North Korea's Kim Threatens to Resume Nuclear, Long-Range Missile Tests
Min Joo Kim and Simon Denyer | Washington Post
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he no longer felt bound by a self-imposed moratorium on testing nuclear weapons and long-range missiles, and warned the world would soon see a “new strategic weapon” as his country continued to bolster its nuclear deterrent. In remarks delivered Tuesday at a key meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party and carried by state media Wednesday, Kim complained that the United States had responded to the moratorium by continuing to conduct military drills with South Korea, breaking a promise given by President Trump. Kim had previously warned that he would put his country on a “new path” if the United States failed to drop what Pyongyang calls a hostile attitude and make fresh concessions by the end of 2019, threatening to deliver an unwelcome “Christmas gift” to the United States. While Christmas came and went without any missile tests, this week’s statement shows Kim moving in a more aggressive direction. North Korea has not tested nuclear arms or long-range missiles in more than two years, since declaring its nuclear deterrent to be complete. But as relations with the United States nose-dived last year, it carried out more than a dozen tests of short-range ballistic missiles and rockets.
Russia, China to Hold More UN Talks on Lifting North Korea Sanctions
Michelle Nicols | Reuters
U.N. Security Council members are due to meet informally on Monday for a second round of negotiations on a Russian and Chinese proposal to lift a raft of sanctions on North Korea, a move that some diplomats say has little support. Russia and China proposed a draft U.N. Security Council resolution earlier this month that would lift sanctions on industries that earned North Korea hundreds of millions of dollars. Those sanctions were imposed in 2016 and 2017 to cut off funding for Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs. In an attempt to preserve council unity on North Korea, diplomats said the United States put forward a draft press statement on the issue, but that move was dismissed by Russia and China. The pair have instead scheduled on Monday a second round of talks on their draft resolution, diplomats said. Russia and China have said they hope lifting some sanctions could help break the deadlock and encourage talks between Washington and Pyongyang. But the United States, France and Britain said now is not the time to consider lifting sanctions.
Russia Deploys First Hypersonic Avangard ICBM Missile
Moscow Times
Russia’s military has deployed its first Avangard hypersonic intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu was cited as telling President Vladimir Putin on Friday. Putin, who said the nuclear-capable weapon would be deployed by late 2019, has touted the Avangard’s ability to evade U.S. missile defense systems. Russia said it showed the missile system to U.S. inspectors last month as part of a bilateral arms control treaty ahead of its deployment. “This weapon of the future can penetrate both existing and any future missile defense systems,” Putin said at an annual defense meeting Tuesday. He played up Russia as the only country armed with hypersonic weapons, calling it “a unique situation in our contemporary history where they’re trying to catch up.” Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said last week that Russia is prepared to include the Avangard and the heavy Sarmat missile in [the currently in place strategic arms control treaty, New START] with the U.S., should it be extended beyond 2021.
Trump's Push for Lofty Nuclear Treaty Sparks Worry Over Current Deal
Franco Ordoñez | NPR
President Trump and his Russian counterpart have the coming year to deal with an expiring nuclear treaty that will lapse just after the end of his first term. Trump hasn't ruled out renewing the treaty, known as New START. But he has made it clear that he would rather strike a bigger deal that includes different kinds of nuclear weapons — and that also brings China into the fold. Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed arms control over the weekend. Trump has said that Russia wants to broaden the nuclear pact. And Trump claims China is also “extremely excited” about getting involved — despite Beijing's public statements to the contrary. Experts say reaching a trilateral deal within a year is highly unlikely. And some worry that Trump's focus on a bigger deal risks upending the existing treaty with Russia, which could lead to a new arms race.
New US Law Requires Probe of Marshall Islands Nuclear Dump Threatened by Rising Seas
Susanne Rust | Los Angeles Times
Congress is demanding that the Department of Energy investigate an aging, cracking U.S. nuclear waste dump threatened by climate change and rising seas in the Marshall Islands. As part of the new National Defense Authorization Act, signed last week by President Trump, the energy agency must submit a report by mid-June on the risks that Runit Dome poses to the people, environment and wildlife of Enewetak lagoon — the site of 44 nuclear bomb detonations during the Cold War. According to the law, the energy agency must submit a report that includes an “assessment of how rising sea levels might affect the dome.” The waste site, known alternatively as the Tomb, or simply the Dome, holds more than 3.1 million cubic feet — or 35 Olympic-size swimming pools — of U.S.-produced radioactive soil and debris, including lethal amounts of plutonium. Nowhere else has the United States saddled another country with so much of its nuclear waste, a product of its Cold War atomic testing program.
India, Pakistan Exchange List of Nuclear Installations
Press Trust of India | India Today
Continuing a 29-year unbroken practice, India and Pakistan on Wednesday exchanged a list of their nuclear installations under a bilateral arrangement that prohibits them from attacking each other's atomic facilities. The two countries exchanged the list of nuclear installations and facilities covered under the Agreement on the Prohibition of Attack against Nuclear Installations between India and Pakistan, the External Affairs Ministry said. This was done simultaneously through diplomatic channels in New Delhi and Islamabad. The pact mandates the two countries to inform each other of nuclear installations and facilities to be covered under the agreement on the first of January of every calendar year