A high-profile North Korean defector said Tuesday that top leader Kim Jong Un is determined to develop a nuclear weapons capability by next year and would not be dissuaded by economic incentives, South Korean media reported.

Kim is "racing ahead with nuclear development after setting up a plan to develop it at all costs by the end of 2017," Thae Yong Ho told a group of South Korean journalists who cover their country's Unification Ministry, according to Yonhap News Agency.

Thae, 55, who was the No. 2 at the North Korean Embassy in London when he defected with his wife and two sons in July, was appearing before the media for the first time since then.