N. Korean official calls Trump’s nuclear comments ‘absurd’

A North Korean official is calling remarks Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump made about letting allies South Korea and Japan build nuclear arsenals “absurd and illogical.”

“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 that a double standard?” said Ri Jong Ryul, deputy director general of the Institute of International Studies in Pyongyang, in an interview with CNN.

{mosads}Trump said in an interview with The New York Times last month that he would consider allowing Japan and South Korea to build their own nuclear arsenals instead of depending on the U.S. for protection against North Korea and China.

“There’ll be a point at which we’re just not going to be able to do it anymore,” Trump said, pointing at what he calls a “severely depleted” military.