Controversial MP George Galloway has praised the "cohesive, pristine, innocent culture" of North Korea and blamed the US for "war mongering" to engineer the current crisis on the peninsula.
The MP for Bradford West gave the analysis earlier this week on his "Comment" show for the Iranian state-funded Press TV, when asked whether he thought the US was more dangerous than Kim Jong Un's bellicose state.
George Galloway has called North Korea 'courageous'
"We have to examine exactly who is threatening whom," he said, first reported by the Daily Caller. "Because one of the things I learnt on my two visits to North Korea, is that this is an extraordinarily cohesive political entity and society.
"They are courageously refusing to bow the knee to big power diktat and domination."
He added the caveat that he "does not agree with the North Korean system. I've been there, I've seen it up close and personal.
"But there have been achievements in North Korea, they have a satellite circling the earth. They have a nuclear power industry, even though they suspended it on false promises from President Clinton and US statesmen.
"They have a cohesive, pristine actually, innocent culture, a culture not penetrated by globalisation and Western mores.
He accused South Korea of being a "puppet state" of the US, adding: "I am much more afraid of the United States of America and so are most people in the world.
"North Korea has no intention to harm any of us. North Korea’s problem is with South Korea.
"South Korea exists because America invaded Korea, killed millions of people, divided the country and continues to garrison South Korea with military bases, nuclear weapons, chemical and biological weapon.”
"I believe that this is a United States trumped up little crisis,” he said. “They have pushed and pushed North Korea into a corner."
A YouTube clip of the segment has been widely tweeted, with many pouring scorn on Galloway's comments.
Galloway reiterates that he would not "like to live in North Korea".
"Not least because they certainly don’t believe in God in North Korea,” he continued.