Top U.S. diplomat condemns N. Korea as `evil, evil place`. February. 28, 2014 01:19. .

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday denounced North Korea as "one of the most closed and cruel places on earth." He also said, "There`s evil that is taking place there that all of us ought to be deeply and are deeply concerned about."

In an interview with MSNBC, the top U.S. diplomat called the North "an evil, evil place," calling for global attention on North Korea. "And it requires enormous focus by the world in order to hold it accountable. And I think every aspect of any law that can be applied should be applied," he noted.

"There is no question that the level of depravity, the level of human rights violations, they have conducted executions, using 122-millimeter aircraft guns to obliterate people and force people to watch these kinds of executions," he said in direct reference to the possibility that the North used such heavy arms to execute elite officials purged during the process of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un`s solidifying his power, including his once powerful uncle-in-law Jang Song Thaek.

Kerry made the strong remarks in his response to a new anchorman`s mention of a United Nations report on the dire human rights situation in North Korea. Citing an account by a North Korean soldier guarding a political prison camp who witnessed five children being attacked by dogs, with two survivors buried alive, the anchorman asked how long China would back the North and whether there is any chance that the North Korean leadership will be taken to the International Criminal Court.