"North Korea would use nukes if forced"

Last year, CNN correspondent Will Ripley got an opportunity to visit North Korea and meet the three Americans detained there. It was believed that whatever Ripley and his photojournalist saw in North Korea was sort of planned and according to what the North Korean wanted them to see. This year, they got a call from the North Korean government to come back and in fact interview a high ranking member of the government with no preconditions. The interview was open to any type of questions making this the first ever foreign interview with no limits; therefore Ripley wasted no time asking about the recent buzz of 15 North Korean officials being executed as per the order of their supreme leader Kim Jong Un. Park who is the deputy director of the research institute for national reunification slammed them as slander right away. He diffused the argument by saying that those who try to break down the state are punished everywhere in the world and hence if they are punished in North Korea its not a big deal. Moving on, the correspondents asked about the human rights violations that go on in North Korea to which Park replied that there are equal human rights violations in the USA so its not fair talking about North Korea only. He said that violence and extreme torture are also visible in the US suggesting the fact that they should not point the fingers at DPRK when they have such flaws themselves. Lastly, Park also stated that Nuclear arsenal is part of their security measurement and that it was really necessary for them. Their nuclear capacity allows them to strike mainland USA and the director made sure that he conveys this message to the world that they would use their nuclear power if ever USA forces them to. He said that North Korea as a state is convinced that they are strong militarily, ideologically and politically and that economic frontier is the only front left that needs to be focused on now.

Economic progress requires solid international ties and with North Korea's current list of allies so small, one can only doubt economic progression.




http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/07/asia/north-korea-official-interview/index.html