By Kang Seung-woo
The top U.S. intelligence official said Thursday that North Korea has taken steps toward deploying an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) believed capable of reaching the U.S. mainland.
The Director of National Intelligence James Clapper made the remarks in his written testimony to the House Appropriations Committee’s Defense Subcommittee.
Clapper said in the statement that the North is committed to developing a long-range, nuclear-armed missile that is capable of posing a threat to the United States and has displayed the KN-08 twice.
The KN-08 road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile, believed to be able to travel 12,000 kilometers, is emerging as a threat to Washington because the missile is difficult to locate and target due to mobility of its launchers.
The Stalinist country paraded the missiles in April 12, 2012, to mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il-sung, the North's founder, and in July 27, 2013, for the 60th anniversary of the Korean War armistice.
Clapper, who visited Pyongyang last November to bring back detained Americans Matthew Miller and Kenneth Bae, added that although the North has yet to test-fire the KN-08, the U.S. assesses that North Korea has already taken initial steps toward fielding the missile system.
The U.S. government is worried that the North, eager to expand its arsenal, may develop a miniaturized nuclear warhead enough to fit atop a ballistic missile that could threaten the U.S. mainland.
However, Seoul’s Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the testimony, saying, “The military authorities do not make public their intelligence assessments of North Korea’s capabilities.”
Clapper’s testimony is the latest in a series of U.S. military estimations on the Kim Jong-un regime’s development of the ICBM program.
He also made a similar remark last month to a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing, worrying that the North was exporting missiles and related material to countries such as Iran and Syria.
Adm. Samuel Locklear, chief of the U.S. Pacific Command, openly expressed concern about the KN-08 earlier this month and Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, commander of the U.S. Forces Korea, said last October that he believes that the North has the capability to build nuclear-tipped missiles ― despite no evidence to confirm his assumption.
Military analysts believe that such remarks have unknown intentions.
“As the North has yet to test-fire the KN-08, it is difficult to say that the mobile ICBM system is operationally ready,” said Kim Dae-young, senior research fellow of the Korea Defense and Security Forum. He added that the North has still carried out engine combustion tests for the missile.
“Instead, the U.S. military, which has faced defense budget cuts due to sequestering, seems to seek to secure budgets for its missile defense system,” Kim said.