IRAN
Iran says it’s ready to resume talks with world powers
Stephanie Nebehay, Reuters – April 25, 2013
Iran is ready to resume talks with world powers on its disputed nuclear programme and awaits word from the European Union on timing and details, Iran’s deputy nuclear negotiator said on Thursday. Ali Bagheri, in an interview with Reuters in Geneva, said Iran needed 20 percent-enriched uranium for its Tehran research reactor and four others being built, and was continuing to convert some of its stockpile into reactor fuel.
NORTH KOREA
North Korea Threatens South After Rejecting Joint Factory Talks
Sangwon Yoon, Bloomberg – April 26, 2013
North Korea threatened retaliation against South Korea for demanding talks aimed at re-opening a jointly-run industrial park that has been shuttered for more than two weeks. The North will take “final, decisive and serious measures” if President Park Geun Hye’s government continues to issue ultimatums, the National Defense Commission said in a statement on the official Korean Central News Agency. Kim Jong Un’s regime today ignored a noon deadline to accept an offer for talks on the Gaeseong industrial zone or face what the South’s Unification Ministry said would be “serious measures.”
South Korea against re-deploying US tactical n-weapons
Zeenews – April 25, 2013
While reiterating Seoul’s commitment to a denuclearised Korean Peninsula, South Korean Prime Minister Chung Hong-won Thursday opposed the idea of redeploying US tactical nuclear weapons in the country. “The (South Korean) government remains committed to maintaining the principle of denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula,” he said at a parliamentary session.
U.S. General Sees Hope for Chinese Help on Korea
Jane Perlez, The New York Times – April 24, 2013
After three days of talks here, America’s top military officer said Wednesday that he believed China wanted to limit the nuclear ambitions of North Korea but that it remained unclear how China would work toward that goal. Contrary to suggestions by some in the United States that China is not interested in solving the North Korean problem, Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the “Chinese leadership is as concerned as we are with North Korea’s march toward nuclearization and ballistic missile technology.”
North Korea Issues Threat at Ceremony for Military
Choe Sang-hun, The New York Times – April 25, 2013
On an anniversary known for military showmanship, North Korean generals on Thursday declared that their forces were ready to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles and kamikazelike nuclear attacks at the United States if threatened.
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
Anti-nuclear advocates blast Japan’s refusal to sign non-nuke pact
Yohei Goto and Yasushi Saito, The Asahi Shimbun – April 26, 2013
Scholars, mayors and atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki lambasted the Japanese government for not signing a joint statement by dozens of nations calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons due to their inhumane nature.
Opinion: If B61 nuclear bombs’ strategic purpose is unclear, why spend more on them?
Heather Hurlburt, The Guardian – April 24, 2013
When no one on either side of the debate can state clearly what strategic purpose the refitted bombs would serve, surely we could spend the money on furloughed employees, or naval vessels, or tax cuts, or education, instead?
Japan refuses to sign international document describing nuclear weapons as inhumane
Yasushi Saito, The Asahi Shimbun – April 25, 2013
Despite being the only nation to have suffered atomic bombing, Japan has again refused to sign a document that describes nuclear weapons as inhumane. The document is a joint statement that was presented April 24 at the second session of the Preparatory Committee for the 2015 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons being held in Geneva.
MISSILE DEFENSE
Lockheed’s Aegis Missile Defense Expansion Passes $1.4 Billion Mark
Rich Smith, The Motley Fool – April 25, 2013
The Department of Defense awarded Lockheed Martin’s Mission Systems and Training division a $69.4 million sole-source, cost-plus-incentive-fee, cost-plus-award-fee contract modification Wednesday.
