By Ankit Panda
The Pentagon’s 2015 report to Congress on North Korea offers insight into the country’s military progress.
On January 5, 2016, the U.S. Department of Defense released its legally required report to the U.S. congress on military developments in North Korea. The report was released one day before North Korea claimed to have detonated a hydrogen bomb as part of its fourth-ever nuclear weapons test and just over a month before North Korea launched its fourth satellite launch vehicles. The report offers insight into the Pentagon’s assessments of North Korea’s military abilities, including the expected progress of its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles program.
According to the report, North Korea’s KN-08 road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile, also known as the Nodong-C, would be capable of reaching “much of the continental United States.” The report caveats that this would depend on the KN-08 being successfully designed and developed first. According to the Pentagon’s assessment, for North Korea to reach this point, it would have to undertake multiple flight tests to hone its technology. It also noted that North Korea has made advancements on its KN-08s recently, citing “noticeably different” KN-08s being carried by transporter erector launchers (TEL) during the country’s October 2015 military parade.
Read the full story at The Diplomat