WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says North Korea’s most recent test of a long-range missile did not demonstrate an imminent threat to the United States.
Shortly after the late-November test, Mattis said the missile flew higher than any previous North Korean test, and that it represented a continued effort to build a missile capable of threatening the U.S.
In an exchange with reporters at the Pentagon on Friday, Mattis was asked whether the missile test indicated an imminent threat of nuclear attack on the U.S.
Mattis’ response was: “No, not yet.” He said U.S. experts are still doing what he called “forensic analysis.” This presumably refers to studies of imagery of the missile in flight and the re-entry of its mock warhead into the Earth’s atmosphere.
