Nuclear Policy News – October 2, 2018

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Top News

N. Korea accuses Japan of trying to build up military, destroy peace
Yonhap News Agency

U.S. would destroy banned Russian warheads if necessary: NATO envoy
Reuters

America and North Korea Need To Work Toward a Stable Nuclear Deterrence
National Interest

East Asia

Seoul: North Korea estimated to have 20-60 nuclear weapons
Washington Post10/2/2018
A top South Korean official told lawmakers that North Korea is estimated to have up to 60 nuclear weapons, in Seoul’s first public comment about the size of the North’s secrecy-clouded weapons arsenal.

N. Korea accuses Japan of trying to build up military, destroy peace
Yonhap News Agency9/29/2018
North Korea on Saturday blasted Japan for trying to create tension on the Korean Peninsula, while also accusing the country of trying to rebuild its military.

North Korea, South Korea begin removing landmines along fortified border
Reuters9/30/2018
Troops from North and South Korea began removing some landmines along their heavily fortified border on Monday, the South’s defence ministry said, as part of a pact to reduce tension and build trust on the divided peninsula.

Middle East

Trump Challenges Europeans Over Iran Deal
Arms Control Association10/1/2018
Nearly five months after Trump unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 accord, Iran continues to comply with restrictions on its nuclear activities as the European Union, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom seek work-arounds to renewed U.S. sanctions on the Islamic republic.

Russia/FSU/Europe

U.S. would destroy banned Russian warheads if necessary: NATO envoy
Reuters10/2/2018
Russia must halt its covert development of a banned cruise missile system or the United States will seek to destroy it before it becomes operational, Washington’s envoy to NATO said on Tuesday.

U.S. Nuclear Policy

Five changes Democrats will seek at Pentagon if they win power
The Hill10/1/2018
Democrats are pledging to rein in or reverse President Trump’s defense agenda if they take back Congress in November. From seeking to ensure that transgender troops can continue to serve to blocking the administration from building low-yield nuclear weapons, Democrats have in their sights several moves Trump made in his first two years in office.

Opinion and Analysis

America and North Korea Need To Work Toward a Stable Nuclear Deterrence
National InterestLouis Rene Beres
10/1/2018
In the final analysis, North Korean President Kim Jong-un will never surrender his country’s nuclear weapons. To do otherwise would be to willingly renounce that country’s only real and residual claim to meaningful international power. It follows that “complete denuclearization” is plainly an ill-considered diplomatic goal for the United States, and that Washington should focus instead on creating the necessary conditions for stable nuclear deterrence.

Nuclear Deals and Double Standards
Foreign AffairsJeffrey Lewis
10/2/2018
American Hypocrisy Is Harming Nonproliferation Efforts. At the United Nations this week, U.S. President Donald Trump smilingly teased another summit to discuss nuclear weapons with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and then angrily denounced reports that he had sought a similar meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

Special Interest

Step Inside Cold War Nuclear Sites
National Geographic10/1/2018
GREY, CUSHIONED, COMFORTABLE, the chair doesn’t seem meant for a combat position on the front line of nuclear war. Yvonne Morris sat there on alert in the early eighties. Now, when she leads tours, she steers visitors through simulations of the steps she never had to take: Authenticate the controller’s flat, dire command; retrieve the launch codes from the war safe; turn the keys in unison with the deputy crew commander to send a seven-story-tall Titan II intercontinental ballistic missile and its massive nuclear payload hurtling off into the world.

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