December 06, 2023
News

North Korea likely to use nukes to coerce its neighbors: US intelligence report

DPRK may take bigger conventional military risks but is unlikely to use WMDs, according to declassified report

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will likely use his growing nuclear arsenal to coerce neighboring countries, including by taking bigger risks with its conventional military forces, according to a newly declassified U.S. intelligence report.

“We assess that through 2030, Kim Jong Un most likely will continue to pursue a strategy of coercion, potentially including non-nuclear lethal attacks, aimed at advancing the North's goals of intimidating its neighbors, extracting concessions and bolstering the regime's military credentials domestically,” the National Intelligence Council (NIC) writes in the report released Thursday.