The former top White House official on counter-proliferation says diplomacy is unlikely to get North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons and the best to hope for is a verifiable freeze in its production of fissile material.
Gary Samore, who resigned from his White House position in January, yesterday said it's not practical to achieve nuclear disarmament unless there's a change of leadership in Pyongyang or a fundamental change in the strategy of its ally China.
Samore told a forum on US-Korean affairs that a more attainable goal is a moratorium on nuclear and missile tests that would delay the North's progress toward having a weapon that can hit the US.
North Korea has offered to negotiate after months of provocations and a February nuclear test.
