A senior U.S. researcher says it is highly likely that North Korea will test a uranium bomb and that Kim Jong-il will never give up his nuclear weapons.

Speaking at the 2011 Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore Sunday, Jonathan Pollack of the conservative Brookings Institution said North Korea has a well planned nuclear program that the regime deems a vital component for its survival.

Neither the U.S. nor China can force North Korea to give up nuclear weapons, Pollack added, and Pyongyang's dependence on the weapons began with the normalization of Seoul-Beijing relations.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, also at the annual dialogue, said Washington "has no interest in regime change. We have no interest in destabilizing North Korea."

China's defense minister earlier said Beijing is doing more behind the scenes than the international community gives it credit for to rein in North Korea.