The Bush administration for the first time says it has intelligence proving detailed and ongoing collaboration between Iran and North Korea in the development of new ballistic missiles. The Pentagon has also just released previously secret intelligence data on new Iranian and North Korean ballistic missiles under development.
While Iran and North Korea remain of the highest concern, the U.S. intelligence community is monitoring a number of additional states for signs of nuclear weapons programs, according to National Intelligence Director John Negroponte.
The United States has offered a detailed package of economic and energy assistance in exchange for North Korea’s giving up nuclear weapons and technology.
U.S. analysts believe that the technical problems that seemingly plagued the first North Korean nuclear test could be overcome in a matter of months.
North Korea's apparent test of a nuclear device could have a devastating effect on the world's long struggle to contain the spread of the most powerful military weapon known to man.
US military aircraft and monitoring centers scrambled yesterday to determine the size and type of the weapon that North Korea detonated in what is believed to be the reclusive regime's first test of a nuclear bomb.
U.S. Navy Adm. William J. Fallon, the admiral in charge of American forces in Asia, said that he believes North Korea has no missile capable of reaching long distances and is unlikely to have one "for a while."
Japan prepared to launch its third intelligence-gathering satellite on Monday, enhancing its ability to monitor neighbouring North Korea two months after Pyongyang shocked the region with a barrage of missile tests.
Russian diplomats believe it is now "highly probable" that North Korea will officially join the nuclear club by carrying out its first underground test of an atomic device.
There is new evidence that North Korea may be preparing for an underground test of a nuclear bomb, U.S. officials told ABC News. "It is the view of the intelligence community that a test is a real possibility," said a senior State Department official.