Kim Jong-un Seeks to Cement Power at First North Korean Congress in 36 Years
Choe Sang-hun | New York Times
When Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, arrives at the seventh congress of the governing Workers' Party on Friday, he will essentially be attending his own coronation. Meeting for the first time in a generation, the congress -- in theory, the country's highest decision-making body -- will cement his status as supreme leader. It will also elect a new central committee, which in turn appoints the party's Politburo and presidium. Those posts are expected to be filled with a new generation of loyalists whom Mr. Kim has already been elevating through purges and reshuffles, analysts said.
Iran Accuses U.S. of Meddling as Tensions Grow
Rick Gladstone | New York Times
Tensions between Iran and the United States, never far from the surface, showed signs of worsening on Wednesday, with the Iranians threatening to block a vital Persian Gulf access route and protesting what they called the American ''meddling approach and tone.'' The Iranian messages, conveyed in statements by a commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and by the Foreign Ministry, came a few days after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader, expressed exasperation with the United States, questioning the longstanding deployment of the Navy's Fifth Fleet in the Persian Gulf.
Legislation Seeks Defense Against Hypersonic Missiles
Bill Gertz | Washington Free Beacon
Congress is pressing the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency to counter the growing threat of high-speed, maneuvering missiles. An amendment to the current defense authorization bill passed by the House Armed Services Committee last week would require the agency to develop and fund a program to defeat hypersonic missiles.
China, Russia to Hold Missile Defence Drills, Amid Opposition to U.S. Plans to Deploy Missile Shield in South Korea
Catherine Wong | South China Morning Post
China and Russia will hold their first computer-simulated missile defence exercises this month. Analysts said the move was a response to US proposals to deploy an anti-missile shield on the Korean peninsula, which China and Russia strongly oppose. Beijing and Moscow say the plans to set up the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence system, or THAAD, in South Korea pose a threat to their security.
Don't Blame Our Sanctions, U.S. Tells Nervous Iran Investors
John Miller | Reuters
Companies should not blame U.S. sanctions for stopping them investing in Iran, a State Department official told businesses on Wednesday, saying there were many other risks putting off would-be investors. The United States and Europe lifted sanctions in January under a deal with Tehran to limit its nuclear program, but U.S. sanctions unrelated to the nuclear issue remain, banning dollar transactions with Iran and making it harder for companies to access finance for business in the Islamic Republic.
Update on North Korea’s Nuclear Test Site
Jack Liu and Joseph S. Bermudez, Jr. | 38 North
New commercial satellite imagery continues to show a very low level of activity at North Korea’s Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site. Whether the level of activity indicates that Pyongyang has made all necessary preparations to conduct a nuclear test on short notice at this site or is associated with normal maintenance work remains unclear.