The vice chief of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff said that the United States has a strong and "very effective" homeland defense system against North Korean intercontinental ballistic missiles(ICBM).

JCS Vice Chairman John Hyten made the remark during a discussion with the Hudson Institute think tank, which was prerecorded and aired on Wednesday. 

Asked about the U.S. readiness posture to respond to missile threats such as the North's ICBMs, Hyten said that he thinks the U.S. homeland missile defense with respect to North Korea is strong. 

He said that U.S. interceptors, mostly in Alaska, but also at Vandenberg in California, are very effective against that threat.

Hyten added, however, that missile defense capabilities need to be modernized to respond to evolving threats around the world. 

He said that they're not effective against other threats, and the U.S. has to make sure it continues to develop the capacity to handle not only the growing threat from North Korea and potential threat from Iran, but also threats that might emerge from other places.

[Photo : YONHAP News]