IRAN
IAEA top official in Iran talks stands down
The Hindu Business Line – April 22, 2013
IAEA Deputy Director Rafael Grossi, one of the top officials in negotiations over Iran’s nuclear drive, has announced his resignation, the UN nuclear watchdog has said.
Chuck Hagel: arms deal sending ‘clear signal’ to Iran over nuclear programme
Reuters, The Guardian – April 21, 2013
US defence secretary Chuck Hagel said on Sunday a $10bn arms deal under discussion with Washington’s Arab and Israeli allies sent a “very clear signal” to Tehran the military option remains on the table over its nuclear programme.
NORTH KOREA
North Korea moves two more missile launchers
Jane Chung, Reuters – April 20, 2013
North Korea has moved two short-range missile launchers to its east coast, apparently indicating it is pushing ahead with preparations for a test launch, a South Korean news agency reported on Sunday.
North Korea Sets Condition on Talks
Kwanwoo Jun and Benoît Faucon, The Wall Street Journal – April 21, 2013
North Korea said it would be willing to hold disarmament talks with the U.S. but not over its nuclear-weapons program, its latest gambit in a weekslong run of threatening behavior that has in recent days been supplemented by setting extreme conditions for potential dialogue.
Calls against wartime control transfer resurface amid tension
Song Sang-ho, The Korea Herald – April 22, 2013
North Korea’s growing threat is feeding a fresh dispute over whether South Korea is fully ready to retake wartime operational control from Washington in December 2015 as scheduled. The highly divisive issue came to the fore last week when former U.S. Forces Korea commander Burwell Bell, once an outspoken supporter of the OPCON transfer, retracted his position, stressing that the North must be “aggressively contained” under U.S leadership.
Seoul mulls options to defuse Kaesong stalemate
Yonhap, The Korea Herald – April 22, 2013
South Korea is reviewing all options to break the deadlock over the suspension of an inter-Korean industrial complex and minimize the damage on local firms operating there, the unification ministry said Monday. Factories in the complex in the North Korean border city of Kaesong have been idle since April 9, when Pyongyang pulled out all of its 53,000 laborers.
UNITED STATES
Obama accused of nuclear U-turn as guided weapons plan emerges
Julian Borger, The Guardian – April 21, 2013
Barack Obama has been accused of reneging on his disarmament pledges after it emerged the administration was planning to spend billions on upgrading nuclear bombs stored in Europe to make the weapons more reliable and accurate.
MISSILE DEFENSE
Canada could be considering request from U.S. to join missile shield
The Globe and Mail – April 21, 2013
How much of a role Canada should play in helping secure North America from missile attacks could be up for renewed debate. The Conservative government is believed to be facing a request by the United States to join an anti-ballistic missile shield.
