U.S. Pacific Army commander says N. Korea is his biggest concern

By Chang Jae-soon WASHINGTON, Jan. 25 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. Pacific Army commander said Wednesday North Korea is his biggest concern as the unpredictable communist nation has aggressively forged ahead with its nuclear and missile programs. "The thing that keeps me up at night, though, the thing I worry the most about is North Korea. The most likely threat to all of us sitting here, in my opinion," Gen. Robert Brown, commander of U.S. Army Pacific, said during a discussion at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Brown said North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has conducted many more missile launches since taking power following the death of his late father in 2011 than the late leader did in his 17 years of rule. He also said the North's leader is the only individual in the 21st century to test a nuclear weapon. "There's something going on there and there's this belligerent aggressiveness," he said. The general highlighted the North's unpredictability, calling its actions a "black swan." "I do worry about the most likely threat: North Korea, because obviously, every soldier that I lead, every individual that I am in charge of would be involved, would be there -- some within hours, some are already there on the peninsula, and some would move in that direction very quickly," Brown said. "I have significant responsibilities. Things like: noncombatant evacuation operations on the peninsula and getting several half a million people out of there, minor and little things that are easy. Those types of challenges. I do worry about that. There's just so many things," he said. The North's leader has sharply ratcheted up tensions, saying in his New Year's Day address that the country has entered the final stage of preparations to test-fire an intercontinental ballistic missile, an apparent threat that the North is close to developing a nuclear-tipped missile capable of striking the continental U.S. Last week, officials said that the South and the U.S. have picked up signs that the North has readied two ICBMs for apparent test-firing, an indication that the threatened test could come earlier than expected. Senior North Korean Foreign Ministry official Choe Kwang-il was quoted Wednesday as saying that the North is ready to conduct an ICBM test "at any time, at any place," according to an interview with NBC Television. jschang@yna.co.kr (END)