North Korea could have capacity for nuclear strike on US, Europe “within months” – France

France’ s foreign minister warned Friday that North Korea could have the capacity to deliver a nuclear strike on the United States and even Europe “ within months” .
Jean-Yves Le Drian called the situation following a string of missile tests by Pyongyang “extremely serious ” and urged the reclusive state to turn to dialogue to ease spiralling tensions.
“We see a North Korea whose objective is to have missiles capable of transporting a nuclear weapon tomorrow, ” Le Drian told RTL radio.
“In a few months, that will be a reality. At that moment , when it has the capability to hit the US, even Europe and at the very least Japan and China, with a nuclear weapon , the situation will be explosive. ”
Early on Tuesday, North Korea fired an intermediate -range Hwasong -12 over Japan, prompting US President Donald Trump to say that “ all options ” were on the table in an implied threat of pre-emptive military action .
The UN Security Council denounced Pyongyang’ s latest missile test, unanimously demanding a halt to its programme .
Le Drian called on Pyongyang to “ return to the path of negotiations” in a bid to ease tensions .
A joint mediation effort put forward by China and Russia would involve a mutual pause in both missile tests by North Korea as well as the joint South Korean -US military exercises by Seoul .
Pyongyang has also threatened to fire rockets towards the US Pacific territory of Guam.
In July, it carried out its first two successful tests of an intercontinental -range missile, apparently bringing much of the US mainland into range.