North Korean ICBMs pose 'real danger' to US homeland: General Milley

Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, addresses the cadets during the United States Air Force Academy's Class of 2021 graduation ceremony at the USAFA in Colorado Springs, Colo., U.S., on May 26. AP-Yonhap

North Korea continues to build up its ballistic missile capability, which poses "real danger" to the U.S. mainland, the top U.S. military commander said Thursday.

Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also said the North is showing no signs of giving up its efforts to bolster its military capability.

North Korea "continues to enhance its ballistic missile capability and possesses the technical capacity to present a real danger to the US homeland as well as our allies and partners across the Indo-Pacific," Milley said in written testimony to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.

"They show no signs of moderation in their focus on military capability at the expense of their most vulnerable citizens and peace of the Korean Peninsula," he added,

His written testimony was submitted before a hearing on the defense budget request for fiscal year 2022. Also in attendance was Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

Austin said the U.S. will continue to focus on dealing with North Korean threats while putting diplomacy at the forefront.

"Even as we address China's growing military capability, we will remain focused on North Korea," he said in his own written testimony also submitted to the House Subcommittee on Defense.

"Leading with diplomacy, the United States will continue to work to mitigate North Korea's destabilizing and provocative behavior and maintain peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula," he added.

Still, he too noted the North's nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles pose threats to the United States and its allies.

"Pyongyang continues to develop its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, posing an increasing threat to regional allies and partners and with ambitions to be able to strike the U.S. homeland," said the defense secretary.

North Korea reportedly possesses several intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that can hit the continental U.S.

Pyongyang has maintained a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile testing since November 2017.

However, the U.S. director of national intelligence, Avril Haines, said earlier that Pyongyang may resume its long-range missile testing in the near future.

"For its part, North Korea may take aggressive and potentially destabilizing actions to reshape its security environment and will seek to drive wedges between the United States and its allies," Haines said. "These efforts could include the resumption of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missile testing." (Yonhap)

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