Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger says if North Korea is allowed to develop and proliferate nuclear weapons, the move could serve as an “overwhelming” example to other states with nuclear ambitions.

Kissinger made the statement during a lecture at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul on Thursday.

He said that if the North, a state which has no significant resources, can create nuclear capabilities by starving its population, other countries could follow suit.

Kissinger added that he supports dealing with the North with both sanctions and dialogue through the six-nation nuclear talks and that he opposes the idea of bilateral U.S.-North Korea talks, citing that Pyongyang’s nuclear issue does not only concern the U.S.