70 Years After Hiroshima, Obama to Pay Historic Visit
Kathleen Hennessey and Josh Lederman | Associated Press
In a moment seven decades in the making, President Barack Obama this month will become the first sitting American president to visit Hiroshima, where the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb during World War II, decimating a city and exploding the world into the Atomic Age. Obama will visit the site with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during a previously scheduled trip to Japan, the White House announced Tuesday. The president intends to "highlight his continued commitment to pursuing the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.
Chinese Nuclear Strategist Believes China’s MIRVs Are Decoys
Ben Lowsen | Diplomat
During a discussion at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (44:20), Professor Li Bin, a nuclear strategist at Beijing’s Tsinghua University, said he didn’t believe that China had deployed MIRVs (multiple independently-targetable re-entry vehicles), but that “on one missile there is one real warhead and many decoys” and that these decoys are in fact “missile defense countermeasures.”
Tokyo-Tehran Ties and the US-Japan Alliance
Cory McKenzie and William Ossoff | Diplomat
While Japan is not a party to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), popularly known as “the Iran nuclear deal,” it played an important role in the conclusion of this international agreement and could be influential in its implementation. The global sanctions regime that helped drive Iran to the negotiating table depended upon the participation of major economic players like Japan.
North Korea Congress Adopts Decision to Improve Nuclear Arsenal
Straits Times
North Korea’s first ruling party congress for nearly 40 years formally adopted leader Kim Jong Un’s policy of developing the country’s nuclear arsenal in tandem with the economy, state media said on Monday (May 9). The congress, which opened last Friday, has largely been seen as an elaborate coronation for the 33-year-old Kim, securing his status as supreme leader and confirming his legacy “byungjin” doctrine of twin economic and nuclear development.
Iran Agencies Offer Differing Reports on Missile Test
Asa Fitch and Aresu Eqbali | Wall Street Journal
An Iranian military official said Iran conducted its third ballistic missile test-firing since the country’s landmark nuclear deal went into effect in January, but a few hours later Iran’s defense minister countered the report. The semiofficial Tasnim News Agency reported earlier Monday that the country fired a missile with a range of 2,000 kilometers (1,243 miles) two weeks ago, citing Brig. Gen. Ali Abdollahi. The missile was precision-guided and could accurately strike a target with a 26-foot margin of error, he said.
N. Korea's Pledge Not to Use nuclear Weapons Unless Threatened Given Cool Response by China’s State-Run Media
South China Morning Post
Chinese state-run media on Monday played down North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un’s pledge not to use nuclear weapons unless his country’s sovereignty is threatened, saying that his pursuit of atomic arms remained dangerous. Beijing is Pyongyang’s main diplomatic protector and source of trade and aid, but relations have become increasingly strained by the North’s nuclear ambitions and Kim has yet to visit his neighbour.