Bernie Sanders said he believes North Korea poses a greater threat to the United States than Russia or ISIS, an opinion that differs from most top foreign-policy experts.
The Vermont senator made the statement during the debate last week between himself and fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton, the final one before the crucial New Hampshire primary.
Sanders said, "I worry very, very much about an isolated country. That's what makes me nervous. Russia lives in the world. China lives in the world. North Korea is a very, very strange country because it is so isolated, and I do feel that a nation with nuclear weapons ... they have got to be dealt with, before advocating 'leaning on China,' to solve the issue."
Sanders' lack of foreign-policy experience is seen as a weak spot in contrast to Clinton, who served not only as a U.S. senator but as secretary of state.
In contrast to Sanders, Clinton said Russia is the U.S.'s greatest threat.
"Russia is trying to move the boundaries of the post-World War II Europe," she said, "the way that [Russia] is trying to set European countries against one another, seizing territory, holding it in Crimea, beginning to explore whether they could make some inroads in the Baltics.
"We have to send a very clear message to Putin that this kind of belligerence, that this kind of testing of boundaries will have to be responded to. The best way to do that is to put more armor in, put more money from the Europeans in so they're actually contributing more to their own defense," Clinton continued.
