NK developing weapons to neutralize U.S. military dominance: Gates

WASHINGTON (Yonhap) -- North Korea, China and Iran are developing weapons to neutralize the global military dominance the U.S. has enjoyed since the end of the Cold War, the chief U.S. defense official said Friday.

"One of the ways that spectrum will broaden is with the emergence of high-end asymmetric threats," Defense Secretary Robert Gates told cadets at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, according to a transcript released by the Pentagon.

"Indeed, looking at capabilities that China and others are developing -- long-range precision weapons, including anti-ship cruise and ballistic missiles; quieter submarines; advanced air defensive missiles -- and what the Iranians and North Koreans are up to, they appear designed to neutralize the advantages the U.S. military has enjoyed since the end of the Cold War: unfettered freedom of movement and the ability to project power to any region across the globe by surging aircraft, ships, troops and supplies," he said.

Gates said in January that North Korea's missiles and nuclear weapons will pose a threat to the U.S. within five years.

Reports said that North Korea is digging a tunnel to prepare for a third nuclear test and has completed construction of a sophisticated launch site on its western coast to test-fire a ballistic missile that can reach the mainland U.S.

North Korea detonated nuclear devices in 2006 and 2009, and conducted long-range missile tests three times -- in 1998, 2006 and 2009 -- which were seen as a partial success.

The North is believed to have at least several nuclear weapons, with some experts saying it may have already developed nuclear warheads small enough for missile payloads.

Pyongyang in November disclosed a uranium enrichment plant that could be used to make nuclear weapons apart from its plutonium program. The North claims its intention is to generate electricity.

China, North Korea's staunchest communist ally, opposed condemning the uranium program, citing a lack of concrete evidence and its possible adverse impact on an early resumption of the six-party talks.

The talks, involving the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia, have been deadlocked for more than two years over the North's missile and nuclear tests and attacks on a South Korean island and warship that killed 50 people last year.