The lawmaker also highlighted how badly the North treats its people.

"It also is, I think, one of the biggest travesties on the planet when people find out what's happening in North Korea, where you have probably 20 million people living like animals. I think that we should all be concerned about it," Nunes said.

"And somebody who is unhinged as the North Korean dictator, we should all be concerned about it, and so should the Chinese and the Russians and others," he said.

Fears of the North's nuclear and missile program have grown significantly in the U.S. since last year as Pyongyang carried out a number of weapons tests, including two nuclear tests and a series of ballistic missile launches, at a rapid pace unheard of before.

Adding to the concerns were North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's threat last month to test-fire an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of striking the US, and the test-firing of a newly developed intermediate-range ballistic missile earlier this month. (Yonhap)