North Korea May Have Gained Ability To Target US With Its Nuclear Missile

North Korea has possibly gained the ability to strike the U.S. mainland because of its progress in missile technology demonstrated in recent long-range missile tests.

North Korea has attained "considerable" level of technology needed to miniaturize a nuclear warhead, according to the 2014 South Korean Defense White Paper.

There is possibility that North Korea may develop a long-range nuclear missile capable of reaching as far as the United States west coast, the white paper said.

"The North is believed to have secured some 40 kilograms of weapons-grade plutonium by reprocessing spent nuclear fuel rods multiple times", the paper added.

As a result, the US is expected to put more pressure on South Korea to adopt its missile defense (MD) system at the risk of angering China.

The North's third nuclear test conducted in February, 2013, accelerated efforts to make a warhead small enough to place at the tip of a missile, the biennial analysis concluded.

The assessment in the 2012 version stated that the North carried out nuclear tests twice in October 2006 and May 2009.

North Korea has yet to demonstrate its miniaturization capability publically, officials and experts said, according to The Korea Times.

"The assessment regarding its capability for small nuclear warheads comes in consideration of the fact that acquiring such technology takes about two to seven years in general, and eight years have passed since it conducted its first nuclear test," a ministry official said on condition of anonymity.

The North may have established the capability to threaten the U.S. mainland as it has already launched long-range missiles five times.

Two years ago, the ministry wrote that the North tried to launch long-range missiles in April 2009 and April 2012, but these attempts were unsuccessful.

"The evaluation was based upon the North's successful sending of a satellite into orbit on an Unha-3 long-range rocket in December 2012," the official said.

He said that Pyongyang's Taepodong-2 long-range rockets are believed to have a range of 10,000 kilometers, not 6,700 kilometers as originally stated in the 2012 paper.

"Despite Pyongyang's push to develop long-range missiles, no signs have been detected it has put them into service," he noted.

However, the ministry believes the North's capability has yet to reach the level of loading a nuclear warhead onto a long-range missile, The official added.

The North has secured more armored vehicles, rocket launchers and warships, and is presumed to be building new types of submarines capable of firing ballistic missiles.