The top U.S. intelligence official said on Wednesday that North Korea may resume its nuclear and long-range missile testing as part of efforts to drive wedges between the United States and its allies.

Avril Haines, director of National Intelligence, made the remarks before the Senate Intelligence Committee.

In the Senate hearing on global threats, Haines said that North Korea may take aggressive and potentially destabilizing actions to reshape the security environment.

The director added that these efforts could include the resumption of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missile(ICBM) testing.  

​This came a day after her office released its Annual Threat Assessment report, which warned that North Korea will remain a weapons of mass destruction(WMD) threat for the foreseeable future.

Meanwhile, at the U.S. House Armed Services Committee, Gen. David VanHerck, commander of the U.S. Northern Command, highlighted the same possibility.

The Northcom chief told the House committee that the North Korean regime has indicated it is no longer bound by its self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and ICBM testing announced in 2018 and that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un may begin flight testing an improved ICBM design in the near future.