North Korea could cross ICBM threshold next year, U.S. officials warn in new assessment
Source: The Washington Post
By Ellen Nakashima, Anna Fifield and Joby Warrick July 25 at 1:38 PM
North Korea will be able to field a reliable, nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile as early as next year, U.S. officials have concluded in a confidential assessment that dramatically shrinks the timeline for when Pyongyang could strike North American cities with atomic weapons.
The new assessment by the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), which shaves a full two years off the consensus forecast for North Korea’s ICBM program, was prompted by recent missile tests showing surprising technical advances by the country’s weapons scientists, at a pace beyond which many analysts believed was possible for the isolated communist regime.
The U.S. projection closely mirrors revised predictions by South Korean intelligence officials, who also have watched with growing alarm as North Korea has appeared to master key technologies needed to loft a warhead toward targets thousands of miles away.
The finding further increases the pressure on U.S. and Asian leaders to halt North Korea’s progress before it can threaten the world with nuclear-tipped missiles. President Trump, during his visit to Poland earlier this month, vowed to confront Pyongyang “very strongly” to stop its missile advances.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/north-korea-could-cross-icbm-threshold-next-year-us-officials-warn-in-new-assessment/2017/07/25/4107dc4a-70af-11e7-8f39-eeb7d3a2d304_story.html?pushid=597782e4e07a841d00000004&tid=notifi_push_breaking-news&utm_term=.71a889fe244d
= new reply since forum marked as read
If Assad's not a bad guy, if Putin can sling polonium and blow up civilian airplanes as he pleases, if Trumpcare's not that bad because "we're all going to die anyway", then why not let Kim have some nukes?
