He is just doing this for the preservation of his family. The main goal of Kim Jong-un’s meeting with Trump is first to buy time, and second, get sanctions relief. Finally, he wants the status that comes with being a nuclear power.

Who is most threatened by North Korea’s nuclear weapons?

Kim Jong-un wants his dictatorship and dynasty to go on. If you want to control North Korean society, you have to make South Korea afraid of North Korea. The existence of South Korea is itself a direct threat to the North Korean system.

He wants to make sure South Korea stays in South Korean territory, and does not extend it. That is his first goal.

Kim Jong-un wants to keep his military in balance with South Korea. But he knows the North Korean military cannot afford modern tanks and guns. He knows this balance is changing unfavorably for North Korea. Nuclear weapons are the only way to keep the balance with South Korea.

So, the weapons are not only important in military terms but as a political tool for keeping the society together?

That’s right.

He needs an instrument to unite North Korea around him. North Korea’s economy is a failure. North Korean welfare is a failure. The North Korean people do not now believe in North Korean’s system and ideology. So he needs nuclear weapons to justify all of North Korea’s current problems.

For instance, North Korean newspapers are educating the people that North Korea is poor. Why? Because North Korea spends so much money on nuclear development, and because of that nuclear development, North Korean became one of the superpowers of the world. So this is a really clear justification of economic failure.