World should lend an ear to North Korea’s defector

A high-ranking defector of North Korean has said that president Kim Jong-Un is planning a ‘prime time’ nuclear weapons push in 2017. The development comes as Pyongyang wants to take advantage of leadership transitions in South Korea and the United States.
As per the revelation made by Thae Yong-Ho, who fled his post as North Korea’s deputy ambassador to Britain, Kim issued a directive at a rare ruling party congress in May to ‘complete’ nuclear development by the end of next year.
With South Korea holding presidential elections and the US undergoing an administration transition, the North sees 2017 as the prime time for nuclear development. And it is based on the calculation that the US and South Korea will not be able to take physical, military measures because they are tied up with domestic politics. Pyongyang carried out two nuclear tests in 2016 and numerous missile launches in pursuit of its ultimate goal of a deterrent capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to the US mainland.
It is difficult to gauge how close Pyongyang is to realizing its nuclear ambition, since Kim regime has never successfully tested an inter-continental ballistic missile. But it is understood that Kim has made enormous strides in that direction since he took over as leader from his father, Kim Jong-Il who died in December 2011.
Thae has revealed that Kim would never trade away the North’s nuclear arsenal—no matter how large a financial incentive might be offered. “The North Korean leader’s main aim is to open a new dialogue with the US from the position of a confirmed nuclear power,” he said. Washington has repeatedly declared that it would never accept the North as a nuclear state.
Thae said he was ignorant of how much progress the North had really made with its nuclear weapons program, saying such information was not given to diplomats. It is imperative that world should listen to what Pyongyang’s defected diplomat has revealed.
North Korea conducted its fourth and fifth nuclear tests in a decade in a sheer defiance of United Nations regulations. And Kim’s aggressive rhetoric has vexed the international community. Pyongyang government said that it was capable of mounting warheads onto rockets. The claim was backed by its successful launch of a long-range rocket in February and another in August that flew 500 kilometers.
Although there is a sense of skepticism over Pyongyang’s claims to have denoted hydrogen bomb, the tests have advanced Pyongyang’s ambition of making a warhead compact enough to ride a missile. And it drew sanctions from United Nations and Washington. US also deployed a ballistic missile defense system in South Korea to deflect any potential strike.
North Korea has a history of escalating and then lowering tensions to extort diplomatic and economic benefits from South Korea and others. But the pariah regime has always gone back to develop its nuclear capability. This carrot and stick approach has failed to halt North Korea’s nuclear program. China, which is the closest ally of North Korea and its biggest trade partner, could do more to make sanctions effective. But Beijing has its own interests and prefers to tread carefully. Collapse of Kim’s regime will do China no good. It will lead to influx of refugees and create well-armed US ally at its doorstep. Collapsing North Korea with nuclear weapons would be dangerous. The most viable option would be to tighten the noose of sanctions around Kim’s regime.