Talk of Kim Jong Un "Beheading Mission" Fans Korea Tension
CBS News
Massive joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises are a spring ritual on the Korean Peninsula guaranteed to draw a lot of threat-laced venom from Pyongyang. This time, not only are the war games the biggest ever, but the troops now massed south of the Demilitarized Zone have reportedly incorporated a new hypothetical into their training: a "beheading mission" against Kim Jong Un himself.
Has North Korea Finally Miniaturized a Nuclear Device?
Ankit Panda | Diplomat
Wednesday morning’s edition of North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun has a striking lead story above-the-fold: Kim Jong-un inspecting what is purported to be a North Korean miniaturized nuclear device. Pyongyang is once again claiming that it has successfully accomplished the important milestone of miniaturizing a nuclear device for mating with its KN-08 inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBM), which may be able to reach the western coast of the United States. U.S. and South Korean officials have expressed concerns that North Korea may have accomplished this feat, but until today North Korea had not made any imagery of its purported miniaturized devices available.
In a First, Leading Democrats and Republicans Join Forces on Iran Sanctions
Karoun Demirjian | Washington Post
After months at odds, leading Democratic senators have formally joined forces with Republicans to design new congressional sanctions against Iran, spurred by a desire to strongly reject Tehran’s most recent reported ballistic missile tests. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and ranking member Ben Cardin (D-Md.) are preparing legislation to slap additional sanctions on Iran in response to a recent spate of ballistic missile launches. While the tests do not themselves violate the Iranian nuclear deal that took effect in January, officials believe they fly in the face of other international prohibitions and weaken the
India Test Fires Nuke Capable SLBM K-4 Secretly
Hemant Kumar Rout | New Indian Express
India has reportedly conducted a test of its home grown intermediate range Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile (SLBM) K-4 secretly from an undersea platform in the Bay of Bengal in a bid to boost its deterrence capability by strengthening the second strike fire power.
Even as the authorities of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) are tightlipped about the secret test, a reliable defence source on Tuesday confirmed ‘The Express’ that this nuclear capable missile was fired from a submerged pontoon positioned nearly 30 feet deep sea offshore Vizag coast on Monday.
China For ‘Through Discussions’ on India, Other Nations Joining the Nuclear Suppliers Group
Hindu Business Line
China on Thursday said it will not back India’s bid alone to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group as “other states” are also aspiring to join the elite 48-member club and asserted that any decision on the inclusion of new members will be based on “consensus”. “Besides India, there are other non-NPT states who have expressed similar aspirations,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said, clubbing India along with Pakistan and other states who have not signed the Nuclear Non- proliferation Treaty (NPT).
‘Teething Troubles’ at Kudankulam: India Biting More Nuclear Than It Can Chew
M.V. Ramana | Wire
On February 17 this year, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) began the excavation process to set up the Kudankulam 3 and 4 reactors. The reactors are to be imported from the Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom; according to Rosatom, the equipment is to be manufactured and delivered in 2016-2018. The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) projects commissioning of the two units for the 2020-21 fiscal year. As stated in the Lok Sabha in December 2014, the approved cost of the project is Rs.39,747 crore.