INTERVIEW: N. Korea denuclearization "increasingly improbable": analysis site director

TOKYO - The denuclearization of North Korea has become an "increasingly improbable" goal, and the United States and its allies should move beyond it to devote their diplomatic efforts to talks on arms limitations and crisis communication, the director of the U.S.-based North Korean analysis website 38 North said.

Recalling the 20 years since North Korea carried out its first nuclear test on Oct. 9, 2006, Jenny Town said in a written interview with Kyodo News that "a pivotal moment" in Pyongyang's weapons development came in 2017 when the country's first test-firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile took place.