IRAN
Iran mulls offer to suspend 20% uranium enrichment
PanArmenian.net – March 27, 2013
Iran is considering an international proposal to suspend uranium enrichment to a fissile concentration of 20 percent for a period of six months and converting their existing stockpile of 20% enriched uranium to an oxide for medical use, The Jerusalem Post reported citing Al-Monitor.
NORTH KOREA
North Korean regime says rockets on ‘highest alert’
Ashish Kumar Sen, The Washington Times – March 27, 2013
North Korea said Tuesday that it had put its rocket and long-range artillery units on “highest alert,” ready to strike South Korea and U.S. military bases in Hawaii and Guam. The Pentagon said it takes the threat “very seriously.”
North Korea Shuts Last Remaining Hot Line to South
Choe Sang-hun, The New York Times – March 27, 2013
North Korea cut off the last remaining military hot lines with South Korea on Wednesday, accusing President Park Geun-hye of South Korea of pursuing the same hard-line policy of her predecessor that the North blamed for a prolonged chill in inter-Korean relations.
Park urges N. Korea to abandon nukes
Yonhap News Agency – March 26, 2013
South Korean President Park Geun-hye urged North Korea on Tuesday to abandon its nuclear weapons and take the path to change, saying that is the only way to ensure its survival. Park made the remarks in a speech commemorating the victims who died in North Korea’s sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan exactly three years ago.
MISSILE DEFENSE
U.S., Russia aim to reconvene stalled missile defense talks
Gabriela Baczynska and Phil Stewart, Reuters – March 25, 2013
Russian and U.S. defense chiefs signaled on Monday their intention to reconvene long-stalled missile defense talks, the Pentagon said, following a change in U.S. missile defense plans for Europe that has been met cautiously by Moscow. There have been no meetings at the deputy minister-level since 2011, when six were held, a U.S. defense official told Reuters. Talks set for 2012 were canceled because of scheduling conflicts, he said.
Chinese-Russian Joint Statement on Missile Defense
Gregory Kulacki, Union of Concerned Scientists – March 27, 2013
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin included a short paragraph on missile defense in a lengthy joint statement that covered a wide variety of other topics. It appeared in the section of the statement devoted to international affairs.
‘Missile to nowhere’ survives
Michael Hoffman, DoD Buzz – March 26, 2013
Army generals have said repeatedly the service doesn’t want it. The Senate voted 94–5 to kill funding in its final year. But much like Michael Myers in the Halloween horror series, this missile defense system just won’t die.
