NIS Director Suh Hoon. (image: Yonhap)
SEOUL, Aug. 29 (Korea Bizwire) — The head of the National Intelligence Service stated yesterday that the ultimate goal of denuclearizing North Korea would involve removing all of its nuclear weapons.
According to lawmakers Kim Min-gi of the Democratic Party of Korea and Lee Eun-jae of the Liberty Korea Party, Suh Hoon, the current director of the intelligence agency, allegedly said that complete denuclearization would require “all nukes in North Korea to be destroyed, even if North Korea has 100 nuclear weapons.”
At an open committee meeting held at the National Assembly yesterday, the head of the intelligence agency also answered “yes” to a question asking whether the goal of the first stage of the denuclearization process was to remove 60 percent of the nuclear weapons in North Korea, a claim that was echoed previously by a nuclear export from the U.K.
In regards to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s cancelled visit to North Korea, Ha said that “there was a clash between the United States and North Korea” in terms of how to approach pending issues.
Apparently, U.S. officials wanted a preemptive notice of denuclearization, while their North Korean counterparts wanted to announce the end of war before all else.
H. S. Seo (hsseo@koreabizwire.com)
