Top News Why U.S.-North Korea Nuclear Talks Are Stalled Bloomberg Opinion: What I Learned Leading America’s 1st Nuclear Inspection In North Korea NPR Undeclared North Korea: The Sino-ri Missile Operating Base and Strategic Force Facilities Center for Strategic and International Studies East Asia Pompeo expects ‘good marker’ with North Korea by end-February Reuters1/22/2019 U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Tuesday there remained “an awful lot of work to do” to achieve the denuclearization of North Korea but he anticipates further progress by the end of next month, when the U.S. and North Korean leaders are expected to meet for a second summit. South Korea Defends U.S. Bid for Nukes Compromise With Kim Bloomberg1/21/2019 South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha defended U.S. efforts to advance North Korea talks, saying in an interview that it would be “excessive” to say Washington is compromising on its denuclearization goals. Why U.S.-North Korea Nuclear Talks Are Stalled Bloomberg1/23/2019 The bellicose rhetoric between the U.S. and North Korea has certainly cooled, with no more threats of nuclear annihilation or personal insults. But months after Donald Trump shared an historic handshake with Kim Jong Un in June, a nuclear deal remains elusive. China conducts mock intercontinental ballistic missile strike exercise Economic Times1/23/2019 China’s Rocket Force, the strategic and tactical missile operator of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), has conducted a simulated intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) strike mission from an underground bunker against an imaginary enemy, official media here reported. Opinion and Analysis Opinion: What I Learned Leading America’s 1st Nuclear Inspection In North Korea NPRJoel Wit 1/22/2019 With a second summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un expected in late February, one crucial question looms large: Will Kim give up his nuclear weapons program? A Second North Korea Summit New York TimesEditorial Board 1/22/2019 President Trump remains bullish that the North Korea nuclear threat can be contained. Speaking to reporters on Saturday, the president praised the “incredible meeting” he had the day before with a top representative of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, trumpeting the “tremendous progress” the two sides had made. Can This New Approach To Nuclear Disarmament Work? War on the RocksRebecca Davis Gibbons 1/23/2019 An estimated 14,485 nuclear weapons exist on earth today — most are far more powerful than those that twisted railway ties, leveled buildings, and crushed, poisoned, and burned human beings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The majority of these weapons belong to the United States and Russia. For some in the U.S. government, including Chris Ford, assistant secretary at the State Department’s Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation, this number represents significant disarmament progress since Cold War highs of over 70,000 nuclear weapons. They argue the current security environment means that further reductions are not possible at this time. In contrast, for many disarmament advocates and officials from non-nuclear weapons states, this number is still far too high. They are now clamoring to ban all nuclear weapons. Because of this divide, according to Ford, we currently face a “disarmament crisis.” Special Interest Undeclared North Korea: The Sino-ri Missile Operating Base and Strategic Force Facilities Center for Strategic and International Studies1/21/2019 CSIS analysis confirms what experts have long known – that North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs are extensive and complex. There is a concrete strategy behind their development and our research shows that there are more facilities and locations related to these programs than North Korea has put on the table for negotiations.