N. Korea taking steps to deploy missile capable of reaching US territory says US intelligence chief

WASHINGTON, Feb. 26 (Yonhap) — The United States believes North Korea has already taken steps toward deploying the KN-08 road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile, feared to be capable of reaching American territory, the U.S. intelligence chief said Thursday.

“Pyongyang is committed to developing a long-range, nuclear-armed missile that is capable of posing a threat to the United States and has publicly displayed its KN-08 road-mobile ICBM twice,” Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said in a statement for a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

“We assess that North Korea has already taken initial steps toward fielding this system, although the system has not been flight-tested,” he said.

The missile is believed to have a range of at least 5,500 km, which puts Alaska at risk. U.S. officials, including Adm. Samuel Locklear, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, have expressed concern about the missile, saying the missile is harder to keep an eye on as it can be launched from mobile launchers.

Clapper also said that the North’s nuclear and missile programs pose a serious threat to the U.S. and the security environment in East Asia. The communist regime is also a serious proliferation risk, he said, citing Pyongyang’s export of missiles and related material to countries like Iran and Syria.

Following through on a 2013 announcement of intention to refurbish and restart nuclear facilities, the North has restarted its nuclear reactor and expanded the enrichment facility at the Yongbyon nuclear complex, Clapper said.

During the Senate hearing, Clapper also said the North is a serious cyber-security threat.

“A recent cyber attack on Sony by North Korea illustrates the unpredictable and coercive nature of that regime, and demonstrates that even relatively small and weak rogue nation taking advantage of our unparalleled dependence on electronic networks can reach across the ocean to cause extensive damage to United States,” he said.

Clapper called the Sony hack the “most serious and costly cyber attack against U.S. interests to date.”