« As of right now I’ve never heard anyone come out and say we need to build a missile defense system to defend us from Russia and China, » said Romero.
A view of the test-fire of Pukguksong-2 guided by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on the spot, in this undated photo released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang February 13, 2017. KCNA/Handout
North Korea launched on Sunday a land-based version of the KN-11 nuclear-capable ballistic missile that may have traveled further and faster than any North Korean missile before it.
The missile flew about 300 miles before hitting the Sea of Japan, likely further than any test before it and used solid fuel that allowed it to be launched off a tank-like truck in a matter of minutes, Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis told reporters on Monday.
Older North Korean missiles have used liquid fuel , which requires them to travel with huge convoys and to gas up prior to a launch, which gives observers time to prepare and respond.
While Davis said the launch made clear the “grave threat to our national security,” he added that the US is « capable of defending against a North Korean ballistic missile attack. »
Experts on North Korea and missile defense told Business Insider a different story about the US’s ability to defend against North Korean attacks.
The US is « certainly capable of addressing the North Korean threat both regionally and to the homeland, » Abel Romero
, the director of government relations
at the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance,
told Business Insider. But he added that the systems in place have considerable flaws.
Though the US has guided missile destroyers and local missile defense batteries in the region, missile defense is not « solely the answer » to stopping threats from North Korea, Romero said.
