Declassified Japanese documents confirm that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il said during September 2002 summit talks with Japan that he was afraid the North would end up like Iraq.

NHK also reports that according to summit minutes held by the Tokyo Foreign Ministry, then Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi proposed to Kim that if Pyongyang gives up its nuclear program, the global community would compensate them financially.

Kim then reportedly expressed fear of becoming like Iraq but added that Russia and China agreed to North Korea’s possession of nuclear weapons.

Another former Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, told NHK that during a visit he made to the North, Kim was nervous about prospects of a war with the U.S.