U.S. says ready to defend against North Korean nuclear threat

By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government believes North Korea has the capability to launch a nuclear weapon against the U.S. homeland and stands ready to defend against any such attacks, a high-level U.S. military official said on Wednesday. Admiral Bill Gortney, commander of U.S. Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, said he agreed with U.S. intelligence assessments that North Korea had nuclear weapons, as well as the ability to miniaturise them a