Text Fwd: N. Korea's nuke, missiles pose serious threat to U.S.: Mullen

Adm. Milke Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaks to the Foreign Press Club in Washington on Jan. 12. (Yonhap)

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N. Korea's nuke, missiles pose serious threat to U.S.: Mullen
Adm. Milke Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaks to the Foreign Press Club in Washington on Jan. 12. (Yonhap)
Jan. 13, 2011
By Hwang Doo-hyong

WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's nuclear and missile capabilities pose a serious threat not only to Northeast Asia but to the United States amid volatility in Pyongyang over the ongoing process for the third-generation power transition there, the top U.S. military officer said Wednesday.

"This is an evolving threat, not just to the region but to the United States specifically," Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Foreign Press Club.

Mullen was discussing remarks U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates made Tuesday in Beijing that North Korea's missiles and nuclear weapons will pose a threat to the U.S. within five years.

North Korea's "continuing development of nuclear weapons, and their development of intercontinental ballistic missiles" is "becoming a direct threat to the United States," Gates said. "I don't think it's an immediate threat, no. But on the other hand, I don't think it's a five-year threat. I think that North Korea will have developed an intercontinental ballistic missile within that timeframe."

North Korea detonated nuclear devices in 2006 and 2009, and is believed to have several nuclear weapons. Some experts say North Korea could have developed nuclear warheads small enough to be mounted on ballistic missiles with the help of China or Pakistan.

North Korea is said to be behind nuclear and missile proliferation in Iran, Syria, Pakistan and several other countries, as arms sales are considered one of its major sources of revenue. North Korea has for years been under U.N. economic sanctions for its nuclear and missile tests.

North Korea also revealed in November a uranium enrichment plant that could serve as a second way of building nuclear bombs in addition to its existing plutonium program, despite Pyongyang's claims it is producing fuel for power generation.

"It's a really dangerous time," Mullen said. "So the potential provocations could become more and more catastrophic. And that's been a principal point of focus as we look at engaging the leadership in China and others to say this is something we really have to figure out a way to deter in the future."

Mullen warned of further provocations from North Korea.

"If past is prologue there, the succession plan usually shows or generates a series of provocations," he said. "And that has been the case recently."

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