N. Korea produced ICBM to use against U.S. if conflict arises: Report

美사령관 "北 ICBM 생산•배치 임박…美본토 공격용 거의 분명" Seoul's Defense Ministry reassured the public that it's closely monitoring the nuclear and missile movements in North Korea. This came in response to claims the North is continuously developing missiles as a backup plan when things go south... or as leverage in nuclear negotiations with South Korea and the U.S. Defense Ministry correspondent, Kim Ji-yeon for us tonight. South Korea's Defense Ministry said on Thursday that Seoul and Washington are closely working together while meticulously monitoring North Korea's nuclear weapons and missile facilities. This is in response to a report citing a U.S. military commander's claim that North Korea had produced inter-continental ballistic missiles that could be ready to be used in combat. U.S.-based Radio Free Asia reported... U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command General Terrence O'Shaughnessy... had submitted a written statement for a missile defense hearing of the Senate Armed Forces Subcommittee on Strategic Forces... claiming that North Korea had already successfully tested an ICBM that could attack the U.S. mainland in 2017... and that Kim Jong-un's announcement of the end of the regime's development of such missiles right after the test... suggests the North could use the missiles against the U.S. if a conflict arises. Intelligence authorities in Seoul also confirmed North Korea could have been restoring its missile facility. At a National Assembly's Intelligence Committee hearing held Wednesday... Seoul's Defense Intelligence Agency and the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command confirmed that North Korea was working on rebuilding the Dongchang-ri missile launch site before the Hanoi summit. The agencies said they thought at first North Korea was planning to invite foreign reporters to the site should the summit had born positive results... but added the restoration work had continued even after the summit fell through... suggesting North Korea was trying to use it as leverage in nuclear negotiations. They added they wouldn't jump to conclusions that the site has been restored to an operational level though... saying a critical factor... the placing of a crane at the launch pad... has not been reinstated... but the Combined Forces Command says it's also not ruling out the possibility that Pyeongyang is seeking to resume nuclear weapons development. Kim Ji-yeon, Arirang News. Arirang News Facebook:   / arirangtvnews