CNN correspondent Wolf Blitzer says that during his recent visit to North Korea he did not get the impression the communist state was on the verge of collapse.

Blitzer recently returned from a six-day visit to North Korea, where he accompanied New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson on the politician’s private visit there.

Blitzer said that he was under the surveillance of North Korean guides at all times during his stay in the North and that his team was allowed to see only what North Korea wanted to show.

He said North Korea rejected his and Richardson’s repeated requests to visit the Yongbyon nuclear site and the inter-Korean border area.