Yahoo News ‘Everybody knows they are not going to denuclearise’: CIA concludes North Korea won't give up nukes
The CIA believes North Korea doesn’t plan to give up its nuclear weapons programme, it has been reported.
The intelligence analysis has emerged as US president Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un try to schedule a summit to discuss the nuclear question.
NBC News reported that an intelligence analysis by the CIA has concluded that the North has no intention of giving up its nuclear weapons any time soon.
It quoted three US officials to back up the report’s findings, which contradicts Mr Trump’s assertion that Pyongyang intends to halt its weapons programme.
The CIA document throws doubt over Mr Trump’s goal at the summit of ridding North Korea of nuclear weapons.
We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea. Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2018
One intelligence official who read the report told NBC: “Everybody knows they are not going to denuclearise.”
It said the report was circulated earlier this month, just days before Mr Trump called off the June 12 summit.
At the weekend, he was more positive about the planned meeting, saying things were “moving along very nicely”.
Bizarrely, the CIA report says one of the concessions to the US being considered by Kim Jong-un is the opening of a burger franchise in Pyongyang.
In 2016, Mr Trump famously said he wanted to talk about nuclear weapons with the North Korean leader over a burger.
Meanwhile, a top North Korean official is heading to New York for talks aimed at salvaging the summit.
Kim Yong Chol was spotted at Beijing’s airport just after noon on Wednesday ahead of the North’s highest-level mission to America in 18 years.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency cited diplomatic sources as saying that Mr Kim was on an Air China flight to New York which departed on Wednesday afternoon.
Yonhap said Mr Kim, who had arrived in Beijing on Tuesday, was travelling with five other North Korean officials.
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Mr Kim, one of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s most trusted aides, is a former military intelligence chief and now a vice chairman of the ruling party’s central committee.
North Korea’s mission to the United Nations in New York is its sole diplomatic presence in the United States.
While the US tries to nail down the summit, it has been reported that Russia’s foreign minster is making a visit to North Korea this week.
Sergei Lavrov is expected to arrive there on Thursday, according to North Korea’s state news agency.
He has been invited by his North Korean counterpart Ri Yong-ho.
In a statement on Wednesday, the North Korean foreign ministry said: “Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov’s official visit to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea will take place on May 31.”
The statement said the pair will discuss North Korea’s nuclear programme as well as international affairs.
If the meeting takes place, it will be the two foreign ministers’ second in the space of a month.
Earlier this month, Mr Ri visited Moscow for talks with Mr Lavrov.
Last week, Russian president Vladimir Putin said Russia is keen to find a solution to fears over North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme.
Mr Putin said “a full denuclearisation of North Korea” should mean giving “North Korea a guarantee of their sovereignty and inviolability”.
He said: “If you don’t behave aggressively and if you don’t corner North Korea, the result that we need will be achieved faster than many would think, and at less cost.”
