The leader of North Korea would use a weapon of mass destruction to protect his authority, the general in charge of the United Nations and United States forces in South Korea said Tuesday.

Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee, General Curtis M. Scaparrotti, the commander of United Nations Command and United States Forces Korea, said tensions on the Korean Peninsula recently hit a 20-year-high and expressed concerns the North “could quickly escalate” the situation.

Earlier this month, the United Nations Security Council condemned a Feb. 7 North Korean satellite launch that U.N. officials said used the same kind of technology as ballistic missiles.

The launch came about a month after North Korea said it tested a nuclear weapon.

“Kim Jong Un has been clear that he intends to establish himself and wants to be accepted as a nuclear nation with a valid missile capability to deliver those assets,” Scaparrotti told the committee about the North Korean dictator. “He claims he can do that today.”

A senator asked Scaparotti if the general believed Kim would use a long-range nuclear missile against the United States, if the dictator actually had such a weapon at his disposal.

“His stated purpose is to protect his regime and if he thought his regime were challenged, he states that he would use WMD,” Scaparrotti responded.

The general testified tensions between North Korea and South Korea peaked in August, when two South Korean soldiers were wounded in a landmine attack in the demilitarized zone.

This year’s tests prompted the United States to impose additional sanctions on North Korea.

“I think (Kim’s) calculus is, at this point, that those tests that he just conducted in January and February, they were within his risk tolerance,” Scaparrotti told the committee. “That he could conduct those and at some point in the future here, in the next three or four months, move beyond it, just as he has done in the cycle of provocation and relaxation over time, which has been their norm. I do worry about his calculation being wrong at some point.”

The general said it was important the United States and its allies continued to deter conflict, and warned about the potential implications if a North Korean provocation escalated the situation.

In prepared testimony, Scaparrotti said the North has “several hundred ballistic missiles,” one of the world’s largest chemical weapons stockpiles and the fourth-largest military on the planet.

“If deterrence fails, full-scale conflict in Korea would more closely parallel the high intensity combat of the Korean War than the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Scaparrotti said in the written testimony he submitted to the committee. “Furthermore, any conflict with North Korea would significantly increase the threat of the use of weapons of mass destruction.”

Scaparrotti testified North Korea is pursuing several other technological advances.

“He’s developing his cyber capability,” Scaparrotti testified, referring to Kim. “He’s developing a strategic-launch ballistic missile. And he’s developing his air defense capabilities. All of those things, in about five or six years, are going to be a more formidable problem.”