Nuclear Policy News – June 25, 2018

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TOP NEWS

Trump officially declares N. Korea still a threat, despite his claim after historic summit
Washington Post

U.S. Military Prepares to Receive Soldiers’ Remains From North Korea
New York Times

North and South Korea Agree to Hold Family Reunification Meetings This Summer
Time

Pompeo warns Iran on nuclear arms; hopes military force will never be needed
Reuters

EAST ASIA

Trump officially declares N. Korea still a threat, despite his claim after historic summit
Washington Post6/22/18
President Trump cited an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to U.S. national security as he acted Friday to maintain long-standing economic restrictions on North Korea, including the freezing of any assets in the United States.

Former US chief spook does U-turn on denuclearization
Asia Times6/22/18
Conventional wisdom is that North Korea will never denuclearize but with Beijing, Seoul and Washington apparently convinced, some senior experts are changing their positions. Still: The process is daunting

U.S. Military Prepares to Receive Soldiers’ Remains From North Korea
New York Times6/23/18
More than six decades after the end of the Korean War, the American military is preparing for the remains of some of its soldiers killed in the conflict to finally return home.

North and South Korea Agree to Hold Family Reunification Meetings This Summer
Time6/22/18
North and South Korea have agreed to hold temporary reunions of families divided by the 1950-53 Korean War in August as they boost reconciliation efforts amid a diplomatic push to resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis.

Is North Korea a Nuclear Threat or Not? The President Now Says It Is
New York Times6/22/18
The gulf between President Trump’s rhetoric and a thorny geopolitical reality widened a bit further on Friday, when the White House said it would extend a decade-old executive order declaring a national emergency over the nuclear threat from North Korea.

Japan’s nuke experts ready to help defang North Korea
Japan Times6/23/18
Japan has told the United States it is ready to dispatch experts to North Korea to help the country dismantle nuclear facilities toward the “complete denuclearization” of the Korean Peninsula, government sources repeated.

North Korea sticks with ‘new era’ pledge despite Trump’s reversal over nuclear threat level
Washington Post6/23/18
North Korea appeared unwilling on Sunday to respond harshly after President Trump reversed course to declare the country still a threat, with Kim Jong Un’s regime pledging that it seeks a “new era” with the United States but offering no specific plans toward dismantling its nuclear program.

MIDDLE EAST

Pompeo warns Iran on nuclear arms; hopes military force will never be needed
Reuters6/23/18
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday warned Iran not to pursue nuclear weapons, saying it would face the “wrath of the entire world” if it did so, but added that he hoped it would never be necessary for the United States to take military action against the country.

Russian, Iranian foreign ministers discuss nuclear deal
TASS6/25/18
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif discussed in a phone conversation on Monday the situation around the Iran nuclear deal and the preparations for the fifth Caspian summit, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

RUSSIA/FSU/EUROPE

Javier Solana, Ex-Chief of NATO, Is Denied Permission to Travel to U.S.
New York Times6/25/18
Javier Solana, a former secretary general of NATO who played a central role in negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program when he was the European Union’s foreign policy chief, has been denied electronic authorization to enter the United States because of a visit to Iran in 2013.

Gorbachev: Putin, Trump should focus on arms control
Washington Post6/22/18
Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev says if Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump hold a summit, they should focus on curbing the U.S.-Russia arms race and ensuring strategic stability.

SOUTH ASIA

India and the NPT After 50 Years
The Diplomat6/22/18
A look back at India’s decision to reject the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in 1968.

OPINION AND ANALYSIS

Trump’s unintended allies in Iran: the hardliners
The HillAli Vaez
6/22/18
If champagne were halal, the hard men of the Islamic Republic of Iran would still be raising glasses to toast President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal.

What Trump doesn’t get about ideology in Iran. It’s about nationalism, not theocracy.
Washington PostShervin Malekzadeh
5/25/18
The Trump administration has made clear that it wants regime change in Iran, but its actions have made such an outcome far less likely, short of war.

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