Yahoo Finance 
'What kind of odds are you comfortable with?': The North Korean nuclear threat is looming larger
(North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attending an intensive artillery drill of the KPA artillery units in an image released by KCNA in Pyongyang.KCNA via Reuters)
WASHINGTON, DC — The only nation to have used nuclear weapons this century will be able to strike Seattle in four years, former CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden said on Wednesday.
"I really do think that it is very likely by the end of Mr. Trump's first term the North Koreans will be able to reach Seattle with a nuclear weapon onboard an indigenously produced intercontinental ballistic missile," Hayden said on MSNBC's Morning Joe.
"Now, will it be a high-probability shot? They have technical issues, so probably not," Hayden said. "But then again, what kind of odds are you comfortable with when it comes to Pyongyang?"
(A man watching a TV news program showing a North Korean missile launch on October 20.AP)
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has conducted 25 ballistic-missile tests and two nuclear tests this year.
A timeline of North Korea's missile tests so far in 2016 »
Bruce Klingner, a senior research fellow of Northeast Asia at the Heritage Foundation and former CIA deputy division chief for Korea, says the North Korean threat isn't four years away — it's nearly here.
"Hayden is a bit behind the curve on the North Korea ICBM threat," Klingner told Business Insider.
"After the December 2012 launch, the South Korean navy dredged up off the ocean floor the stages of the North Korean missile," Klingner said. "South Korean and US officials assessed the missile had a 10,000-kilometer range, which covers a large part of the US."
Fast forward to this year, on February 7, a month after North Korea's purported hydrogen-bomb test, the rogue regime fired a long-range rocket it claimed was carrying a satellite for its space program.
The launch, which was largely viewed as a front for testing an intercontinental ballistic missile, was not only successful but also showcased the North's technological advancements.
"After the February 2016 launch, experts assessed it could have a range of 13,000 km, covering the entire US," Klingner said, which makes the Seattle range estimate "outdated," Klingner added.
According to Klingner, even the rocket with a range of 10,000 km would compromise approximately 120 million people in the US.
(A graphic showing the range of the North Korean rocket launched February 7.Courtesy of The Heritage Foundation)
In 2015, US commanders of US Forces Korea, Pacific Command, and North American Aerospace Defense Command publicly assessed that Pyongyang was able to strike to the US with a nuclear weapon.
NOW WATCH: Meet THAAD: America’s answer to North Korean threats
More From Business Insider
