Category Archives: Nuclear weapons

North Korea could hold nuclear test next week, US envoy warns

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US says Pyongyang may escalate recent provocations with a weapons test on 110th anniversary of founder Kim Il-sung’s birth

North Korea could be planning its first nuclear weapon test in nearly five years, according to a senior US official who urged the regime to step back from further provocations following its recent long-range missile test.

Sung Kim, the special representative for North Korea policy at the US state department, said Washington believes Pyongyang could demonstrate its growing nuclear weapons capacity on 15 April, an annual holiday held to celebrate the 110th anniversary of the birth of the country’s founder, Kim Il-sung.

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North Korea would ‘annihilate’ South if provoked, warns Kim Jong-un’s sister

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Warning points to a rise in tensions on the peninsula after the North conducted its first intercontinental ballistic missile test in five years

The influential sister of North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, has said the country’s nuclear forces would “annihilate” the South Korean military if it launched a pre-emptive strike against the regime.

Kim Yo-jong, who holds several senior positions in the government and ruling party, said the North had no intention of starting a second Korean war, but would respond if provoked and leave the South’s military in a state of “total destruction and ruin”.

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North Korea may be preparing for nuclear test soon – report

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‘Shortcut’ tunnel at Punggye-ri nuclear testing centre could see it operational within a month, sources tell South Korean news agency

North Korea may be making rapid preparations to carry out a nuclear weapons test for the first time in more than four years, according to a South Korean media report.

The Yonhap news agency, quoting government sources, said North Korea appeared to be digging a “shortcut” to Tunnel 3 at its previously closed nuclear test site in Punggye-ri.

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North Korea test-launches its ‘largest intercontinental ballistic missile yet’

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Japan calls testing ‘unforgivable’ as regime fires one of biggest missiles for first time since 2017

North Korea has launched what is thought to be its largest intercontinental ballistic missile to date, in a dramatic return to long-range testing that marks the regime’s most serious provocation for years.

South Korea’s military fired a missile barrage into the Sea of Japan in response to the ICBM launch – the first full-range test of Kim Jong-un’s most powerful missiles since 2017. The launch will lead to fears that the North has made significant progress in developing weapons capable of sending nuclear warheads anywhere in the US.

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‘Serious escalation’: US believes North Korea testing intercontinental missile

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Pyongyang launches were to test parts of intercontinental ballistic missile and not satellite surveillance system, US concludes

The US believes North Korea is testing a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in what the Biden administration called a “serious escalation” that would trigger more sanctions.

Pyongyang conducted two recent missile launches which it said were ultimately intended for putting satellites into space. After scrutinising them, however, US intelligence has assessed that the real intention was to test parts of the new ICBM.

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Iran nuclear talks rocked by Russian demand for sanctions exemption

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Moscow seeks guarantees regarding trade with Iran that would undermine west’s response to Ukraine invasion

Russia has been accused of trying to take the Iran nuclear deal hostage as part of its wider battle with the west over Ukraine, after it threw a last-minute spanner into plans for an agreement to lift a swathe of US economic sanctions on Tehran.

After months of negotiations in Vienna, a revised deal was expected to be reached within days under which US sanctions would be lifted in return for Tehran returning to full compliance with the 2015 nuclear nonproliferation deal.

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China rattled by calls for Japan to host US nuclear weapons

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Influential former prime minister Shinzo Abe called for Tokyo to consider hosting US nuclear weapons in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

China has reacted angrily to calls by Japan’s influential former prime minister, Shinzo Abe, for Tokyo to consider hosting US nuclear weapons in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and rising concern over Chinese aggression towards Taiwan.

Abe, who presided over record defence budgets before resigning in 2020, said Japan should cast off taboos surrounding its possession of nuclear weapons following the outbreak of war in Europe.

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Would Vladimir Putin actually use nuclear weapons?

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Russian president has ordered nuclear deterrence forces on high alert. We look at what that means

Russia’s president summoned the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, and military chief of staff, Valery Gerasimov, to a public meeting on Sunday and ordered them to “transfer the deterrence forces” – a reference to nuclear weapons – “of the Russian army to a special mode of combat duty”.

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Putin signals escalation as he puts Russia’s nuclear force on high alert

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Deterrence order given as Zelenskiy says Ukraine delegation will meet Russian officials at Belarus border

Vladimir Putin has ordered his military to put Russia’s nuclear deterrence forces on high alert, in the latest signal from the Russian leader that he is prepared to resort to the most extreme level of brinkmanship is his effort to achieve victory in Ukraine.

The US accused Putin of “totally unacceptable” escalation and made clear that it would keep up its support of Ukraine and punitive measures on Russia. With the EU also announcing unprecedented new measures against Moscow, it was clear that Putin’s assault on Ukraine had failed to yield the quick victories he had anticipated but had instead rallied a concerted western response that was potentially devastating for Russia’s economy.

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Putin’s nuclear posturing requires west to tread extremely carefully

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Challenge for Nato is to maintain support for Ukraine while making clear Russian leader has way out of crisis

Successive generations have experienced what it is like to feel the shadow of nuclear annihilation loom over their daily lives, from the Cuban crisis of 1962, to the missile standoff in Europe in the 1980s. This is shaping up to be our turn.

“I’ll be honest – I’m nervous,” Pavel Podvig, one of the world’s leading experts on Russian nuclear forces, said after Vladimir Putin declared a “special mode of combat duty of the deterrence forces”.

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Zaghari-Ratcliffe ‘angry at her life being stolen’ after deal for release collapses

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Charity worker’s husband demands transparency from No 10 amid fears she is being used as ‘bargaining chip’ in nuclear talks

The husband of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian charity worker detained in Iran, has said she is “very, very angry” after learning about the collapse of a deal to bring her home.

Zaghari-Ratcliffe fears she is a “bargaining chip” in ongoing nuclear talks and is filled with “anger at her life being stolen” and the government’s “lack of urgency” in securing her release, Richard Ratcliffe said.

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US urges North Korea to join direct talks after latest missile test by Pyongyang

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  • Biden official: ‘We reiterate our call for diplomacy’
  • South Korean leader fears return to war threats of 2017

The US on Sunday made a direct appeal to North Korea to join direct talks with no preconditions about its nuclear and missile programs, after Pyongyang sent a suspected intermediate-range ballistic missile into space.

“We believe it is completely appropriate and completely correct to start having some serious discussions,” a senior Biden administration official told reporters.

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US condemns North Korea after it launches longest-range missile test since 2017

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Test marks Pyongyang’s seventh weapons launch this month, highlighting expanding arsenal amid stalled denuclearisation talks

North Korea fired what appeared to be the most powerful missile it has tested since the US president, Joe Biden, took office, possibly breaching a self-imposed suspension on the testing of longer-range weapons and sparking condemnation from the United States and its allies.

The Japanese and South Korean militaries said the missile launched on Sunday travelled on a lofted trajectory, apparently to avoid the territorial spaces of neighbours, and reached a maximum altitude of 2,000km (1,242 miles) and traveled 800km (497 miles) before landing in the sea.

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North Korea confirms barrage of missile tests as Kim Jong-un visits arms factory

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Pyongyang’s regime has carried out six tests in January ‘confirming the power of conventional warhead’

North Korea has test-fired more long-range cruise missiles and short-range ballistic missiles, state media says, part of a record-breaking streak of launches this year.

Pyongyang has conducted six weapons tests since the start of the year, including hypersonic missiles, one of the most intense barrages in a calendar month on record, while ignoring US offers of talks.

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‘Stuck in perilous moment’: Doomsday Clock holds at 100 seconds to midnight

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The clock has been set at that time third year in a row as science and security board says it ‘brings neither stability nor security’

The Doomsday Clock, established 75 years ago by scientists to illustrate the danger of human extinction, remains at 100 seconds to midnight according to a panel of experts.

It is the third year in a row that the clock has been set at that time, which is closer to midnight than at any period during the cold war, including the Cuban missile crisis.

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No ‘fire and fury’ yet, but a game of nuclear brinkmanship with North Korea looms

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Analysis: Kim Jong-un’s pressure on Joe Biden has so far elicited only fresh sanctions. Pyongyang has now signalled it may resume nuclear and ICBM tests

North Korea has already conducted four test launches of ballistic missiles this year, but they could be a mere precursor to more serious provocations, as Kim Jong-un’s regime attempts to break the nuclear stalemate with the US.

Superficially, the recent tests were a reminder of the North’s ability to manufacture more sophisticated weapons – perhaps including those capable of evading missile defences – despite years of international sanctions.

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North Korea tests possible ballistic missile in third launch in two weeks

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South Korean military says projectile was fired into the sea, and comes after US imposed further sanctions on regime officials

North Korea has fired a possible ballistic missile, Japan’s Coast Guard said on Friday, which would be the country’s third such launch in two weeks.

South Korea’s military said an unidentified projectile had been launched into the sea off its east coast.

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North Korea conducts fresh ‘hypersonic missile’ launch

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Second launch in less than a week designed to put pressure on US and follows condemnation at UN

North Korea has test-fired a suspected ballistic missile that may be an improved version of a “hypersonic missile” it launched only last week, in a move designed to increase pressure on the US amid stalled nuclear talks and mounting economic problems for the regime.

Tuesday’s launch was detected at 7.27am on Tuesday from an inland area of North Korea toward the ocean off its east coast, South Korea’s joint chiefs of staff (JCS) said in a statement.

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North Korea has launched possible ballistic missile, say Japan and South Korea

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Regime conducts first such launch of the year, with South Korea’s military saying the missile appears to have landed in the sea

North Korea has fired what could be a ballistic missile early on Wednesday, the first such test by Pyongyang of the new year.

The South Korean Joint Chiefs of staff and the Japanese government said the projectile “appears” to be a ballistic missile, with South Korea saying it landed in the East Sea.

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Five of world’s most powerful nations pledge to avoid nuclear war

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US, Russia, China, the UK and France who are permanent members of the UN security council agree ‘nuclear war cannot be won’

Five of the world’s most powerful nations have agreed that “a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought” in a rare joint pledge to reduce the risk of such a conflict ever starting.

The pledge was signed by the US, Russia, China, the UK and France, the five nuclear weapons states recognised by the 1968 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) who are also the five permanent members of the UN security council. They are known as the P5 or the N5.

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