FOREIGN POLICY/MILITARY/NORTH KOREA: “Gen. Joe Dunford, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the U.S. must take threats from North Korea seriously, despite fresh skepticism from South Korea that Pyongyang has the ability to reliably deliver an intercontinental ballistic missile to the U.S…
Gen. Dunford noted that North Korea had conducted missile and nuclear tests ‘at a historic rate’—at least 15 tests in the past year.
But uncertainty remains about the North’s ability to endanger the American homeland or even the U.S. territory of Guam, which North Korean leader Kim Jong Un threatened last week with an ‘enveloping fire’ of intermediate-range missiles.
Those doubts were underscored Sunday by a senior South Korean defense official, who said that both Seoul and Washington had concluded Pyongyang lacks the missile re-entry technology to successfully launch an intercontinental ballistic missile at the continental U.S.
The remarks by Suh Choo-suk, Seoul’s vice defense minister, during an interview with Korea Broadcasting System, added another voice of skepticism about whether North Korea has attained a critical capability central to his missile ambitions.”
-Gordon Lubold and Jonathan Cheng, “U.S. General Says North Korea Threats Must Be Taken Seriously,” The Wall Street Journal online, Aug. 14, 2017 09:26am