On Monday, Congressman Mike Rogers, the Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, called for the United States to increase missile defense assets after North Korea tested an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
“The recent North Korean ICBM test is a stark reminder that Kim Jong Un is an unstable dictator with a growing nuclear arsenal capable of ranging the U.S. homeland,” Rep. Rogers said. “Protecting the U.S. homeland must be paramount as we develop our 2024 budget, and this includes fully-funding homeland missile defense assets. What has to be done is clear – we must accelerate our missile defense development to outpace the DPRK threat. This includes speeding up the Next Generation Interceptor, putting more interceptors in the ground, and looking to space-based missile defenses.”
North Korea test-launched a missile on Saturday with a stated goal of demonstrating the country’s ability to use nuclear force against South Korea, Japan, and the USA.
North Korea claims its nuclear forces can destroy South Korea and even American cities. Many western experts are skeptical of North Korea’s actual capability. No one doubts that North Korea has nuclear bombs or that it has missiles that could hit South Korea, Japan, or the U.S. mainland. What is not known is whether or not the North Koreans have the ability to load their nuclear bombs on their missiles.
North Korea has three ICBMs in its growing arsenal. Saturday’s test was the Hwasong-15. It also has the Hwasong-14 and Hwasong-17. Korea claims that all three are nuclear-capable.
North Korean state media claimed that the missile reached a maximum altitude of about 3,585 miles and flew 615 miles. The North Korean state-controlled media claimed the missile could travel 8,080 miles or beyond if launched on a normal trajectory.
North Korea’s Yongbyon complex has facilities to produce both plutonium and highly enriched uranium, the two main ingredients for building nuclear weapons.
North Korea has been a problem for the U.S. since Kim Jong Un’s grandfather invaded South Korea in 1950, sparking the Korean War. The peace treaty that ended the war left the two Koreas divided. South Korea has grown increasingly prosperous and a member of the global community, while North Korea has grown totalitarian and Stalinist. The country has developed nuclear weapons to stay relevant on the global stage and extract concessions from the global community. President Donald Trump attempted peaceful negotiations to convince Kim to give up his nuclear weapons and to tone down the rhetoric, but those talks with North Korea ultimately failed in 2019.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency is headquartered at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville. Thousands of Alabamians work in missile defense both for the military and its many civilian contractors in the state.
Mike Rogers is in his eleventh term representing Alabama’s Third Congressional District. Rogers is an attorney who previously served in the Alabama House of Representatives and on the Calhoun County Commission.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
