A U.S. commander says North Korea has achieved "alarming success" in its pursuit of nuclear-armed intercontinental ballistic missiles(ICBM) capable of threatening the United States. 

In an advance inquiry submitted to the Senate Armed Services Committee prior to a hearing on Tuesday, Gen. Glen VanHerck, commander of U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command, said the Kim Jong-un regime believes such weapons are necessary to deter U.S. military action and ensure his regime's survival. 

He said that in 2017, North Korea successfully tested a thermonuclear device - increasing the destructive potential of their strategic weapons by an order of magnitude - as well as three ICBMs capable of hitting the U.S.

VanHerck said the North has also indicated that it is no longer bound by the unilateral nuclear and ICBM testing moratorium announced in 2018, suggesting that Kim may begin flight testing an improved ICBM design in the near future.

[Photo : YONHAP News]