DOD reports to Congress on North Korean threat

North Korea continues to put resources toward developing a nuclear missile capable of reaching the continental United States, according to a recent Pentagon report sent to Congress.

The report, released Feb. 12, comes on the heels of a North Korean nuclear test in January and a long-range rocket test earlier this month.

North Korea's key weapon for potentially striking the U.S. homeland remains the KN08 Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, which “if successfully designed and developed . . . would be capable of reaching much of the continental United States, assuming the missiles displayed are generally representative of missiles that will be fielded,” the report states.

“However, ICBMs are extremely complex systems that require multiple flight tests to identify and correct design or manufacturing defects,” the report continues. “Without flight tests, the KN08’s current reliability as a weapon system would be low.”

The report also highlights North Korea's cyber capabilities.

“North Korea has an offensive cyber operations (OCO) capability,” the report states. “Implicated in malicious cyber activity and cyber effects operations since 2009, North Korea probably views OCO as an appealing platform from which to collect intelligence and cause disruption in South Korea and other adversaries including the United States. North Korea likely views cyber as a cost-effective, asymmetric, deniable tool that it can employ with little risk from reprisal attacks, in part because its networks are largely separated from the Internet and disruption of Internet access would have minimal impact on its economy.”

The Pentagon names North Korea as a top threat to U.S. security in its recently released $583 billion budget request.