North Korea could have US within missile range, South Korea says

SEOUL: North Korea's rocket launch
this month showed it has likely
developed technology, long suspected
in the West, to fire a warhead more
than 10,000 kilometres, South Korean
military officials said on Sunday,
putting the US West Coast in range.
North Korea said the December 12
launch put a weather satellite in
orbit but critics say it was aimed at
nurturing the kind of technology
needed to mount a nuclear warhead
on a long-range missile.
North Korea is banned from testing
missile or nuclear technology under
UN sanctions imposed after its 2006
and 2009 nuclear weapons tests and
the UN Security Council condemned
the launch.
South Korea retrieved and analysed
parts of the first-stage rocket that
dropped in the waters off its west
coast
"As a result of analysing the material
of Unha-3 (North Korea's rocket), we
judged North Korea had secured a
range of more than 10,000 km in case
the warhead is 500-600 kg," a South
Korean defence ministry official told
a news briefing.
North Korea's previous missile tests
ended in failure. North Korea, which
denounces the United States as the
mother of all warmongers on an
almost daily basis, has spent decades
and scarce resources to try to
develop technology capable of
striking targets as far away as the
United States and it is also working to
build a nuclear arsenal.
But experts believe the North is still
years away from mastering the
technology needed to miniaturise a
nuclear bomb to mount on a missile.
South Korean defence officials also
said there was no confirmation
whether the North had the re-entry
technology needed for a payload to
survive the heat and vibration
without disintegrating.
Despite international condemnation,
the launch this month was seen as a
major boost domestically to the
credibility of the North's young
leader, Kim Jong-un, who took over
power from his father who died last
year.
Apparently encouraged by the
euphoria, the fledgling supreme
leader called for the development
and launching of "a variety of more
working satellites" and "carrier
rockets of bigger capacity" at a
banquet in Pyongyang on Friday
which he hosted for those who
contributed to the lift-off, according
to North Korean state media.