North Korea Could Soon Have Plutonium Bombs, Says US Official

North Korea has expanded a uranium enrichment facility and restarted a plutonium reactor that could start recovering material for nuclear weapons in weeks or months, the U.S. intelligence chief said Tuesday in delivering the annual assessment by intelligence agencies of the top dangers facing the country.

Peoples walk past a display of model missiles including a North Korean Scud-B (C) at the War Memorial of Korea on February 7, 2016 in Seoul, South Korea. North Korea launched a long-range rocket carrying a satellite on February 7, 2016. Han Myung-Gu/Getty Images

WASHINGTON—North Korea has expanded a uranium enrichment facility and restarted a plutonium reactor that could start recovering material for nuclear weapons in weeks or months, the U.S. intelligence chief said Tuesday in delivering the annual assessment by intelligence agencies of the top dangers facing the country.

He also said Islamic militants and those inspired by the Islamic State group will continue to pose a threat to Americans at home and abroad; al-Qaida remains an enemy; and the U.S. will continue to see cyber threats from China, Russia and North Korea.

[North Korea] could begin to recover plutonium "within a matter of weeks to months."