is there some quantitatively or qualitatively different now that makes it thinks it s more real? i think that s the fundamental question. why does anyone care if north korea fires a missile. many countries around the world fire missiles. just today pakistan test-fired a missile. the difference is north korea is threatening to bring nuclear war to the rest of the world, and has a capacity to have a weapons deliverable nuclear device. i think that s the real difference. north korea is making all of this noise, it is forcing the united states to change policy. it is drawing in military, forcing the united states to cancel its own weapons tests, and it is getting away with it. north korea plans to have a missile test potential pushing the outer limits of this musadan type medium-range rocket.
it doesn t want too many more sanctions on north korea, as north korea has already sort of sanctioned out, for fear that north korea could collapse into anarchy and you d have refugees flowing over the border. so, yes, this is a challenge for the neighbors. but this is really a message for the united states. you remember last year, north korea tried to launch a satellite into space, and i was in north korea at the time. it went up for about 90 seconds and then blew up. everyone knew at the time, including intelligence officials, that north korea would try again, and that once they got a successful missile launch, they would probably have a nuclear test. because combined, it s very powerful. now, u.s. intelligence officials have told me that north korea right now has probably a dozen to, at the most, several dozen weapons-deliverable nuclear devices. this is a serious challenge for the obama administration. something he s going to have to address tonight.