A South Korean researcher says that North Korea’s policy to possess nuclear weapons will increase the uncertainties of the regime under Kim Jong-un.
 
Park Hyeong-jung, chief of the Korea Institute for National Unification’s division of planning and coordination, presented the view in his contribution to the inaugural issue of the institute’s new periodical publication.
 
Park said that the North’s diplomatic efforts that center around nuclear weapons will pose a threat to its survival.
 
He said that under the rule of Kim Jong-il, the North at least pursued a compromise in which it will implement its gradual denuclearization in return for economic assistance, but the Kim Jong-un regime is generating a strong backlash from its neighbors with its blatant pursuit of nuclear weapons.
 
The researcher said that North Korea is having difficulties in exporting its minerals, which is a source of foreign currency, due to falling prices. He added that the North’s efforts to export its labor and promote tourism are unlikely to succeed under the watchful eye of the international community.