Pentagon report on NKorea nuclear capabilities stirs worry, doubts

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – A Pentagon spy agency report concluded for the first time that North Korea likely has a nuclear bomb that can be launched on a missile, but U.S. defence and intelligence officials cast doubt on Pyongyang’s atomic weapons capabilities.
Illustrating the high stakes surrounding the escalating tensions on the Korean peninsula, a study by the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency stoked fears that North Korea could be closer to being able to launch a nuclear missile.
The secret assessment, mistakenly marked as unclassified and partially revealed at a congressional hearing yesterday, said the agency had “moderate confidence” that North Korea possessed nuclear weapons that could be fitted onto ballistic missiles. But it said any such missile would probably be unreliable.