The pentagon issues report on north Korea's military capabilities
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2016-02-18 17:41:51
A new Pentagon report concludes that North Korea"is committed to developing a long-range, nuclear-armed missile that is capable of posing a directthreat to the United States."
The report, required by law, updates Congressregularly on the status of and changes in NorthKorea's military capabilities.
While the report, released Friday, was written prior to Pyongyang's recent nuclear test andsatellite launch, it underscores the regime's devotion of large amounts of funding tomodernizing its military forces and weapons arsenals.
The report also singles out North Korea's Special Operations forces. It calls them "among themost highly trained, well-equipped, best fed and highly motivated" forces in North Koreanleader Kim Jung Un's military.
North Korea's Special Operations forces "operate in specialized units, includingreconnaissance, airborne and seaborne insertion, commandos and other specialties," thereport finds.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter discussed concerns about North Korea's military last week inWashington. "Every single day we are watching that DMZ," he said, referring to the demilitarizedzone between North and South Korea. There are about 27,000 U.S. troops stationed in SouthKorea.
In recent testimony to Congress, CIA Director John Brennan referred to Kim's interested indemonstrating his nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile capacity to the world. "He wantsto showcase (this capacity) as a way to demonstrate his strength, but also as a way to helpto market some of his proliferation capabilities," he said.