While Pyongyang has shown it can put the United States in range and point a rocket to the country, General Paul Selva, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said it has not yet proven that its fusing and targeting technologies can survive the stresses of ballistic missile flight.

"They have made some strides but it's still true that they haven't demonstrated all of the components of an intercontinental ballistic missile system," Selva told reporters.

Also unclear is whether North Korea has a re-entry vehicle strong enough to return into the Earth's atmosphere from space and deliver a warhead.

"It's possible (North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un) has them, so we have to place the bet that he might have them, but he hasn't demonstrated them," Selva said.

Last year, North Korea tested ICBMs that had the potential range of reaching the United States mainland and in September it conducted its sixth and largest nuclear test.

Pyongyang's weapons program has seen tensions on the Korean Peninsula ratchet up in recent months, prompting fresh rounds of sanctions and fiery rhetoric from President Donald Trump and Kim.

Selva said North Korea has also become very good at predicting when spy satellites are overhead and adept at camouflaging its missiles.

Kim has developed new techniques of getting a missile to a launchpad, so the US and its allies might now only get about 12 minutes warning before North Korea launched a missile, down from up to an hour previously, Selva added.