North Korea Hasn't Perfected ICBM Warheads, US Admiral Says

Years of high-profile intercontinental ballistic missile tests by North Korea have fallen short of demonstrating that Pyongyang can successfully launch and deliver a nuclear warhead against the US mainland, the head of American forces in the Indo-Pacific said. 

North Korea's recent test flight of a Hwasong-19 ICBM, its largest missile to date, showed "a capability that will have the ability to range the entire continental United States," Admiral Samuel Paparo said in remarks Tuesday at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

Pressed whether that means North Korea can pair a nuclear warhead with an ICBM that can withstand the rigors of launch, flight and descent through the atmosphere, Paparo added that "we've not yet seen that capability, but we just see continued testing towards that."

Under leader Kim Jong Un, North Korea has accelerated its development of missiles and nuclear weapons, ratcheted up aggressive rhetoric against South Korea and emerged as a critical ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his war in Ukraine. 

In a dispatch a day after the test launch of the long-range missile, the official Korean Central News Agency described it as an "ultimate version" ICBM that will be used by the strategic forces of its military.

Paparo's remarks outlined a caveat about the threat posed to the US mainland by Pyongyang's progress so far, and it falls in line with other American assessments in recent years.

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in 2022 that "the question of whether they can mate a nuclear warhead to an intercontinental ballistic missile, fire it, and actually have it hit a target as they would want to in the continental United States, that is something that is not yet proven."

That doesn't mean North Korea can't threaten American interests: The country has spent decades stockpiling millions of rounds of artillery and thousands of rockets in the terrain north of the shared border with South Korea, where nearly 30,000 US troops are based. It's also shown an ability to launch missiles over Japan, another key ally the US would rely on in a conflict. 

Kim has vowed to strengthen the nation's nuclear capabilities to counter threats posed by the security partnership between the US and its allies in the region, North Korean state media reported this week.

"The US, Japan and South Korea will never get away from the responsibility as the culprits of destroying the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula and the region," Kim said, referring to a partnership he called an "Asian version of NATO."