South Korea's Nuclear Envoy Visits US as Tensions Flare With North Korea
Hyonhee Shin | Reuters
South Korea’s chief nuclear negotiator will hold talks with officials in Washington on Thursday amid flaring tensions with North Korea after Pyongyang blew up an inter-Korean liaison office and threatened military action. Lee Do-hoon’s unannounced trip came days after North Korea blew up a joint liaison office in Kaesong, near the South Korean border and declared an end to dialogue with the South. Lee is expected to hold consultations with U.S. officials, including Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun who had led denuclearisation negotiations with North Korea, Seoul’s foreign ministry said. Lee and Biegun will “assess the current situation on the Korean peninsula and discuss responses,” the ministry said in a statement.
China and North Korea Ramping Up Their Nuclear Weapons Arsenals: Report
Greg Norman | Fox News
China and North Korea are ramping up their nuclear weapon arsenals while other world superpowers like the U.S. and Russia are drawing them down, a report says. Estimates released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute on Monday indicate that, as of the start of this year, China had 30 more warheads compared to January 2019, while North Korea added up to 20. They now have 320 and 30 to 40 warheads, respectively. Meanwhile, the U.S. drew down its massive arsenal from 6,185 warheads to 5,800, while Russia reduced theirs from 6,500 to 6,375, according to the institute. The report says that, overall, the worldwide stockpile of nuclear weapons dropped by an estimated 465 warheads over the last year, to 13,400.
Putin Says Russia Will Be Able to Counter Hypersonic Weapons
Reuters
Russia will soon be in a position to counter hypersonic arms deployed by other countries, President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday, adding that Moscow was ahead of the United States in developing new types of weapons. Hypersonic glide vehicles can steer an unpredictable course and manoeuvre sharply as they approach impact. They also follow a much flatter and lower trajectory than ballistic missiles. Last year Russia deployed its first hypersonic nuclear-capable missiles, while the Pentagon has a goal of fielding hypersonic capabilities in the early to mid-2020s. "It's very likely that we will have means to combat hypersonic weapons by the time the world's leading countries have such weapons," Putin was quoted as saying by the RIA news agency.
Polish and US Presidents to Discuss Nuclear Energy
Reuters
Polish President Andrzej Duda said on Thursday that he would discuss cooperation with the United States on nuclear energy in talks with President Donald Trump in Washington next week. The visit, unexpectedly announced by the White House on Wednesday, takes place four days before Poland’s presidential election on June 28. “We will definitely talk about cooperation between Polish companies and Polish authorities, and companies and authorities from the United States over conventional nuclear energy and its use,” Duda told a news conference. Warsaw has held talks with Washington on joint nuclear project for years, but no details have been agreed.
French Submarine Burns in ‘Unbelievably Fierce Fire’ for 14 Hours
Christina Mackenzie | Defense News
One of France’s six Rubis-class nuclear-powered submarines, the Perle, burned for more than 14 hours “in an unbelievably fierce fire” June 12 in dry dock while undergoing major renovations by Naval Group, which were due to end in February 2021. “There was absolutely no nuclear fuel aboard and not a single weapon. In fact the submarine was stripped bare,” French Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly added June 13 during a trip to the French naval base of Toulon on the Mediterranean coast to see the damage. “This was a fire, it was not a nuclear accident,” she added. The French Navy says a fleet of six submarines is necessary so as to have two or three of them permanently at sea to escort the carrier fleet, gather intelligence and deploy personnel. But after this fire, of the six Rubis-class submarines that entered service between 1983 and 1993, only three are available today.
US Military Aircraft Intercepted Two Russian Bombers and Jets Off Coast of Alaska for Second Time in a Week
Barbara Starr | CNN
US military aircraft intercepted two Russian bomber formations that entered the Air Defense Identification Zone off the coast of Alaska Tuesday evening, the second incident in the last week. The North American Aerospace Defense Command said in a statement Wednesday that the first formation of Russian aircraft consisted of two bombers, accompanied by two fighter jets, and was supported by an airborne early warning and control aircraft. The second formation consisted of two Russian bombers supported by another airborne early warning and control aircraft. The Russian military aircraft came within 32 nautical miles of Alaskan shores, but remained in international airspace and at no time did they enter US sovereign airspace.