Wall Street Journal (August 17)
North Korea’s “spree of weapons tests—six in just three weeks, including one Friday—carry a potential downside for Pyongyang: diminished returns…. Its provocations don’t appear to be working. The shock value from the North’s military flourishes seems to be lost on President Trump, the key figure in the cash-strapped country’s campaign to shed economic sanctions.”
Tags: : diminished returns, Cash-strapped, Downside, North Korea, Provocations, Pyongyang, Sanctions, Spree, Trump, Weapons tests
Reuters (May 23)
“Pyongyang’s announcement last week that it might pull out of the meeting should have been less of a surprise. North Korea has spent decades using similar tactics to shape the diplomatic agenda with the South and Washington, raising hopes of a breakthrough—then sparking a crisis and moving the goal posts.”
Tags: Agenda, Breakthrough, Crisis, Hope, North Korea, Pyongyang, South Korea, Surprise, Tactics, U.S.
US News & World Report (January 17)
“Kim Jong Un may try to accelerate the timetable. North Korea’s growing strategic capabilities suggest that Washington – which has long chosen to ignore and minimize the problem posed by Pyongyang – will need to come up with a serious strategy to deal with the DPRK, and do so sooner rather than later.
Tags: Accelerate, Capabilities, DPRK, Kim Jong Un, North Korea, Pyongyang, Strategy, Timetable
Wall Street Journal (December 28)
“For two decades top U.S. officials from both parties—Madeleine Albright, Condoleezza Rice, John Kerry and others—have believed that the North could be bought off, or that China could be cajoled to rein in its client in Pyongyang. These views have proven to be badly mistaken, and the world is far more dangerous as a result.”
Chicago Tribune (September 9)
“The North’s boast of a technologically game-changing nuclear test defies both tough international sanctions and long-standing diplomatic pressure to curb its nuclear ambitions. It will raise serious worries in many world capitals that Pyongyang has moved another step closer to its goal of a nuclear-armed missile that could one day strike the U.S. mainland.”
Tags: Diplomatic pressure, Game changing, Missile, North Korea, Nuclear test, Pyongyang, Sanctions, Technology, U.S.
Financial Times (March 8)
“The tough UN sanctions to be imposed on North Korea, the result of an accord reached by the US and China, go well beyond previous efforts. Yet if the goal is to change Pyongyang’s behaviour, they will not be enough.”
Wall Street Journal (February 16)
“North Korea’s recent nuclear and missile tests are driving some welcome changes in South Korean strategy.” Namely, Seoul will install a U.S. built missile defense system and close the Kaesong industrial zone. Ending the denial that allowed the Sunshine policy to limp along is essential. “Burying the Sunshine Policy requires a willingness to confront Pyongyang’s horrors—and removing its nuclear threat requires burying the Sunshine Policy.”
Tags: Defense system, Denial, Kaesong, Missile test, North Korea, Nuclear, Pyongyang, South Korea, Sunshine policy, U.S.
Popular Mechanics (February 1)
“As both the capital of Japan and home to a quarter of its citizens, Tokyo is very much a big, fat target” for North Korea. Mainly done to reassure people living in Tokyo, “the deployment of the eight PAC-3 missiles does give real protection in case Pyongyang has something unexpected in mind.” While any launch would probably just be a missile test, “North Korea’s erratic nature means Japan can never quite rule anything out.”
Tags: Capital, Deployment, Erratic, Japan, Missiles, North Korea, PAC-3, Protection, Pyongyang, Target, Tokyo
Los Angeles Times (July 28)
“North and South, on the 60th anniversary of the end of the Korean War, couldn’t be more different.” When the armistice ended the war in 1953, “one-third of all homes and two-fifths of all factories were destroyed. Seoul, Pyongyang and all other cities were little more than rubble. Food was scarce, orphans plentiful.” Today, not that much has changed in the North, but everything has changed in the South, which is now the world’s 12th largest economy. “There is no more inspiring story in the world over the past half-century—or a more compelling example of how political decisions can shape people’s lives.”
Tags: Armistice, Food, Inspiring, Korean War, North Korea, Orphans, Pyongyang, Seoul, South Korea
Financial Times (February 12)
“China must halt North Korea’s folly….For nearly two decades, North Korea has regularly scared the world with its determination to become a fully fledged nuclear weapons state. Yesterday it took another decisive step on that road.” North Korea’s third underground nuclear test should result in a clear line. Beijing “needs to respond to this week’s test with punitive measures that force Pyongyang to rethink its nuclear folly.”
Tags: Beijing, China, North Korea, Nuclear test, Pyongyang
