty ending the 1950-53 Korean War would be a condition of nuclear disarmament.
The defector said what Kim is most interested in are economic benefits such as through the resumption of the inter-Korean Gaeseong Industrial complex and tours to Mount Geumgang.
He said if one of these is achieved, the North Korean leader would be willing to meet President Moon Jae-in for another summit at the truce village of Panmunjeom, if not Seoul.
