North Korean Missile Flies Over Japan, Escalating Tensions and Prompting an Angry Response From Tokyo
Anna Fifield | Washington Post
North Korea launched a ballistic missile Tuesday morning that flew over the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, the most brazen provocation of Kim Jong Un’s five-year-long rule and one that elicited strong condemnation from U.S. allies Japan and South Korea. The launch poses a further challenge, in particular, to President Trump, who has made North Korea a favorite rhetorical target. Trump said earlier this month that he would make Kim “truly regret” harming the United States or its allies.
Can Germany Be Europe’s Nuclear Bridge Builder?
Ulrich Kühn
Nuclear weapons policies have reached the 2017 German federal election. In a last-ditch effort to narrow Chancellor Angela Merkel’s impressive lead in the polls, Martin Schulz, her contender from the Social Democrats, called on August 22 for the removal of the last remaining assets of U.S. extended deterrence from German soil—some estimated twenty B61 nuclear gravity bombs. While Schulz’s foray seems desperate and is out of touch with the realities of transatlantic and European security, his initiative deserves credit for bringing up the issue of nuclear deterrence and arms control—not least because the coming years will likely see a host of interlocking nuclear crises affecting Germany and Europe.
White House 'Pressuring' Intelligence Officials to Find Iran in Violation of Nuclear Deal
Julian Borger | Guardian
US intelligence officials are under pressure from the White House to produce a justification to declare Iran in violation of a 2015 nuclear agreement, in an echo of the politicisation of intelligence that led up to the Iraq invasion, according to former officials and analysts. The collapse of the 2015 deal between Tehran, the US and five other countries – by which Iran has significantly curbed its nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief – would trigger a new crisis over nuclear proliferation at a time when the US is in a tense standoff with North Korea.
5 Takeaways on North Korea's Ballistic Missile Overflight of Japan
Ankit Panda | Diplomat
On early Tuesday morning, North Korea launched a ballistic missile that flew over Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido and landed in the northern Pacific Ocean. The missile flew to a range of 2,700 kilometers following its launch from a site near Sunan, near Pyongyang International Airport. The launch was North Korea’s first-ever overflight of Japan with a system identified as a ballistic missile. In 1998 and 2009, North Korea overflew Japan’s main islands with satellite launch vehicles — the Taepodong-1 and Unha-3 vehicles respectively. Its 2012 and 2016 satellite launches overflew Japan’s territory in the Ryukyu islands on a southbound trajectory as well.
North Korea Talks Tough as South Says Nuclear Test May be Coming
Brad Lendon and Will Ripley | CNN
North Korea kept up its bellicose rhetoric against the United States on Monday as South Korean officials said Pyongyang may be preparing its sixth nuclear weapon test. Seoul's National Intelligence Service (NIS) told South Korean lawmakers at a closed door parliamentary session that it has detected signs of North Korea preparing for another nuclear test at its Punggye-ri underground test site.
How North Korea Shocked the Nuclear Experts
Nicholas L. Miller and Vipin Narang | Politico
North Korea was never supposed to get the bomb. For decades, the United States and international community have worked hard to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons; we’ve put in place a series of increasingly strong policies built on what we know, or what we think we know, about how countries manage to construct their own bombs. Yet North Korea successfully defied these efforts, raising a question that has long been debated by experts: Just what does it take for a country to become a nuclear power, and how can we stop it from happening?