Pentagon says North Korean ICBMs can strike U.S., cites need for stronger homeland defense

North Korea’s new Hwasongpho-19 ICBM. [Photo: Yonhap]

A senior Pentagon official assessed that North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missiles have the capability to strike the United States, again citing the North’s nuclear and missile programs as a rationale for strengthening U.S. homeland defenses.

According to the Senate Armed Services Committee, Mark Berkowitz, the assistant secretary of defense for space policy, appeared Monday at a Strategic Forces subcommittee hearing on the missile defense budget. In written testimony, he listed North Korea alongside China, Russia and Iran as missile threats to the U.S. homeland and allies.

“North Korea poses a direct and growing threat to the U.S. homeland, forward-deployed U.S. forces, and allies with its increasing nuclear, missile, and air capabilities,” Berkowitz said. He added that North Korea’s “theater-range” missiles can reach U.S. territory and the territory of South Korea and Japan, and that North Korean ICBMs “can strike the United States.”

Berkowitz made the remarks while arguing for the need for the Trump administration’s next-generation homeland defense concept known as the “Golden Dome.” The plan envisions a layered defense system aimed not only at ballistic missiles but also hypersonic weapons, advanced cruise missiles and next-generation aerial threats.

He said current U.S. homeland missile defenses are limited and becoming less effective against evolving threats. “Today’s U.S. homeland missile defense is limited, and its effectiveness against increasingly advanced threats is declining,” he wrote, adding that it provides only minimal defense against hypersonic weapons, advanced cruise missiles and large-scale ballistic missile attacks. He described the Golden Dome as a concept to build a comprehensive, layered defense covering the entire United States.

The hearing was held as part of the review of the fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization request and the Future Years Defense Program. Other witnesses included U.S. Space Force Gen. Michael Guetlein, who leads the Golden Dome effort, and Missile Defense Agency Director Heath Collins.

Berkowitz also said the United States would continue strengthening missile defenses in the Indo-Pacific. He said the U.S. maintains a forward-deployed, layered integrated air and missile defense network centered on Aegis destroyers, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, and Patriot batteries, and would keep pushing development of an integrated air and missile defense system for Guam.

* This article has been translated by AI.

AJP