A former acting North Korean ambassador to Kuwait has said that Pyongyang won't give up its nuclear weapons because the arsenal is the key to the survival of leader Kim Jong-un's regime, a CNN report showed Monday.

Ryu Hyun-woo, who defected to South Korea in September 2019 while serving as acting chief of mission at the North's embassy in Kuwait, made the remark in an interview with CNN. His defection was made public only last week.

"North Korea's nuclear power is directly linked to the stability of the regime -- and Kim likely believes nuclear weapons are key to his survival," Ryu was quoted as saying.

Ryu also said that North Korea may be willing to negotiate a reduction in its nuclear weapons but that it is unlikely to ever give them up entirely, according to CNN.

Nuclear talks have been stalled since a no-deal summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and then-US President Donald Trump in early 2019 as they failed to find common ground over how to match Pyongyang's denuclearization steps with Washington's sanctions relief.

CNN quoted Ryu as saying that previous US administrations had boxed themselves into a corner by demanding denuclearization up front in negotiations with the totalitarian state.

"The US can't back down from denuclearization and Kim Jong-un cannot denuclearize," he added, according to CNN.

Ryu also said that sanctions may have played a role in pushing the North to the negotiating table in 2018 when leader Kim and Trump held their first summit in Singapore.

"The current sanctions on North Korea are unprecedented and strong," Ryu said. "I think sanctions against North Korea should continue."

He added that the issue of human rights in North Korea should not be abandoned during nuclear talks with Pyongyang, saying that human rights are a "matter of morality."

North Korea has long been labeled one of the worst human rights violators in the world. Pyongyang has bristled at such criticism, calling it a US-led attempt to topple its regime.

Ryu's defection to South Korea was made public by a local media report early last week.

Further details were not available, including the timing of the defection, but he reportedly defected to the South in September 2019, about two months after Jo Song-gil, acting ambassador to the North's embassy in Italy, entered here after disappearing in late 2018.

Some presumed that Ryu is a son-in-law of Jon Il-chun, who once served as the head of an organization known to be the "personal safe" of North Korean leaders, used in managing secret funds and procuring luxury goods.

The South Korean government has not officially confirmed his defection. (Yonhap)