North korean

Not many people know how to wage nuclear war. I’m one of them. As a young U.S. Air Force fighter pilot in the late 1970s, I was trained to carry out nuclear strikes in a rigorous process designed to ensure that no contingencies — mechanical or ethical — deter your mission. Certain things remain burned into my memory: maps and photos of my target and the realization of the Armageddon I would leave in my wake. Training culminated with a sworn pledge to vaporize that target without hesitation. Much of my 33-year career was spent as a nuclear warrior — I later oversaw the U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile fleet and served as deputy commander of American military forces in the Pacific — experience that informs my deep alarm over the growing risk of nuclear conflict with North Korea. The United States has tried for decades to prevent the country from becoming a nuclear threat, veering from diplomacy to pressure to patience. None of these approaches have worked. Here’s something … [Read more...] about I Know How Nuclear War Is Waged, So I’m Calling for Peace With North Korea

With just weeks to go before President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are expected to hold their first-ever summit , Pyongyang on Sunday criticized what it called “misleading” claims that Trump’s policy of maximum political pressure and sanctions are what drove the North to the negotiating table. The North’s official news agency quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman warning the claims are a “dangerous attempt” to ruin a budding detente on the Korean Peninsula after Kim’s summit late last month with South Korean President Moon Jae-in . At the summit, Kim agreed to a number of measures aimed at improving North-South ties and indicated he is willing to discuss the denuclearization of the peninsula, though exactly what that would entail and what conditions the North might require have not yet been explained. Trump and senior U.S. officials have suggested repeatedly that Washington’s tough policy toward North Korea, along with pressure on its main trading … [Read more...] about North Korea says U.S. ruining mood of detente ahead of Trump-Kim summit

PUNGGYE-RI, North Korea — North Korea carried out what it said was the demolition of its nuclear test site Thursday, setting off a series of explosions over several hours in the presence of foreign journalists. The blasts at the test site in the sparsely populated northeast were supposed to build confidence ahead of a planned summit next month between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump. But Trump canceled the meeting on Thursday , citing the "tremendous anger and open hostility" in a North Korean statement released earlier in the day. The explosions were centered on three tunnels into the underground site and a number of observation towers in the surrounding area. North Korea held a closing ceremony afterward with officials from its nuclear arms program in attendance. The group of journalists that witnessed the demolition, which touched off landslides near the tunnel entrances and sent up clouds of smoke and dust, included an Associated Press … [Read more...] about North Korea destroys nuke test site in front of journalists

BEIJING — South Korea is desperately trying to manage the diplomatic crisis between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un in order to avert threatened American military action against North Korea. Trump's announcement Thursday that he was calling off the Singapore summit was followed by a flurry of reversed decisions and policy re-statements, rhetorical declarations both hostile and conciliatory, shuttle diplomacy by minor officials around the globe, high-profile meetings and low-key discussions. We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea. Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2018 The leadership in Seoul has been working around-the-clock to keep peace talks on track. On Saturday, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong Un held a “surprise summit” … [Read more...] about South Korea works to prevent war between U.S., North Korea

Kim Byung-yeon The author is a professor of economics and head of the Institute for Future Strategy at Seoul National University. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un dreamed of changing the country into a normal state. The 39-year-old leader wanted to become a head of state in a normal country by wiping out the image of North Korea as a rogue state. To take the novel path, he abandoned his father’s “Military First” policy and attempted to run the country through the normal governance system based on the Workers’ Party and the Cabinet. That’s not all. Kim defined himself as head of the State Affairs Commission, not the chairman of the National Defence Commission his father was. In a bold move to turn the off-track country into a normal state, Kim brought his wife to various events at home and abroad like other heads of state. He instructed his subordinates to include education on climate change in training programs and even submitted a report on the sustainable development of the … [Read more...] about [Column] Kim Jong-un’s dream to be ruined by nukes