By Anna Fifield, The Washington Post: “The United States military started installing a controversial anti-missile defense system in South Korea overnight Tuesday, triggering protests and sparking criticism that it was rushing to get the battery in place before the likely election of a president who opposes it. ”
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain suggested Tuesday that he’ll push the Trump administration to take a harder line toward China over North Korea’s nuclear provocations when senators head to the White House Wednesday for an unusual group briefing on Pyongyang’s activities. – Washington Times
In the last few years, national security analysts and senior defense officials have suggested that it may not be North Korea’s ballistic missiles or artillery that are used to launch a large-scale attack on South Korea or U.S. installations, but North Korean commandos potentially armed with biological weapons. – Washington Post’s Checkpoint
The White House will host the entire Senate on Wednesday for an extraordinary briefing on North Korea amid rising tensions with Pyongyang and growing questions about how the Trump administration intends to halt the regime’s pursuit of nuclear weapons. – Foreign Policy
Sen. Cory Gardner has been among the lawmakers calling on the Trump administration to prioritize addressing the threat of North Korea launching nuclear weapons, and the Colorado Republican said it is “refreshing” to see some action. – Roll Call
North Korea could have the capability to fire a missile at the United States by 2020, top Asia-Pacific experts told lawmakers Tuesday. – The Hill
The U.S. Navy flotilla sailing toward the Korean peninsula to deter Kim Jong Un’s regime lacks a key capability: It can’t shoot down ballistic missiles. - Bloomberg
A senior Republican senator says he emerged from a dinner meeting with Donald Trump confident the president will not allow North Korea to build a nuclear-tipped missile capable of striking the United States. – Associated Press
Analysis: As North Korea edges closer to being able to threaten the United States with a missile, a preemptive U.S. strike will become more thinkable. If it comes to war, it could be hell on Earth. Barring a fast surrender by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, even a purportedly limited, preemptive U.S. strike could lead to deaths in that region numbering as high as the hundreds of thousands, experts say. – Roll Call
Editorial: The way to avoid this dire prospect is for China to join the U.S. and its allies in a united effort to change the regime in the North to one that will give up its nuclear weapons. This needn’t mean unification with the South, and it could mean a government in Pyongyang that is still allied with China. But China needs to take action beyond its familiar plea for more negotiations between the U.S. and North Korea. Toward that end, tougher sanctions are worth pursuing lest war becomes inevitable. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
John Bolton writes: Why, after this eight-year charade, anyone would believe North Korean “commitments” to renounce nuclear weapons is hard to understand. The real problem is that many otherwise sensible people are prepared to believe that agreements constitute reality, rather than actual behavior. Reporters and diplomats often say things like “the agreement ended [fill-in the blank]’s nuclear program.” Needless to say, no agreement does any such thing, only the verified conduct of the parties themselves. – Washington Post