It appears that some, due to the apparent conventional superiority of the US, assume that nuclear weapons deter only other WMDs and forget the fairly recent historical example of early cold war era NATO, where nuclear weapons were used to deter a perceived conventional threat from being realised.
So yes, in the current situation, DPRK uses nuclear weapons to deter a conventional attack. As such, it must keep it's deterent credible and thus allow no doubt that nuclear weapons would be used if any significant attack (that their conventional cant handle) occurs.
The reasons behind this stance are simple - nuclear deterence is cheaper and DPRK is not exactly a wealthy country.
Morever I do not see any incentive not to use non strategic and strategic nuclear weapons if a significant attack occurs - as Yugoslavia, Iraq, Lybia, Syria show once you are in trouble without backup you are dead anyway.
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Grumpy as always.
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