Trump unlikely to settle for freeze on N.K. nuclear program: U.S. expert

WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 (Yonhap) -- The incoming administration of Donald Trump won't accept a freeze or cap on North Korea's nuclear program because such a move would send the wrong signal to Iran, a American expert on Korea said Wednesday. David Straub, a former State Department diplomat, made the remark during a discussion held at the Korea Economic Institute, stressing that the U.S. should never settle for anything short of a complete denuclearization of the communist nation. "I argue that the U.S. cannot accept North Korea as a nuclear weapons state ever, not even as a limited one promising not to proliferate, not even under the guise of a freeze," Straub said. "I think it's probable that the administration will reject any consideration of a North Korean freeze or cap in part because of the signal it would send to Iran," he said. In October, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said that denuclearizing North Korea "is probably a lost cause" and the best possible solution to the North Korean nuclear issue may be "some sort of a cap" on the regime's nuclear capabilities. The State Department rejected his assessment, saying denuclearization remains the top goal. Straub said that the new administration should practice deft diplomacy while significantly increasing sanctions on the North and their implementation. "Either Kim Jong-un will reconsider his position or others in the elite in North Korea will reconfigure the leadership in a direction more in tune with American and South Korean interests," the expert said. jschang@yna.co.kr (END)