Could Playing Chicken with North Korea Pay Off?
Jon Wolfsthal
North Korea has been the focus of global attention and anxiety over the past few weeks. The country’s nuclear and missile capabilities, and increasingly strong statements from U.S. officials, including President Donald Trump, have raised global concerns about the possibility of open war on the Korea Peninsula. While people are right to be worried, the seeds of a diplomatic solution could be forming — if the Trump administration is thoughtful and disciplined enough to seize the opportunity, and if the White House’s bluster is in fact calculated. Big ifs, to be sure, but the threat of military force may motivate both China and North Korea to consider deals in a way they have not been willing to up until now.
North Korea Stages Large-Scale Artillery Drill as U.S. Submarine Docks in South
Ju-min Park | Reuters
North Korea conducted a big live-fire exercise on Tuesday to mark the foundation of its military as a U.S. submarine docked in South Korea in a show of force amid growing concern over the North's nuclear and missile programs. The port call by the USS Michigan came as a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group steamed toward Korean waters and as top envoys for North Korea policy from South Korea, Japan and the United States met in Tokyo.
U.N. Report Reveals How North Korea Sources Missile Technology
Bill Gertz | Asia Times
As the U.S. ratchets up pressure on China to do more to help rein in North Korea, a U.N. report shows how Pyongyang uses technology smugglers and financial institutions to develop missiles and nuclear weapons. China figures prominently in the report. U.N. members have imposed an array of trade sanctions on North Korea after it violated U.N. Security Council rulings to halt its testing of ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons.
As North Korea Speeds Its Nuclear Program, U.S. Fears Time Will Run Out
David E. Sanger and William J. Broad | New York Times
Behind the Trump administration’s sudden urgency in dealing with the North Korean nuclear crisis lies a stark calculus: a growing body of expert studies and classified intelligence reports that conclude the country is capable of producing a nuclear bomb every six or seven weeks.
Theresa May Would Fire U.K.’s Nuclear Weapons as a ‘First Strike’, Says Defence Secretary Michael Fallon
Rob Merrick | Independent
Theresa May would fire Britain’s nuclear weapons as a ‘first strike’ if necessary, the Defence Secretary has said. Michael Fallon said the Prime Minister was prepared to launch Trident in “the most extreme circumstances”, even if Britain itself was not under nuclear attack.
Adapting Nuclear Modernization to the New Administration
Adam Mount | Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
The U.S. nuclear modernization program is slated to bring profound changes to all three legs of the nuclear triad. But with Donald Trump in office, modernization now operates in a different context. The Trump administration, in launching a new nuclear posture review, seems to have abruptly altered the Obama administration’s rationale for modernization. It has also pledged a large build-up in conventional military forces – a build-up that would exacerbate the cost pressures already constraining nuclear modernization.