TOP NEWS A top US diplomat just laid out the new approach to North Korea. It’s doomed. Vox Air Force’s $166 Billion Budget Would Help Revamp U.S. Nuclear Deterrent Foreign Policy Love Letters Don’t Conquer All: Why the Trump-Kim Summit Collapsed The Atlantic East Asia U.S. says North Korea diplomacy ‘very much alive,’ but it’s watching rocket site Reuters3/11/19 The chief U.S. envoy for North Korea said on Monday that “diplomacy is still very much alive” with Pyongyang despite a failed summit last month, but cautioned that Washington was closely watching activity at a North Korean rocket site and did not know if it might be planning a new launch. A top US diplomat just laid out the new approach to North Korea. It’s doomed. Vox3/11/19 In his first public comments since President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met in Vietnam last month, Stephen Biegun, the US special representative for North Korea, told a Washington audience Monday that the administration wants Pyongyang to give up all of its weapons of mass destruction before anything else. How Significant is the Dismantlement of Yongbyon? 38 North3/11/19 In Hanoi, President Trump rejected a proposal by Kim Jong Un to dismantle nuclear facilities at the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center in exchange for lifting most of the economic sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council since March 2016. North Korea sanctions: UN investigating possible violations in about 20 countries The Guardian3/11/19 United Nations experts are investigating possible violations of UN sanctions on North Korea in about 20 countries, from alleged clandestine nuclear procurement in China to arms brokering in Syria and military cooperation with Iran, Libya and Sudan. South Asia How India and Pakistan can step back from the brink of war The Washington Post3/11/19 Tensions have since slowed, though small-scale skirmishes have continued on the border. But in truth, there was darkness in the relationship between the two countries long before the recent escalation — darkness that will remain as we begin to look ahead. U.S. Nuclear Policy Trump budget increases funding for nuclear weapons agency amid new production DefenseNews3/11/19 The National Nuclear Security Administration will receive an 8.3 percent increase over its current budget, with an eye on completing production of a new low-yield nuclear missile this upcoming fiscal year. US to make parts for missile system covered by treaty Trump suspended The Hill3/11/19 The Pentagon will start work on making parts for ground-launched cruise missile systems that would fall within the limits of a treaty President Trump suspended compliance with last month, a spokeswoman said Monday. Air Force’s $166 Billion Budget Would Help Revamp U.S. Nuclear Deterrent Foreign Policy3/11/19 The White House is requesting $166 billion for the U.S. Air Force in its latest budget request, out this week, a sizable 6 percent increase over last year that the service will put in part towards revamping its pieces of America’s nuclear deterrent. Opinion and Analysis Love Letters Don’t Conquer All: Why the Trump-Kim Summit Collapsed The Atlantic, Uri Friedman3/12/19 It’s now known rather famously, in Donald Trump’s Twitter feed at least, as the “walk”—the president cutting short his summit in Vietnam with Kim Jong Un because, per a wisdom that fast took root back in Washington, no nuclear deal was better than a bad one.