AFP, WASHINGTON: North Korea is able to mount a nuclear warhead on missiles that could hit the United States, a senior US defense official said Thursday in a startling assessment of the hardline communist state's military capability.
Vice Admiral Lowell Jacoby, the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, gave the assessment while answering questions during a Congressional hearing.
Asked by Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton whether North Korea had the ability to arm a missile with a nuclear device, Jacoby said: “The assessment is that they have the capability to do that, yes, ma'am.”
He said that North Korea also had the ability to deploy a two-stage intercontinental missile that could successfully hit US territory.
“Assessed to be within their capacity, yes,” Jacoby told Clinton when asked if a two-stage intercontinental missile strike was “already within their operational capacity.”
Questioned on the possible target range of the missiles and whether they could reach the West Coast of the United States, Jacoby said he needed to look at the range arcs but added: “It's certainly Alaska and Hawaii, and I believe a portion of the Northwest.”
It is believed to be the first time a US government official is publicly saying that North Korea has the technology to add a nuclear device to a missile.
His remarks at the hearing on the defense intelligence budget of the US Senate Armed Services Committee alarmed the wife of former President Clinton.
“It is troubling beyond words that we have testimony like that at this time,” said the Democratic Senator from New York as she suggested that the Bush administration's policy on ending North Korea's nuclear weapons drive does not seem to be working.
“There is that old saying, you know, if you're in a hole, quit digging. And this administration just keeps getting bigger shovels, and it bothers me greatly,” Clinton said.
President George W. Bush admitted Thursday “there is concern” about North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il's capacity “to deliver a nuclear weapon.”
“We don't know if he can or not, but I think it is best when you're dealing with a tyrant like Kim Jong-Il to assume he can,” he told a news conference.
Bush said however that negotiations were still the best way to rein in North Korea's nuclear arms program and tougher action would require consensus among regional allies.
He signaled he would have to consult with other partners to the talks — China, Japan, South Korea and Russia — before mulling tougher measures such as taking the matter to the UN Security Council.
Bush said that the North Korean threat was among reasons for the US move to establish a missile defense system.
“Perhaps Kim Jong-Il has the capacity to launch a weapon and wouldn't it be nice to shoot it down?” he said. “And so we got a comprehensive strategy in dealing with him.”
North Korea announced in February that it possessed nuclear arms.
Earlier this month, Pyongyang said it had shut down its nuclear power plant at Yongbyon and was preparing to reprocess the plant's spent fuel, a move that could result in the production of enough plutonium to build up to six more nuclear bombs.
A US official was quoted saying last week that the United States believed North Korea was planning to test a nuclear weapon and has asked China to intervene.
