N. Korea Talks of New Army Duties Suggest Nuclear Deployment
Hyung-Jin Kim | Associated Press
North Korea discussed assigning additional duties to front-line army units at a key military meeting, state media said Thursday, a move that analysts said indicates it plans to deploy battlefield nuclear weapons targeting South Korea along the rivals’ tense border. While much international attention has focused on North Korea’s testing of intercontinental ballistic missiles potentially capable of reaching the U.S. mainland, it is also developing a variety of nuclear-capable short-range missiles that can target South Korea. South Korean officials recently said that North Korea has completed preparations for its first test of a nuclear explosive device in five years, part of a possible effort to build warheads capable of being mounted on short-range missiles.
House Authorizers Approve $45M to Keep Sea-Launched Nuke on Life Support
Valerie Insinna | Breaking Defense
The House Armed Services Committee approved a proposal to keep development going on a low-yield nuclear cruise missile that was cancelled in the Biden administration’s fiscal 2023 budget request. The amendment authorizes the addition of $45 million in funds for the Navy’s Sea-Launched Cruise Missile-Nuclear (SLCM-N) program. Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., who leads HASC’s strategic forces subcommittee, offered the proposal today as the committee marked up the FY23 National Defense Authorization Act.
Russia’s Lavrov in Iran to Discuss Nuclear Deal, Cooperation
Reuters
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Iran on Wednesday, Iranian state TV reported, as world powers and Tehran are struggling to revive their 2015 nuclear pact and negotiations are stalled. Russia’s foreign ministry posted a clip of Lavrov’s opening remarks during a meeting with Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi in which he said Moscow was adapting to what he called the West’s aggressive policies. “In all the countries experiencing the negative influence of the selfish line taken by the United States and its satellites, there arises the objective need to reconfigure their economic relations so they can avoid relying on the whims and vagaries of our Western partners,” Lavrov said.
House Advances Bill to Train Australian Submariners Alongside US Counterparts
Justin Katz | Breaking Defense
As initial trilateral discussions continue between the AUKUS signatories, House lawmakers have moved to establish a “joint training pipeline” for submarine officers between the US and Royal Australian navies. The legislation, dubbed the Australia-U.S. Submarine Officer Pipeline Act, was introduced last week by Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., and included as an amendment to this year’s defense policy bill, which was favorably voted out of the House Armed Services Committee early this morning.
1st U.N. Nuke Ban Treaty Meeting Urges “Immediate Action”
Kyodo News
Parties to a U.N. treaty banning nuclear weapons called for “immediate action” to achieve a nuclear-weapons-free world as they wrapped up their first meeting Thursday. The statement, adopted at the end of the three-day meeting of parties to the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Vienna, said a prompt response is the only way for such weapons to never be used again at a time when Russia is threatening to use them in its war against Ukraine. Nuclear threats “further underscore the enormity of the danger posed by the existence of nuclear weapons,” according to the Vienna Declaration.
U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down Washington Workers’ Comp Law for Nuclear Site
Daniel Wiessner | Reuters
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday said the state of Washington could not in a 2018 law lower the bar for federal contractors who work at a decomissioned nuclear weapons plant to receive workers’ compensation benefits. Justice Stephen Breyer wrote for the unanimous court that the state could not single out the Hanford, Washington facility in the law because the federal government had not explicitly waived its typical immunity from discriminatory state laws with respect to workers’ compensation. The law created a presumption that certain medical conditions of workers at the U.S. Department of Energy facility were caused by their employment there, making it easier for them to qualify for workers’ compensation benefits.