North Korea is upgrading its mobile missiles, making it easier to launch a surprise attack on neighbours, but it does not have a missile that could hit the continental United States, a report said today.
North Korea has more than 800 ballistic missiles, some of which could deliver chemical or possibly biological weapons, the California-based Centre for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) said in its report on North Korea's capabilities.
The report said missile exports are a major source of foreign currency for the North Korean government.
"North Korea's earliest and most loyal customer for missiles and missile technology has been Iran," said CNS, a major US non-governmental organisation devoted to non-proliferation.
Concern over North Korea's missile programmes has resurfaced since it launched two, and possibly three, short-range missiles earlier this month.
The commander of US forces in South Korea described the missiles in the test as representing a "quantum leap forward" from North Korea's previous weapons because they had greater reliability and precision.
The missiles were boosted by solid fuel rather than liquid fuel, making it easier to transport and deploy them, as well as increasing their accuracy, General B.B. Bell told the US House Armed Services Committee.
The report said North Korea does not currently have an operational missile that can strike the United States.
However, General Bell and other US officials have said the North is developing longer-range missiles that could be used to attack the continental United States.
Pyongyang is working on a solid-fuel missile, Taepodong-X, with a range of up to 4,000 km (2,500 miles) that could hit Japan as well as US bases in Guam. Pyongyang has yet to demonstrate its reliability through a test flight, the report said.
"North Korea has not demonstrated the capability to make a nuclear weapon small enough to be part of a missile warhead or the capability to produce a re-entry vehicle," the report said.
North Korea has stayed away this year from six-party talks aimed at ending its nuclear weapons programmes, angry over a US crackdown on firms Washington suspects of aiding Pyongyang in illicit activities, such as counterfeiting.
In recent days, North Korea has also lashed out over annual joint US-South Korean military drills, saying they were a prelude to an invasion and nuclear attack.