BY 2018, N. KOREA MAY HAVE INTERCONTINENTAL NUKES

A new assessment by the Defense Department’s Defense Intelligence Agency estimates that North Korea could be able to field a reliable, nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile as early as next year, The Washing

ton Post reported Tuesday. The confidential assessment cuts about two years off the estimate for when Pyongyang could reach U.S. cities with atomic weapons, the Post says.

North Korea stunned the world this month when it testlaunched an intercontinental ballistic missile. But Scott Bray, national intelligence manager for East Asia with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, said the test was no surprise to the intelligence community.

“North Korea’s recent test of an intercontinental range ballistic missile ... is one of the milestones that we have expected would help refine our timeline and judgments on the threats that Kim Jong Un poses to the continental United States,” Bray said.