00:00North Korea is getting to a stage where it can produce more ICBMs than the U.S. has interceptors to
00:10take them down.
00:11The U.S. has a certain number of ground-based interceptors in Alaska and also, I believe, in California that
00:19are designed to hit ICBMs.
00:23ICBMs fly like 1,000, 1,300 kilometers above the Earth, like three or four times the height of the
00:30International Space Station, and they go really fast.
00:34Getting interceptors up there that can hit them is tough. It's expensive as well.
00:40So the U.S. has 44 of these missiles now for interception, and they take about two interceptors for each
00:50ICBM.
00:52We spoke to one expert who said North Korea is probably at about 24 ICBMs now and building them out.
00:59You're at a stage where you could theoretically overwhelm the defense systems, and it increases the chances of delivering a
01:10strike on the U.S.
01:12Wow, so that's a really dangerous math game.
01:14It is a dangerous math game, and it's like there are other interceptor systems out there, but you have to
01:20be in the right place at the right time.
01:21It's just not a lot of time. If you fire off an ICBM from North Korea, you're looking like 25
01:28to 35 minutes from launch to impact in the U.S.
01:32I mean, we obviously don't want to be alarmist, but it is a bit scary, though, to think about.
01:36You know, could North Korea, with all of these ICBMs and nuclear missile now, could they launch a nuclear strike
01:44that the U.S. could not stop?
01:46The U.S. has expressed confidence that it can deter and intercept a North Korean nuclear attack.
01:53By the same token, if North Korea were to strike the U.S., this would be suicidal.
01:58It would be the end of Kim Jong-un's regime.
02:01It would invite an absolutely massive retaliatory strike that would damage North Korea from top to bottom
02:11in ways from which it would take years and decades to recover.
02:15Never.
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