Denuclearizing N. Korea a 'lost cause,' US intel chief says: Efforts to convince North Korea to give up its nuclear program and "denuclearize" the Korean Peninsula are bound to fail, US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said Tuesday.
The United States is set to deploy its THAAD missile defense system to South Korea as soon as possible, despite opposition from China, in an effort to protect against North Korea's pursuit of missile and nuclear technology.
"The notion of getting the North Koreans to denuclearize is probably a lost cause. They are not going to do that. That is their ticket to survival," Clapper said during an event at the Council on Foreign Relations think-tank.
"And I got a good taste of that when I was there, about how the world looks from their vantage. And 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."
