The Pentagon says North Korea appears headed toward its announced goal, which is to be able to strike the U.S. with a nuclear-armed missile.
In a report to Congress Thursday, the Pentagon made no estimate of when North Korea might achieve that capability. It said the North will move closer to its goal if it continues investing in the testing of nuclear and missile technologies.
The report says the North's work on a space-launch vehicle has contributed heavily to its effort to build a missile capable of delivering a warhead to U.S. targets. That work was highlighted by the launch of a satellite into space last December.
But it adds that the North has yet to test a re-entry vehicle, without which it cannot deliver a warhead to a target.
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