BEIJING – US Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned on Tuesday that North Korea could have long-range ballistic missiles within five years that would pose a direct threat to the United States, reflecting growing concerns over Pyongyang’s arsenal. His comments represented a shift in the US view of North Korea’s military power, describing the hardline regime in Pyongyang as making headway in its efforts to develop missiles that could potentially carry nuclear warheads. “I think North Korea will have developed an intercontinental ballistic missile within that timeframe (five years),” Gates told reporters during a visit to Beijing, where he discussed tensions on the Korean peninsula. Gates, who met Chinese President Hu Jintao on Tuesday, said he had conveyed to the Communist leaders in Beijing that their allies in Pyongyang would soon present a danger to the United States. “With the North Koreans’ continued development of nuclear weapons and their development of intercontinental ballistic missiles, North Korea is becoming a direct threat to the United States and we have to take that into account,” he said. North Korea has test-fired three ICBMs, most recently in April 2009 when one flew over Japan and landed in the Pacific.
Gates said the North could have a “limited” number of such missiles in five years, placing the US Pacific coast under potential threat. The Pentagon chief said the United States appreciated the “helpful role” played by Beijing in recent months in containing the Korean crisis, after Pyongyang shelled a South Korean island in November, killing four people. But he also said there had been a “sea change” in attitudes in South Korea, with the country’s population outraged over Pyongyang’s recent “provocations.” “Their tolerance for not responding has changed,” he said. Apart from the November 23 attack on Yeonpyeong island, the North stands accused by the South of torpedoing a warship last March with the loss of 46 lives. Pyongyang denies the charge. The angry public reaction in South Korea had changed the “status quo” and it was vital that North Korea took actions to resolve the crisis, he said. “Rhetoric is not enough at this point.
