WASHINGTON: The top U.S. intelligence officer for North Korea warned on Friday the country sees diplomacy only as a means to advance its nuclear weapons development, even as the new Biden administration says it will look for ways to bring Pyongyang back to talks.
President Joe Biden’s nominee for secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Tuesday the new administration planned a full review of the U.S. approach to North Korea to look at ways to increase pressure on it to return to the negotiating table.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki reiterated this on Friday, saying North Korea’s nuclear weapons were a serious threat to peace and Washington had a vital interest in deterring Pyongyang.
Sydney Seiler, the U.S. national intelligence officer for North Korea, told the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank earlier that Pyongyang’s weapons development had been a consistent policy for 30 years.
“Every engagement in diplomacy has been designed to further the…