U.S. President Barack Obama didn’t mention anything related to North Korea’s recent nuclear test during his final State of the Union address on Tuesday, and on Wednesday this was explained as being to avoid giving “attention” to the regime.

Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser emphasized that the U.S. places a “huge priority” on the North Korean issue during the Foreign Press Center briefing on Wednesday.

“We didn’t particularly feel compelled to give him that attention,” he told journalists, saying what Kim Jong Un wants is “attention.”

Daniel Pinkston, former Northeast Asia Deputy Project Director for the International Crisis Group backed