July 8 (UPI) -- North Korea will not abandon its nuclear weapons. This is not a matter of opinion, but a strategic fact rooted in decades of historical precedent, failed diplomacy and shifting global dynamics. Despite successive rounds of sanctions, summits and deterrence-based policies, Pyongyang's nuclear program has only advanced. For the regime, nuclear weapons are not mere bargaining tools -- they are the ultimate guarantor of survival. And recent events have only hardened that conviction.