NDTV:
North Korea says it has moved closer to test-firing an intercontinental ballistic missile with the potential of hitting the U.S. mainland.
“U.S. President Donald Trump has said the world will never see North Korea reach the final stage of developing nuclear weapons that could reach the U.S., but recent strategic weapon tests have proved the country is ‘not far away’ from testing an ICBM,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency said, citing a commentary in the Rodong Sinmun newspaper.
The end of the U.S.’s anti-North Korea policies are now a “near reality,” the commentary said.
The isolated state has accelerated its missile-testing program in defiance of United Nations sanctions, as leader Kim Jong Un seeks to develop a device that can deliver a nuclear warhead to North America. The regime already possesses the Taepodong-2, which can reach all parts of the U.S., but analysts say it has been used for launching satellites into orbit and probably wouldn’t be suitable for delivering atomic weapons.
A test-firing looks feasible within the next few months, while completion of the technology may take about a year, according to Park Jiyoung, a senior fellow and nuclear engineer at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul. “The North has already conducted a number of experiments to test various elements of the missile,” she said. “It would now want to test all the elements put together.”
Park added that North Korea already has the technology needed to load a nuclear weapon on to a missile, and it is now waiting for the completion of its ICBM and submarine-launched ballistic missile technologies…
