South Korea charges North building missile that could reach US

South Korean officials say they have evidence that North Korea is working on an intercontinental ballistic missile that could reach as far as the United States.

By Donald Kirk,  December 23, 2012  The Christian Science Monitor

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A piece of wreckage of a North Korean rocket that the South Korean Defense Ministry estimates could be a combustion chamber of the rocket. South Korean officials say this piece shows North Korea has the capability to fire a warhead more than 6,200 miles putting the U.S. West Coast in range.

South Korean defense officials say they have evidence showing a recent North Korean missile launch was to test an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

South Korean navy divers have recovered more than three tons of debris from the first stage of a missile Korean analysts say was fueled by a type of nitric acid developed in the former Soviet Union over 40 years ago for firing missiles with warheads more than 6,000 miles. The rocket, fired from a pad in northwestern North Korea on December 12, managed to put a small satellite into orbit, but officials offer the discovery of nitric acid as evidence of the real reason why North Korea was anxious to test it....