North Korea Calls U.S. 'Stupid' for Nuclear Bomber Exercise
Elizabeth Shim | UPI
North Korea condemned the United States after a long-range U.S. B-52 bomber flew across South Korea airspace Sunday, claiming the move was headed for the "edge of war." Pyongyang's state-controlled newspaper Rodong Sinmun stated Monday it would "take on nuclear threats with a nuclear response," after the bomber arrived from the U.S. Air Force base in Guam.
North Korea Faked Sub-Launched Missile Test Footage: Analysis
James Pearson | Reuters
Footage of a North Korean submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) test released by Pyongyang two days after it announced it had conducted the country's fourth nuclear test last week was faked, according to an analysis by a California-based think tank. In defiance of a UN ban, the isolated country has said it has ballistic missile technology which would allow it to launch a nuclear warhead from a submarine, although experts and analysis of North Korean state media cast doubt on the claim.
U.S. May Send Strategic Assets, But Not Warheads, to South Korea
Ju-Min Park, Jee Heun Kahng and Arshad Mohammed | Reuters
The United States and South Korea are discussing deploying more U.S. "strategic assets" to the region after North Korea's atomic test last week but not restoring U.S. nuclear arms to the South, a U.S. official said on Monday. North Korea said it tested a hydrogen bomb on Wednesday, displeasing China, its main ally, and the United States, which said it believed the blast was an ordinary atomic test rather than a much more powerful hydrogen bomb.
China 'Extremely Embarrassed' by N. Korea's Nuclear Test
Yonhap News
Senior Chinese foreign ministry officials were "extremely embarrassed" by North Korea's fourth nuclear test, a South Korean diplomatic source who spoke with the Chinese officials said Monday, in an indication that Beijing itself has only limited access to deduce what is going on inside the isolated ally. North Korea claimed it successfully detonated a hydrogen bomb last Wednesday with leader Kim Jong-un saying on Sunday that the claimed fourth nuclear test was a self-defensive measure against what he calls a threat of nuclear war from the United States.
Iran Official Denies Report of Nuclear Reactor Being Sealed
Nasser Karimi | Associated Press
Iran's deputy nuclear chief on Tuesday denied a report that the core of the country's nearly finished heavy water reactor has been dismantled and filled it with concrete as part of Tehran's obligations under the nuclear deal with the West. Ali Asghar Zarean, in remarks to state TV said that Iran will first sign an agreement with China to modify the Arak reactor, a deal that is expected next week.
Putin Signs a National Security Strategy of Defiance and Pushback
Pavel Felgenhauer | Eurasia Daily Monitor
Under existing legislation, Russia’s National Security Strategy (NSS) must be updated every six years. The previous version was approved in May 2009 by then-president Dmitry Medvedev, so a new NSS was due in 2015. The NSS is composed under the auspices of the Security Council of the Russian Federation (SCRF). Last month SCRF Secretary Nikolai Patrushev told the government daily Rossiyskaya Gazeta that the text of the revised NSS has been prepared and submitted to President Vladimir Putin (Rossiyskaya Gazeta, December 22, 2015).