A key U.S. diplomat warned Thursday that North Korea’s weapons capabilities have shown a “qualitative improvement” in the past year and the result is an “unprecedented level of activity.”
(FOX)- Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who met with his counterparts from key U.S. allies Japan and South Korea, said the North conducted nuclear and missile tests with new intensity during 2016 and that the threat it poses grows by the day. The North Koreans learn from every single test, including failures, he said.
“They apply what they have learned to their technology and to the next test, and in our assessment we have seen a qualitative improvement in their capabilities over the past year as a result of this unprecedented level of activity,” Blinken told a news conference.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Sunday preparations for test launching an intercontinental ballistic missile have “reached the final stage.”
If such a missile were wedded to a nuclear warhead it could pose a new level of threat to the U.S. mainland, but it remains unclear when the secretive nation might achieve that goal. President-elect Donald Trump responded in a tweet Monday, “It won’t happen!”
Blinken said that the U.S. and its allies were not “sitting still,” and had bolstered defenses to stay ahead of the threat with additional missile defenses and radars on sea and on land.