Accelerated North Korean Ballistic Missile Program Worries Congress, Military

North Korea will “in a matter of time” have an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying a nuclear weapon capable of reaching the United States; but as matters stand now, American defenses would destroy it before it reached its target.

Speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington, D.C. , think tank, Sen. Dan Sullivan, (R-Alaska), said that is not enough and is worrisome. “We see that train coming,” he said. One day, “Kim Jung-un can press a button and hit Chicago.”

The urgency for missile defense is compounded by Pyongyang’s history of selling its weapons expertise to other nations to raise money for its operations, he said in answer to an audience question.

In his Friday address, Sullivan said he and a number of Republican and Democratic senators will soon introduce a bill to step up missile defense spending. “You’ll see a lot of bipartisan support for missile defense” with the threat growing from North Korea and evolving threat from China and Russia with their advanced cruise missiles and hypervelocity weapons.

To the immediate point of deterring Pyongyang, he said the idea is to convince the North Koreans:

“If you try this, we have the ability to shoot down, one, two, three, four of your missiles,” and then “we will massively, massively, massively retaliate,” he said