Denuclearising N Korea ‘lost cause’: US intel chief

PERSUADING North Korea to abandon nuclear weapons is a “lost cause,” America’s top intelligence official said on Tuesday, causing concern in the State Department and ally South Korea over an issue of long-standing US policy. “The notion of getting the North Koreans to denuclearise is probably a lost cause. They are not going to do that. That is their ticket to survival,” US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said. “They are under siege, and they are very paranoid. So the notion of giving up their nuclear capability, whatever it is, is a nonstarter with them.” His comments reflected an opinion widely held among experts but one only expressed in private by senior US administration officials who feel a policy change on North Korea is overdue.