North's Kim Jong-un has 'no intentions' of giving up nukes, U.S. intel says

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has "almost certainly has no intentions" of negotiating away his country's nuclear weapons program, according to the latest U.S. intelligence report.

Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines speaks during a hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee in Washington on Monday. [AP/YONHAP]

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has "almost certainly has no intentions" of negotiating away his country's nuclear weapons program, according to the latest U.S. intelligence report, as he perceives it "to be a guarantor of regime security and national pride."

On Monday, the Office of the U.S. Director of National intelligence (DNI) released its 2024 Annual Threat Assessment on collective security insight into the "most direct, serious threats to the United States primarily during the next year."

It further noted that Kim "probably hopes that he can use his burgeoning defense ties with Russia to pursue his goal of achieving international acceptance as a nuclear power."

The DNI assessed that the North Korean military will "pose a serious threat to the United States and its allies by its investment in niche capabilities designed to provide Kim with options to deter outside intervention" and "offset enduring deficiencies in the country's conventional forces."

It said that Kim remains strongly committed to developing capabilities intended to challenge regional missile defense systems, diversify options to deliver nuclear warheads and enhance second-strike capabilities.

Kim, it added, will continue to "prioritize efforts to build a more capable missile force," including cruise missiles, intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and hypersonic glide vehicles, which are "designed to evade U.S. and regional missile defenses and import a variety of dual-use goods in violation of UN sanctions, primarily from China and Russia."

Last year, North Korea conducted five ICBM flight tests, including the Hwasong-15 and Hwasong-17 liquid-propellant ICBMs, as well as a new solid-propellant ICBM, the Hwasong-18.

The report said Kim remains strongly committed to expanding the country's nuclear weapons arsenal, the "centerpiece of his national security structure," and pointed out that Pyongyang has been prepared to resume nuclear tests at the Punggye-ri site in North Hamgyong Province since mid-2022.

In May 2018, North Korea demolished all four portals and tunnels at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site in an event witnessed by foreign media amid denuclearization negotiations. However, there have been signs of resumed activities after the collapse of denuclearization talks between Pyongyang and Washington.

In March 2023, Kim ordered an increase in the nuclear weapons stockpile and the expansion of weapons-grade nuclear material production. Pyongyang also launched its ballistic missile submarine "following years of modifying an old Romeo-class submarine."

North Korea has "emerged from its deepest period of isolation," driven by two decades of severe UN sanctions and coming out of a Covid-19 lockdown, the report said. The country is now pursuing stronger ties with traditional allies China and Russia with the goal of increasing financial gains, diplomatic support and defense cooperation.

It also noted the high-level Chinese and Russian delegations hosted in Pyongyang late last year and Kim's first trip overseas since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Russia.

"Since this meeting, North Korea probably has begun shipping munitions to Russia in support of the conflict with Ukraine in exchange for diplomatic, economic and military concessions," the report read.

Regarding the trilateral cooperation between South Korea, the United States and Japan, the report said that North Korea has sought to "demonstrate the danger posed by its military through missile launches and rhetoric threatening nuclear retaliation."

It described that Pyongyang routinely times its missile launches to counter Seoul-Washington joint exercises "in part to attempt to coerce both countries to change their behavior and counteract South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's hardline policies toward the North."

The report added that North Korea is expected to continue its illicit cyber activities, including particular cryptocurrency heists, in an attempt to "launder and cash out stolen cryptocurrency; and maintain a program of IT workers serving abroad" to earn additional funds for its weapons programs.

Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines testified before the U.S. Senate Select Intelligence Committee on the findings of the annual threat assessment and addressed concerns over the strengthened cooperation between North Korea, China, Russia and Iran.

Currently, there are only five internationally recognized nuclear weapons states: the United States, Britain, Russia, France and China.

Countries like North Korea, India, Pakistan and Iran claim that they possess nuclear weapons, but the international community does not recognize them as nuclear weapons states.

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]