U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly condemned North Korea’s latest ballistic missile launch Monday ahead of an urgent meeting of the Security Council. – Associated Press
The new type of ballistic missile launched by North Korea on Sunday has a range of more than 2,000 kilometers (1,243 miles), according to South Korea's intelligence agency, the South's Yonhap News Agency reported on Tuesday. - Reuters
Editorial: The United States must be willing to use sticks — such as sanctions and deploying missile defenses in South Korea — as well as carrots to end the North Korean threat. These studies, and many others, have emphasized how China is central to any such strategy. Mr. Trump, with his oft-touted dealmaking skills, enjoys a fresh chance to put the matter high on the agenda with China and tackle one of the world’s most pressing security problems. He should waste no time in doing so. – Washington Post
The absence of Kim Jong-nam — the eldest son of the family, who was bound by Korean tradition to preside over the funeral — was all the evidence outside analysts needed to see how isolated he had become from the center of power in North Korea, the world’s most secretive regime. – New York Times
Kim Jong Un’s brother, who was killed in Malaysia on Monday, begged the North Korean leader to spare his life after escaping an earlier assassination attempt, the head of South Korean intelligence said on Wednesday. – Financial Times
The astonishing assassination of North Korea leader Kim Jong Un's half-brother rippled across Asia on Wednesday as Malaysian investigators scoured airport surveillance video for clues about the two female assailants and rival South Korea offered up a single, shaky motive: paranoia. – Associated Press
Editorial: The Trump Administration says it has launched a North Korea policy review, and not a moment too soon. Regardless of how or why Kim Jong Nam was killed, the U.S. and its allies need plans to handle a Pyongyang palace coup as well as a nuclear assault. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
Patrick Cronin writes: The more Kim looks for invulnerability in nuclear missiles that threaten great powers, the more vulnerable Kim is apt to feel. This is not a call for or a forecast of regime change. Instead, it is a recognition of our national and collective strength and resilience, as well as a recognition that what the people of North Korea need will not be delivered on a nuclear-tipped missile. – The National Interest
What followed was an assassination that, complete with a honey trap and a public poisoning, has focused new attention on Kim Jong Un, the 33-year-old leader of North Korea, suggesting he will stop at nothing to keep power. – Washington Post
Economists inside and outside China have long warned that China is making little progress bringing down the country’s dangerously-high debt levels. Some official voices are now joining in. – WSJ’s China Real Time
Robert Samuelson writes: Given this background, it seems astounding that anyone would suggest that the TPP may rise from the dead, with a new name and slightly altered provisions. Yet that’s the message of a new study from the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a think tank and unabashed advocate of TPP. – Washington Post