The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has established a special unit to keep tabs on the nuclear and ballistic missile threat posed by North Korea.
The Korea Mission Centre would harness resources, capabilities, and authorities of the agency in addressing the challenges being posed by the North Korean regime, CIA director Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday.
“Creating the Korea Mission Centre allows us to more purposefully integrate and direct CIA efforts against the serious threats to the United States and its allies emanating from North Korea,” he said. It also reflects the dynamism and agility that CIA brings to evolving national security challenges, he added.
A veteran CIA operations officer has been selected as the new Assistant Director for Korea and will preside over the Mission Centre, an official release said. The new unit will work closely with the US intelligence and national security community.
“Just as the threats facing our nation are dynamic, so too must the CIA continue to evolve to address them,” CIA spokesperson Heather Fritz Horniak said. Tensions between the US and North Korea rose after a tense exchange between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, which prompted President Trump to announce the deployment last March of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defence system (THAAD) in South Korea.
However, a former CIA official downplayed the importance of establishing a mission centre dedicated to North Korea, calling the move “cosmetic”.
