White House official says North Korea unlikely to abandon nuclear arms

Gary Samore, the National Security Council's coordinator for preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, said at a Brookings Institution event that North Korea is unlikely to eliminate its nuclear arsenal as long as leader Kim Jong Il remains in power. However, Ploughshares Fund President Joseph Cirincione, who moderated the event, said, "I think Gary's expressing his personal view. I don't believe there is a single, authoritative voice for the administration on North Korea right now. Frankly, the administration's policy seems to be in a bit of disarray."

Cirincione added in a telephone interview with Global Security Newswire, "Partially as a result of this policy disarray, I think there are some, like Gary, who have become very pessimistic about [the] chances of containing and eventually rolling back the North Korean program. I don't believe that pessimism is justified."