North Korea Has Missles; How About Nukes?

On Eve of Talks, North Korea Thought to Test Missile

If you can't stomach the NYT (who can?):

North Korea apparently launched a short-range missile into the Sea of Japan today, raising tensions on the eve of a United Nations conference on nuclear nonproliferation.

Andrew Card, the White House chief of staff, confirmed that a missile appeared to have been fired into the sea between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.

Vice Admiral Lowell E. Jacoby, director of the United States Defense Intelligence Agency, warned Thursday before the Senate Armed Services Committee that North Korea had the ability to mount a nuclear-tipped missile on a long-range missile able to strike the United States.

His comments caught some senators by surprise, and Pentagon officials later sought to soften Admiral Jacoby's prognosis.

Mr. Card, asked today if Kim Jong Il could field nuclear-tipped long-range missiles, said, "We don't know that he can, but there is increasing evidence of capability."

There is the meat of the article. North Korea has or is close to having missles that could reach the United States. They may have nuclear capability. Kim Jong Il is a desperate tyrant and I don't think he'd shy away from causing a crisis: what does his impoverished, backward country have to lose?

Can we get missle defense yet? PLEASE?