North Korea says its missiles can reach US mainland

North Korea said Tuesday its missiles can reach the U.S. mainland — days after South Korea announced a deal with the United States to extend its missile range. The strike zone of North Korean rocket forces includes “not only the bases of the puppet forces and the U.S. imperialist aggression forces’ bases in the inviolable land of Korea, but also Japan, Guam and the U.S. mainland,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported.

But some analysts questioned the claim. “That’s been a desire or an objective, politically, for North Korean leadership for quite some time. But they have not demonstrated that capability,” said Daniel Pinkston of the International Crisis Group’s North East Asia Program.

On Sunday, South Korea said it reached a deal with the United States that allows Seoul to extend the range of its ballistic missiles to include the northern peninsula of North Korea.

“What else can they say? It was politically impossible for them not to react,” said professor Andrei Lankov of Kookmin University in Seoul.

This entry was posted in DPRK Government by Grant Montgomery.