U.S. intelligence chiefs have warned against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.
 
The warnings were made during the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on Thursday by the heads of six major U.S. intelligence agencies.

Central Intelligence Agency(CIA) Director Mike Pompeo, who recently made a secret visit to South Korea, said in addition to ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons, the North also poses the risk of triggering a major conflict in the region involving conventional weapons.
 
Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is attempting to prove he has the capability to strike the U.S. mainland with a nuclear weapon. He noted the North took the first step to develop a KN-08 intercontinental ballistic missile, but did not conduct a test flight yet.
 
Coats said Pyongyang officials are claiming that nuclear weapons will assure the survival of the North Korean regime, and Kim has no intention to return to the talks aimed at denuclearizing his country.
 
He said the North poses a potentially “existential threat” to the U.S., and despite its significant investment, the U.S is having hard time in collecting related information. 
 

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