SEOUL -- The isolation brought on by international sanctions has driven North Korea's leader to abandon his country's long-standing goal of achieving normal diplomatic ties with the U.S., one of the world's leading experts on the country's nuclear program said on Tuesday.
Siegfried Hecker, a prominent scientist with direct experience in North Korea's nuclear facilities, argues that ever-tightening financial restrictions by the U.N. and individual countries have spurred leader Kim Jong Un to carry out a basic reorientation of North Korea's diplomatic posture.
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