THE ABYSS CALLED NORTH KOREA: A high-level defector says the regime will collapse.

The North Korean regime is on an inexorable decline towards collapse, with its people increasingly disillusioned but its nuclear ambitions undimmed, a top defector said Wednesday.

“I’m sure and I can say that Kim Jong-Un’s days are numbered,” said Thae Yong-Ho, who fled his post as North Korea’s deputy ambassador to Britain in August.

In his first press conference for foreign correspondents, held under tight security, Thae said he was sure that more of his fellow countrymen would follow suit since North Korea was “on a downward path”.

The elite were “turning their backs” on leader Kim Jong-Un, he said, adding: “The traditional structures of North Korean systems are crumbling.”

Again, the source is a defector.

North Korean diplomats are generally compelled to leave one of their children behind in Pyongyang when they are dispatched abroad, but Thae was able to take both his sons, now aged 19 and 26, to London — easing his preparations to defect.

Thae supports regime change:

“The only way to resolve the issue of North’s nuclear threats is the elimination of Kim Jong-Un’s regime,” he said. He called for continued international sanctions on Pyongyang and publicity campaigns to spread external information in the North and encourage its citizens into “popular uprisings”.

UPDATE: North Korea may test ICBM this spring. One analyst thinks the test could come in February on Kim Jong Un’s birthday. Here’s a recent column of mine that discusses NorK weapons programs.