Story highlights
- Exclusive: North Korean official says Trump's comments on nuclear proliferation are "absurd and illogical"
- "Trump's remarks give us deeper look at America's hostile policy" toward North Korea, Ri Jong Ryul says
- Ri warns a policy like Trump's would only escalate North Korea's nuclear ambitions
Pyongyang, North Korea (CNN)A North Korean official said recent remarks by Republican frontrunner Donald Trump are "absurd and illogical," in a rare interview granted to a CNN team in Pyongyang.
Trump suggested the U.S. military should withdraw from key allies South Korea and Japan, and both countries could instead arm themselves with nuclear weapons.
"Donald Trump's remarks are totally absurd and illogical," says Ri Jong Ryul, deputy-director general of the Institute of International Studies in Pyongyang.
South Korea and Japan respond to Donald Trump 01:43
"The U.S. tells us to give up our nuclear program, is preparing a nuclear attack against us, and on the other hand would tell its allies to have nuclear weapons. Isn't this (a) double standard?"
Pyongyang has not officially responded to Trump's remarks. Last week, North Korean propaganda attempted political satire -- adopting the voice of Abraham Lincoln -- scolding President Barack Obama for U.S. nuclear policy.
Photos: North Korea's verbal volleys
North Korea has a history of using creative language to express loathing for its enemies. Here are some of the regime's more colorful threats against the West.
March 2016: North Korea warned it would make a "preemptive and offensive nuclear strike" in response to joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises. Pyongyang issued a long statement promising that "time will prove how the crime-woven history of the U.S. imperialists who have grown corpulent through aggression and war will come to an end and how the Park Geun Hye group's disgraceful remaining days will meet a miserable doom as it is keen on the confrontation with the fellow countrymen in the north."
March 2016: North Korea warned it would make a "preemptive and offensive nuclear strike" in response to joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises. Pyongyang issued a long statement promising that "time will prove how the crime-woven history of the U.S. imperialists who have grown corpulent through aggression and war will come to an end and how the Park Geun Hye group's disgraceful remaining days will meet a miserable doom as it is keen on the confrontation with the fellow countrymen in the north."
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Photos: North Korea's verbal volleys
March 2016: Following the imposition of strict U.N. sanctions, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the country's "nuclear warheads need to be ready for use at any time," the North Korean state news agency KCNA reported.
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Photos: North Korea's verbal volleys
January 2016: North Korea claimed to have successfully tested a thermonuclear weapon, justifying its right to have an H-bomb on the grounds of "self defense."
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Photos: North Korea's verbal volleys
September 2015: In a statement, North Korea said its nuclear arsenal was ready for use "at any time."
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Photos: North Korea's verbal volleys
August 2015: As forces from the U.S. and South Korea took part in joint military drills. North Korea's state media referred to the exercises, which started on August 17, as "madcap" and issued a stern warning to America: "If the U.S. ignites a war in the end, far from drawing a lesson taught by its bitter defeat in the history, the DPRK will bring an irrevocable disaster and disgrace to it."
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Photos: North Korea's verbal volleys
August 2015: On August 23, as North Korean negotiators were meeting with their South Korean counterparts over current tensions, a KCTV presenter appeared on air repeating North Korea's ambitions to "destroy the warmongering South Korean puppet military."
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Photos: North Korea's verbal volleys
December 2014: The FBI said it suspected North Korea was behind a hack of Sony Entertainment, which led executives to initially cancel the theatrical release of "The Interview." The film was a comedy about an American television personality who the CIA asks to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. North Korea threatened "merciless" action against the U.S. if the film was released, accusing the U.S. of retaliating for the hack by shutting down North Korea's Internet access. North Korea's National Defense Commission also called U.S. President Barack Obama "reckless" and a "monkey."
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Photos: North Korea's verbal volleys
July 2014: North Korea threatens to hit the White House and Pentagon with nuclear weapons. American "imperialists threaten our sovereignty and survival," North Korean officials reportedly said after the country accused the U.S. of increasing hostilities on the border with South Korea. "Our troops will fire our nuclear-armed rockets at the White House and the Pentagon -- the sources of all evil," North Korean Gen. Hwang Pyong-So said, according to The Telegraph.
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Photos: North Korea's verbal volleys
March 2013: Angered by tougher U.N. sanctions and joint military exercises by the United States and South Korea, the Supreme Command of North Korea's military vowed to put "on highest alert" the country's "rocket units" that are assigned to strike "U.S. imperialist aggressor troops in the U.S. mainland and on Hawaii and Guam and other operational zone in the Pacific." Whether Pyongyang has the will to back up such doomsday talk is a perplexing question, but there is evidence that its know-how -- in terms of uranium enrichment, nuclear testing and missile technology -- is progressing.
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Photos: North Korea's verbal volleys
February 2013: In a message to the United States and South Korea, North Korea vowed "miserable destruction" if "your side ignites a war of aggression by staging reckless joint military exercises."
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Photos: North Korea's verbal volleys
June 2012: Once again, North Korea vowed to be "merciless" in its promised attack on the United States, this time threatening a "sacred war" as it aimed artillery at South Korean media groups. North Korea was mad that South Korean journalists had criticized Pyongyang children's festivals meant to foster allegiance to the Kim family.
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Photos: North Korea's verbal volleys
April 2012: North Korea's state-run news agency reported that "the moment of explosion is approaching fast" and promised "merciless" strikes against the United States. "The U.S. had better ponder over the prevailing grave situation," it said. Later that month, Pyongyang launched a long-range rocket that broke apart and fell into the sea. The launch came during preparations for a grand party that celebrated the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung, the founder of North Korea.
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Photos: North Korea's verbal volleys
November 2011: North Korea's military threatened to turn the capital of South Korea into a "sea of fire," according to South Korea's Yonhap News Agency.
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Photos: North Korea's verbal volleys
2009: After the U.S. pledge to give nuclear defense to South Korea, Pyongyang threatened a "fire shower of nuclear retaliation."
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Photos: North Korea's verbal volleys
2002: U.S. President George W. Bush includes North Korea in an "axis of evil" with Iran and Iraq, which North Korea brushes off as a "little short of a declaration of war." North Korea reportedly threatened to "wipe out the aggressors." That year, North Korea also threatened to kick out international inspectors who were in the country to monitor its compliance with global nuclear nonproliferation agreements.
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Called out for inflammatory rhetoric
Wolf Blitzer interviews Donald Trump 14:44
Even in a country known for bellicose rhetoric, Ri believes Trump's ideology is dangerous.
"Trump's remarks give us deeper look at America's hostile policy against my country," Ri says. "Simply put, America's hostile acts against us are making the situation on the Korean peninsula worse."
He warns a policy like Trump's would only escalate North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
Peace talks thwarted
North Korea: Kim and his missiles 03:25
Last year, North Korea asked for peace talks with the United States. Washington rejected the request when Pyongyang refused to commit to stopping its nuclear weapons program.
In January, just days before his birthday, North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un ordered an H-bomb test. One month later, he ordered a satellite launch using a long-range rocket.
Observers believe Kim is trying to project strength ahead of the crucial Worker's' Party Congress next month -- where the young leader could gain even more power.
A failed mobile missile launch Friday, which coincided with North Korea's most important holiday, marking the birthday of late founder and president Kim Il Sung, may have also been an attempt to show force in the face of what the North considers a looming threat from its southern neighbors.
About 17,000 American service members are engaged in eight weeks of military exercises, with 300,000 South Korean troops.
Photos: South Korea, U.S. hold 'largest ever' drills
South Korean and U.S. troops staged an amphibious assault Saturday, March 12 as U.S. and South Korean military units embarked on eight weeks of annual joint military exercises.
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Photos: South Korea, U.S. hold 'largest ever' drills
Clouds of camouflage smoke obscure amphibious assault vehicles coming into shore as part of military exercises on March 12. South Korea's defense ministry spokesman is calling the maneuvers "the largest scale ever," involving 300,000 South Korean soldiers and at least 17,000 from the U.S.
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Photos: South Korea, U.S. hold 'largest ever' drills
A South Korean Marine looks through a viewfinder on a sniper rifle on March 12. Marines and sailors stormed a beach aboard assault vehicles in a mock amphibious assault.
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Photos: South Korea, U.S. hold 'largest ever' drills
A South Korean Marine looks through his rifle's view finder on March 12 with an amphibious assault vehicle in the background.
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Photos: South Korea, U.S. hold 'largest ever' drills
A South Korea marine holds an assault rifle in the March 12 exercises.
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Photos: South Korea, U.S. hold 'largest ever' drills
Small detachments of forces from Australia and New Zealand also participated in Saturday's maneuvers.
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Photos: South Korea, U.S. hold 'largest ever' drills
South Korean Marines group crouch between two amphibious assault vehicles during the March 12th drill.
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Photos: South Korea, U.S. hold 'largest ever' drills
South Korean Marines points their weapons during the joint military exercises held on March 12.
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Photos: South Korea, U.S. hold 'largest ever' drills
Protesters call for a more peaceful atmosphere on the Korean peninsula as South Korea and U.S. troops hold joint military exercises on March 12.
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Displays of strength
Analysts: China must enforce North Korea sanctions 03:03
North Korea's own military response has included firing projectiles, claims of miniaturizing nuclear warheads, and promises of more nuclear and missile tests.
Few North Korean officials study American politics like Ri, a longtime diplomat and former ambassador who now runs a Pyongyang think tank that monitors global events and reports back to North Korean leadership.
Ri is one of a handful of North Koreans who can access the Internet. State media doesn't cover details of the U.S. presidential campaign -- the average person wouldn't recognize any of the candidates.
"We're not really interested in the U.S. election," he said. "We don't care who becomes the next U.S. President.
"Whether Republicans or Democrats take power, it has nothing to do with us. American politicians have always had a hostile policy against (North) Korea."
