Yoon Says Seoul Could Rapidly Acquire Nukes if North Korean Threats Increase
Jeongmin Kim | NK News
Seoul could rapidly develop its own nuclear weapons if threats stemming from North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction become “more serious,” South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said Wednesday. The remarks represent the president’s most explicit comment to date about South Korea acquiring nuclear weapons, a prospect that enjoys widespread public support but which Seoul has long rejected as a U.S. ally under Washington’s nuclear umbrella and a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty…Toby Dalton, co-director of the nuclear policy program at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told NK News that the president’s statement was “remarkable and, very frankly, deeply irresponsible.”
Saudi Arabia Plans to Use Domestic Uranium for Nuclear Fuel
Reuters
Saudi Arabia plans to use domestically-sourced uranium to build up its nuclear power industry, energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said on Wednesday. He added that recent exploration had shown a diverse portfolio of uranium in the Gulf Arab state, the world's top oil exporter. Saudi Arabia has a nascent nuclear programme that it wants to expand to eventually include uranium enrichment, a sensitive area given its role in nuclear weapons. Riyadh has said it wants to use nuclear power to diversify its energy mix.
Trump Discussed Using a Nuclear Weapon on North Korea in 2017 and Blaming it on Someone Else, Book Says
Rebecca Shabad | NBC News
Behind closed doors in 2017, President Donald Trump discussed the idea of using a nuclear weapon against North Korea and suggested he could blame a U.S. strike against the communist regime on another country, according to a new section of a book that details key events of his administration. Trump's alleged comments, reported for the first time in a new afterword to a book by New York Times Washington correspondent Michael Schmidt, came as tensions between the U.S. and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un escalated, alarming then-White House chief of staff John Kelly.
Deal on Safe Zone for Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant Getting Harder -IAEA
Reuters
Brokering a deal on a safe zone around Ukraine's Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is getting harder because of the involvement of the military in talks, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Wednesday."I don't believe that (an agreement) is impossible, but it is not an easy negotiation," International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi said in an interview with Italian public television RAI. Grossi, who previously said he hoped to broker a deal on protecting the plant before the end of 2022, said talks with Kyiv and Moscow had become more complicated because they involve not just diplomats, but also military officers.
US, Japan Unveil Plans to Strengthen the Alliance
LOLITA C. BALDOR and MATTHEW LEE | Associated Press
The United States and Japan unveiled plans Wednesday to strengthen their alliance to help counter threats from North Korea and China, which they called the greatest security challenge in the region. In unusually blunt terms, the U.S. and Japanese foreign and defense ministers condemned China’s increasing aggressiveness in the Indo-Pacific and elsewhere, called out Russia for its war with Ukraine and castigated North Korea for ramping up its nuclear and missile programs…Austin noted that Wednesday’s agreement affirms America’s “ironclad commitment to defend Japan with a full range of capabilities, including nuclear” and underscores that Article 5 of the mutual security treaty applies to the Senkaku Islands. The disputed islands outside Japanese territorial waters are also claimed by Beijing.
South Korea, U.S. Plan February Nuclear Tabletop Drills to Deter North
Hyonhee Shin | Reuters
South Korea and the United States will hold tabletop exercises next month as the allies move to better counter the North's nuclear threats, South Korea's defence minister said on Wednesday…"We're planning to hold tabletop exercises in February between defence officials on operating means of extended deterrence under the scenario of North Korea's nuclear attacks," South Korean defence minister Lee Jong-sup told a news conference. In May, the two countries' militaries will stage separate tabletop exercises for the first time, which will be "far more concrete and substantive" than the February programmes for policymakers, Lee said