Japan Times:
WASHINGTON – A group of U.S.-based researchers warned Tuesday that North Korea has some 1,000 ballistic missiles that can reach Japan and South Korea.
The potential capability of delivering weapons further makes North Korea appear more advanced than other countries at a similarly early stage in the development of their nuclear arsenals, the group said in a report published by Johns Hopkins University’s U.S.-Korea Institute.
“The current force is more than able to accommodate any future growth in the North’s nuclear weapons arsenal, including a worst-case projection of 100 nuclear weapons by 2020,” the report said.
The ballistic missiles that are capable of reaching Japan and South Korea included Rodong missiles with a range of 1,200-1,500 kilometers and Scud missiles with a range of 300-600 km, according to the report posted on the institute’s 38 North website.
While the North Korea already has ballistic missiles that can target its neighbors in Northeast Asia, it will need foreign technology to upgrade its arsenal and pose a more direct threat to the United States, U.S. researchers said Tuesday.
Unlike Iran, the current focus of international nuclear diplomacy, North Korea has conducted atomic test explosions. Its blood-curdling rhetoric and periodic missile tests have set the region on edge and there’s no sign of negotiations restarting to coax it into disarming.
For now, the emphasis is on sanctions and military preparedness. Defense Secretary Ash Carter visits Japan and South Korea this week amid speculation the U.S. wants to place a missile defense system in South Korea against North Korean ballistic missiles, which Seoul is reluctant about as it would alienate China. The U.S. has already deployed anti-missile radar in Japan.
U.S. military officials have expressed growing concern about North Korea’s capabilities. Navy Adm. William Gortney, commander of U.S. Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, told reporters Tuesday that it is the U.S. assessment that North Korea has the ability to miniaturize a warhead to put on an intercontinental ballistic missile.
U.S. officials are most concerned about a long-range missile called the KN-08 that has been displayed in military parades. It is said to be capable of being launched from a road-mobile vehicle and would therefore be difficult to monitor via satellite…
