North Korea capable of launching nuclear strike on central Europe
NORTH Korea could launch a nuclear-armed missile attack capable of hitting Germany and central Europe, Germany’s foreign intelligence agency told lawmakers last week.
A report in German language Bild am Sonntag newspaper claimed BND Deputy Director Ole Diehl told lawmakers during a closed-door meeting that there is “certainty” that Pyongyang could now “reach Europe and Germany with its missiles,” reported via DW.
Diehl also told lawmakers that the BND considers talks between North and South Korea a positive step.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has been developing the country’s nuclear programme in defiance UN sanctions. Last year he threatened to strike mainland United States as well as the US island territory of Guam.
But in recent months, the regime has taken a softer stance to international relations, pursuing diplomatic outreach with warring neighbour South Korea and offering to meet with US President Donald Trump.
North Korea’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho visited Sweden on Thursday in a rare trip outside of the hermit kingdom. Sweden is the United States’ diplomatic representative in the North as Washington does not have an embassy or any diplomats present in the country.
Another senior North Korean diplomat is expected to arrive in Finland this week to meet with former US and South Korean officials, according to Yonhap News Agency.
Trump spoke with South Korean President Moon Jae-in via phone on Friday to prepare for the upcoming meetings with Pyongyang, slated for May. The White House said in a statement that the two leaders “concrete actions, not words” will be necessary to achieving permanent denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
If the meeting goes ahead, Trump will be the first sitting US president in history to meet with the leader of the Kim regime. Both Trump and Moon Jae-in expressed “cautious optimism” about the upcoming talks, saying they believe a “brighter future” is open to North Korea if it “chooses the correct path.”
