The US government believes North Korea has the capability to launch a nuclear weapon against the US homeland and stands ready to defend against any such attacks, Sky News 24 quoted a high-level US military official as saying on Thursday.

Admiral Bill Gortney, commander of US Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defence Command, said he agreed with US intelligence assessments that North Korea had nuclear weapons, as well as the ability to miniaturize them and put them on a rocket that could reach the United States.

Adm Gortney said it was very difficult to predict the behavior of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un but the US military was prepared to respond if he were to use a nuclear weapon.

North Korea's space agency said last month Pyongyang was building a new satellite and readying it for launch, with any use of a long-range rocket suggesting that the secretive state has made advances developing a ballistic missile

Source: MENA