I'm John Batchler. I welcome my friend and colleague Gordon Chang at Gordon G. Chang, North Korea.

Greg Scarletta is president and CEO of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea.

Greg, a very good day to you.

Kim Jong-un vows to permanently strengthen self-defensive nuclear deterrent.

He's getting in the game of headlines threatening the worst-case

scenario. This is not fresh. Is there something that's driving it, or was he feeling left

out of the puzzle? Good evening to you. Very good evening to you, John and Gordon. His advisors have been telling him for a long time that what

Muammar Gaddafi missed was nuclear weapons. The same goes with Saddam Hussein and now

the same goes with Iran. They haven't been quite able to complete those weapons.

So, of course, his OGD, his organization and Godd's department is telling him,

Commerit Supreme Secretary, you really need those nuclear weapons in order to stay in power.

So that's what they've been doing for a long time.

That's what they're doing right now. They believe that nuclear weapons are absolutely critical

to executing their fundamental strategic objective, which is regime survival.

The arsenal, however, has lots of skills in it.

Russia's buying from them.

Have they grown their armament section, not just nuclear but conventional?

Whether we talk to them, whether we don't talk to them, they will continue to grow their

arsenal, both conventional, as well as weapons of mass destruction, including chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons.

That is how North Korea operates. They regard these tools of death as critical to the survival of the Kim family

regime, which is once again their fundamental strategic objective.

Gordon, you have a question for Greg? Greg, the North Koreans may be right that nuclear

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