North Korea is still working to build a nuclear missile that can reach the United States, according to an
unclassified report released by the Pentagon.
The report, given to Congress on Thursday, says that the communist country's advancements match its stated goal of building nuclear-tipped missiles than can reach the U.S. mainland,
The Hill reports.
North Korea's intent at reunification with American ally South Korea and its commitment to keeping the Kim family in power are "largely unchanged" since the nation's founding in 1948, the report said, "but its strategies to achieve these goals have evolved significantly."
With those goals "attainable in its mind in part by expelling U.S. forces from the Peninsula," North Korea is focusing not only on threats to South Korea, but now amping them up toward the United States.
The report was made as a requirement of the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act, which also requires a classified report. The unclassified version posted on the Defense Department's website gave no timeline of when North Korea might be able to attach a nuclear warhead to an intercontinental ballistic missile.
"North Korea continues to develop the (Taepodong-2), which could reach parts of the United States if configured as an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of carrying a nuclear payload," the report noted.
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