U.S. intelligence authorities have said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un almost certainly has no intentions of engaging in negotiations on the North’s nuclear program.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence presented the assessment in the U.S. intel community’s 2024 Annual Threat Assessment report released on Monday.

The report said that Kim almost certainly has no intentions of negotiating away his nuclear program, which he perceives to be a guarantor of regime security and national pride. 

The report said that Kim will continue to pursue nuclear and conventional military capabilities that threaten the United States and its allies, and the North is pursuing stronger ties with China and Russia with the goal of increasing financial gains and defense cooperation.

The report also noted that Kim probably hopes that he can use his growing defense ties with Russia to pursue his goal of achieving international acceptance as a nuclear power.

It added that in response to strengthening trilateral cooperation between South Korea, the U.S. and Japan, Pyongyang has sought to demonstrate North Korea’s military strength through missile launches and threats of nuclear retaliation.

As for the North’s weapons of mass destruction, the report said that Kim remains strongly committed to expanding the country’s nuclear weapons arsenal, and the North has been preparing to resume nuclear tests at the Punggye-ri site since mid-2022.

The U.S. intelligence authorities also assessed that Pyongyang’s cyber forces have matured and are fully capable of achieving a variety of strategic objectives against a diverse range of targets, including the U.S. and South Korea.

[Photo : YONHAP News]