Nuclear-armed North Korea has a ballistic missile that could hit the United States, the leading lawmaker on the US House of Representatives intelligence committee warned on Sunday.
Congressman Mike Rogers also raised concern that North Korea’s young leader Kim Jong-Un is trying to prove himself to his military and that Washington could not be sure of his “stability”.
“They certainly have a ballistic missile that can reach US shores,” Rogers told the CNN news network, without specifying whether he was referring to the more exposed US states of Alaska and Hawaii or to America’s west coast.
“You have a 28-year-old leader who is trying to prove himself to the military, and the military is eager to have a saber rattling for their own self-interest, and the combination of that is proving to be very, very deadly.”
North Korea has tested missiles that could strike South Korea or Japan but has yet to demonstrate it has the capability to fire long-range missiles that could reach the continental United States.
Rogers acknowledged the United States knew more about Kim’s father, Kim Jong-Il, than it does about the country’s current head.