As Donald Trump beings to lay out more of his thinking on U.S. foreign policy, one issue that is gaining attention is his suggestion that the United States should remove its nuclear umbrella from South Korea and Japan and that these nations should be allowed to develop their own nuclear deterrent.
In the face of a North Korean missile volley protesting the recent passing of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2270, China has once again called for calm. This will undoubtedly anger some and lead many to question whether China’s resolve to earnestly and forcefully implement the sanctions is genuine.
On January 6 North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test and its second successful satellite launch on February 7, 2016. The following is a collection of the international response to these two actions.
When senior Chinese diplomat Wu Dawei left for North Korea in early February to persuade Kim to step down from his threat of launching a missile, not only did his entreaties fall on deaf ears, Kim also ordered the launch a day earlier so that it fell on that same day, the eve of the Lunar New Year.
With the passage of a new round of sanctions against North Korea, there is an expectation that Pyongyang will not go gracefully into negotiations over its weapons programs. How might Pyongyang respond to the new sanctions?
Seoul has chosen to change the international dynamics surrounding North Korea’s nuclear program, and may be beginning to see early dividends in its shift in policy.
Shortly before the 8th Republican presidential debate in New Hampshire North Korea conducted its second successful satellite launch. North Korea was also topic of discussion at the 5th Democratic presidential debate a few days earlier. Here is what the candidates had to say about the satellite launch in the Republican debate and more generally about North Korea in the Democratic debate.
Combined with it fourth nuclear test a little more than a month ago, Pyongyang has undertaken two major provocations and the international community has yet to respond more than rhetorically in a coordinated fashion at the United Nations.
In recent days there has been increasing speculation that North Korea is preparing to test a long range missile.
A good stretch of optimism in inter-Korean relations ended in December, even before tensions rose in early January 2016 with North Korea’s fourth nuclear test.