President Donald Trump has signed off on a policy approach to North Korea that involves increased economic and political pressure while military options remain under consideration longer term, a senior U.S. official said. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
President Trump, frustrated by China’s inaction on North Korea, opened the door on Tuesday to concessions on his trade agenda with Beijing Beijing in exchange for greater Chinese support in pressuring Pyongyang. In doing so, he lashed together two sharply different issues in an already-complex relationship. – New York Times
China’s leader, Xi Jinping, and President Trump spoke by phone on Wednesday about the escalating tensions with North Korea as a prominent Chinese state-run newspaper warned the North that it faced a cutoff of vital oil supplies if it dared test a nuclear weapon. – New York Times
The United States and North Korea are engaging in high-tension brinkmanship, with North Korea warning Tuesday that it will “hit the U.S. first” with nuclear weapons, but the prospects that this could escalate into an actual clash of arms are slim. – Washington Post
Reacting to worries and conjecture spreading in South Korea of a possible pre-emptive American military strike on nuclear-armed North Korea, the government sought to reassure citizens on Tuesday that there would be no such attack without its consent. – New York Times
There was no specific reason U.S. Pacific Command elected to rearrange the schedule of the Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group and send it toward the Korean peninsula, Secretary of Defense James Mattis told reporters on Tuesday. – USNI News
A U.S. aircraft that specializes in detecting radioactive debris after the detonation of a nuclear device has arrived on Okinawa amid rising tensions on the Korean peninsula. – Stars and Stripes
President Trump, frustrated by China’s inaction on North Korea, opened the door on Tuesday to concessions on his trade agenda with Beijing Beijing in exchange for greater Chinese support in pressuring Pyongyang. In doing so, he lashed together two sharply different issues in an already-complex relationship. – New York Times
China’s leader, Xi Jinping, and President Trump spoke by phone on Wednesday about the escalating tensions with North Korea as a prominent Chinese state-run newspaper warned the North that it faced a cutoff of vital oil supplies if it dared test a nuclear weapon. – New York Times
The United States and North Korea are engaging in high-tension brinkmanship, with North Korea warning Tuesday that it will “hit the U.S. first” with nuclear weapons, but the prospects that this could escalate into an actual clash of arms are slim. – Washington Post
Reacting to worries and conjecture spreading in South Korea of a possible pre-emptive American military strike on nuclear-armed North Korea, the government sought to reassure citizens on Tuesday that there would be no such attack without its consent. – New York Times
There was no specific reason U.S. Pacific Command elected to rearrange the schedule of the Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group and send it toward the Korean peninsula, Secretary of Defense James Mattis told reporters on Tuesday. – USNI News
A U.S. aircraft that specializes in detecting radioactive debris after the detonation of a nuclear device has arrived on Okinawa amid rising tensions on the Korean peninsula. – Stars and Stripes
Peter Huessy writes: We know previous serious economic and banking sanctions worked to get the North to the negotiating table in 2007, but then the sanctions were inexplicably dropped. It is time to ramp them back up, albeit with the understanding the North’s banking capability is more diverse. – Real Clear Defense
Editorial: The U.S. sale of submarine technology would carry symbolic weight precisely because Beijing has worked so hard to deny Taiwan this capability. Politically, the prospect of the U.S. ramping up support for Taiwan’s defense would force China to reconsider its strategy of intimidating the island’s population into submission. That would help stabilize the region and reduce the risk of the U.S. having to come to Taiwan’s aid in a conflict. While Beijing would undoubtedly find ways to retaliate, the strategic benefits would outweigh the costs. – Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
RSS Feed