North Korea is prepared to launch a nuclear war against the United States if the country feels threatened, the country's ambassador to the United Kingdom told Sky News in a rare interview.
Pyongyang has amassed a number of nuclear weapons with launch capabilities and is not afraid to use them, Hyun Hak-bong told the news outlet as South Korea and the U.S. continue to conduct military exercises near the border.
"We are ready for nuclear war," he said. "That is why I say if a sparkle of a fire is made on the Korean peninsula, it will lead to a nuclear war."
Each year, North Korea complains and demands a stop to the joint war games conducted on the Korean peninsula, which it claims are an "act of aggression," according to CNN.
"We don't say empty words," Hak-bong continued. "We mean what we mean. It is not the United States that has a monopoly on nuclear weapons strikes."
When asked if North Korea would be the first to "press the button," rather than wait to respond to an initial strike from the U.S., Hak-bong said, "We are peace-loving people. We do not want war. But we are not afraid of war. This is our policy of the government."
Hak-bong went on to claim that the U.S. is waiting until North Korea is "relaxed" before making the first attack.
The ambassador also criticized allegations made by North Korean defectors who claim to have been tortured and beaten while living in the North.
"Those allegations are based on fabricated stories by the defectors from the North," he said. "Do you know the difference between human beings and animals? Human beings have a conscience and morality. If they do not have a conscience and a morality they are like nothing."
He continued, "They're animals. That is why we call the defectors animals. They are no better than animals. They're human scum."
The United Nations is investigating reports that an estimated 20,000 North Koreans have been sent around the world to work as slave-laborers, including to Qatar, where many are said to be working in inhumane conditions building the 2022 World Cup facilities, reported The Independent.
U.N. special rapporteur Marzuki Darusman said this week at the U.N Human Rights Council that the North Korean government should be held responsible for torturing, raping and abducting 200,000 people since the 1950s.
