President Donald Trump's bellicose rhetoric on North Korea appears to have had the effect of stiffening people's resolve, with some North Koreans even believing they could survive nuclear conflict.
Euronews’ partners NBC have been allowed a rare visit for western media into North Korea, and their reporter has found a worrying atmosphere in which many seem resigned to the fact of impending war, and, unlike most anyplace else, a certain confidence in their ability to deal with the unthinkable; a thermonuclear conflict.
“In this newly nuclear nation there seems to be more bikes on the road than cars. For decades they’ve had a military-first policy; that’s what we’re going to see. We are very quickly learning that President Trump’s rhetoric is having a profound effect. Officials here, talking to us about President Trump, the Vice Foreign Minister warning that he believes this region is on the brink of war, and if that is the case, then we are standing here on the front line,” reports NBC’s Kier Simmons.
“This is the border, the demilitarised zone between the north and South Korea. President Trump is expected to visit South Korea next month. I asked a Lieutenant-Colonel who is based here ‘What do you think about President Trump?’ He said to me, very plainly, that he believes the president is mentally ill. I spoke to another North Korean official who’s the father of a young son, and I said to him, ‘Aren’t you frightened by the prospect of war?’ And you know what he said to me? He said that all his life he has felt as if his existence is threatened by the United States, and he said that he thinks that North Korea and the North Koreans could even survive a nuclear war.
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