CNN’s Will Ripley: North Korea Doesn’t Want to Use Nukes; They Want Them to Stay in Power

‘North Korea has been noticeably silent during the overnight hours’

EXCERPT:

RIPLEY: "North Korea also usually takes about 24 hours to put out a response at least because so many people have to sign off on it. Unlike the U.S. where people just speak, it's a much more controlled message in North Korea.  I was in Pyongyang about a month and a half ago and I can honestly tell you that the sense I get from speaking with officials there, they want these weapons, they want to perfect these weapons, but they do not want to use the weapons. The weapons are there to keep the current regime led by Kim Jong-un in power. That’s why North Korea wants an intercontinental ballistic missile with a nuclear tipped warhead, that's why they’ve been testing their medium to long range missiles that could strike Japan or Guam theoretically, because they want these weapons as a deterrent to prevent the United States from doing in North Korea what they perceive happened in Libya."

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