US outlines N/Koren’s threats

If North Korea continues with its controversial missile and nuclear tests, it “will move closer” to its objective of reaching the United States with nuclear weapons, according to a Pentagon report.
During recent heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula, Pyongyang repeatedly threatened the possibility of nuclear attacks against the United States and South Korea, prompting questions on the progress of its weapons program.
North Korea’s secretiveness has made it hard for Western intelligence agencies to gauge exactly what is going on inside its research facilities.
Many clues have come from the regime’s large-scale tests such as the long-range rocket launch in December and the underground nuclear detonation in February.
The Pentagon’s annual report to Congress on Thursday provided an overview of the military threat posed by North Korea, but it didn’t say how long it believed it would take the isolated, Stalinist state to develop a fully operational nuclear missile capable of reaching the U.S. mainland.
It described North Korea’s ballistic missile program as “ambitious” and said that “the pace of its progress will depend, in part, on how many resources it can dedicate to these efforts and how often it conducts tests.”