National security adviser H.R. McMaster said Saturday that the potential of war with North Korea is “increasing every day” after the nation’s latest launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).
“I think it’s increasing every day” McMaster told Fox News host Bret Baier at the Reagan National Defense Forum, when asked if this week’s missile launch heightened the possibility of war with the U.S.
McMaster pointed to the latest North Korean missile launch, which flew higher than any of its previous long-range weapons, as posing an increased threat to the U.S. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been working to advance his country’s nuclear capability to strike the U.S. mainland.{mosads}
“The greatest immediate threat to the United States and to the world is the threat posed by the rogue regime in North Korea,” McMaster said. “Every time he conducts a missile launch, a nuclear test, he gets better.”
North Korean state media boasted that its successful test of the new type of missile, dubbed the Hwasong-15, is capable of delivering a “super-large heavy warhead” to the U.S.
Experts have confirmed that the missile, which North Korea has called “the most powerful ICBM”, could have followed a trajectory that would have put the U.S. East Coast within range. However, it remains unclear if North Korea has the technology to mount a heavy nuclear warhead on a long-range missile.