Posted on 04/28/2005 5:52:18 PM PDT by Asphalt
North Korea has the capability of mounting a nuclear warhead on its missiles that could hit the United States, a senior US defense official said.
Vice Admiral Lowell Jacoby, the head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, gave the assessment during a Congressional hearing.
Asked by 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 during the hearing on the defense intelligence budget of the US Senate Armed Services Committee.
North Korea said this month 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.
Reports quoting a US official said last week that the United States believed North Korea was planning to test a nuclear weapon and has asked China to intervene.
,,, semantics, I know, but are we talking about Guam or Hawaii or the continental US?
My guess would be West Coast targets fired upon with lob and pray guidance. I doubt the NK guidance systems could be precise enough to target an island. The CEP on their missiles is probably very large.
The odds of NK SUCCESSFULLY lobbing a nuke at the U.S. are not all that great. About as likely as one of those novelty contests where a guy throws a basketball from one end of the court to the other and if he makes a basket, wins a million dollars.
In NK's case, if they got in a lucky shot, it would be the end of North Korea, and Pyongyang goes down in the history books with Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and rightly so.
No matter what Moscow and Beijing may think (or not think) of us these days, they have no doubt communicated to Kim Jong ILL that they would look most unfavorably upon him doing anything stupid, because they know that any nation stupid enough to fire a nuke at the U.S. will cease to exist, and radioactive fallout does not recognize any national border, i.e., Russia and China have no desire to have fallout raining down on them due to the moronic notions of KJL.
If push comes to shove, and if Beijing and/or Moscow KNEW without doubt that KJL was preparing to launch a nuke at the U.S., they might take him out themselves in order to be on the 'right side'.
Never mind Oregon, though, they don't see any problems with foreigners as long as they "distance themselves" from us. Let'em burn!
Problem might be radioactive fallout on Japan.
Added to how many bombs they already supposedly have?
Launching a nuke at us would certainly solve their famine and hunger problems.
... after which, the Senator squealed in delight and slid off her chair...
I saw this on NBC News this evening and was stuck by the irony of Hilary asking innocent questions about the results of her husband's traitorous dealings in Asia.
I assume South Korea does not have any nukes at the present time. Correct?
I'm guessin Hillary immediately announced her support for a missle shield...
,,, not too much of the old united spirit in the United States, eh?
Sometimes life isn't fair, eh?!
These things degrade with time and you have to rework them.
,,, thanx for your eMAIL bringing me up to speed with the OR situation.
Does North Korea have any understanding of the concept of 'a hundred for one'?
" North Korea capable of firing nuclear-armed missile at US "
Yes , semantics ...They might be capable of " firing " a nuclear-armed missile at the U.S., but where it'd land is anybody's guess .
" Problem might be radioactive fallout on Japan. "
Problem might be they bomb Japan ! What's the rest of the world going to do ? Nathing !
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