North Korea could launch nuclear ROCKETS that can reach EUROPE at any moment, says agent

BND Deputy Director Ole Diehl told lawmakers during a closed-door meeting that the assessment was “certain,” the newspaper reported, citing participants in the briefing.

At the same time, Diehl said the agency viewed talks between North and South Korea as a positive sign.

The BND has not commented on the report.

A senior North Korean diplomat left for Finland on Sunday for talks with former US and South Korean officials, Yonhap News Agency reported, amid a series of diplomatic encounters ahead of a possible US-North Korean summit.

North Korea is pursuing its nuclear and missile programmes in defiance of UN Security Council sanctions and has made no secret of its plans to develop a missile capable of hitting the US mainland.

It defends the programmes as a necessary deterrent against perceived plans for invasion by the United States, which stations 28,500 troops in South Korea, a legacy of the Korean war.

The US denies such plans.

Tensions have eased in recent weeks, coinciding with North Korea’s participation in the Winter Olympics held in the South last month.

It follows reports that the hermit kingdom may have once again started preliminary testing of its nuclear reactors following the emergence of new satellite images that hint peace talks with the US may be at risk.

The new images showing emissions rising from a reactor, said to be from February 25, bring into question North Korea’s seriousness about reducing its nuclear capability.

Rob Munks, Editor of Jane’s Intelligence Review, said the light-water reactor “could be used for civilian electricity generation, its stated purpose, or diverted towards the nuclear program”.

He added that the nuclear reactor could be operational by the end of the year “with little warning”.

The allegations from Jane’s come just weeks after it was suggested that Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump could have face-to-face talks about nuclear disarmament of Pyongyang.

In 2017 the hermit state held a number of missile tests to check its nuclear capability.

By the end of the year, the rogue state said it held weapons capable of reaching the whole of the US, causing alarm and panic across the globe.

The tests were coupled by an escalating war of words between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump.

However, in January the Asian nation suspended its nuclear programme and appeared to reach out to the neighbouring South.

Relations between the two Koreas have since been on the rise with the pair competing together at the Winter Olympic games and holding a series of bilateral talks.

Since then the US have said they are planning to hold meetings with the Kim regime to improve relations.

Trump said: “The deal with North Korea is very much in the making and will be, if completed, a very good one for the world.

“Time and place to be determined.”