North Korea

Putin Issues Warning: The Situation With North Korea Is “Balanced On The Verge Of A Large-Scale Conflict”

Reuters reports: Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Friday that the tense standoff between North Korea and the United States was on the verge of large-scale conflict and said it was a mistake to try to pressure Pyongyang over its nuclear missile program. “It is essential to resolve the region’s problems through direct dialogue involving all sides without advancing any …

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US Air Force Conducts Bombing Drills With South Korea

The Associated Press reports: The United States flew some of its most advanced warplanes in bombing drills with ally South Korea on Thursday, a clear warning after North Korea launched a midrange ballistic missile designed to carry nuclear bombs over Japan earlier this week, the U.S. and South Korean militaries said. North Korea hates such displays of U.S. military might …

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James Mattis Pushes Back On Trump’s “No More Talking” Tweet: We Are Never Out Of Diplomatic Solutions

Reuters reports: U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Wednesday that the United States was not out of diplomatic solutions with North Korea, just hours after President Donald Trump tweeted that “talking is not the answer.” When asked by reporters before a meeting with his South Korean counterpart at the Pentagon if the United States was out of diplomatic solutions …

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US Navy Claims Success With Missile Interception Test

The Diplomat reports: Days after North Korea launched an intermediate-range ballistic missile that flew over Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido and landed in the northern Pacific Ocean, the U.S. Navy successfully conducted a complex missile defense test this week at the Pacific Missile Range Facility off Kauai, Hawaii, according to a Raytheon company statement. The Standard Missile-6, one of the …

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Trump On North Korea: Talking Is Not The Answer

The Washington Examiner reports: President Trump on Wednesday seemed to rule out the possibility of negotiating some kind of truce with North Korea, just days after his secretary of state suggested that strategy. On Sunday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the U.S. would continue to apply peaceful pressure to North Korea, with the goal of starting a dialogue with …

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Trump Declares That “All Options Are On The Table” After North Korea Fires Missile Over Japan [VIDEO]

The Associated Press reports: President Donald Trump said Tuesday that “all options are on the table” in terms of a U.S. response to North Korea’s launch of a missile over Japan. In a terse, written statement Tuesday, Trump said that with the missile launch North Korea has “signaled its contempt for its neighbors, for all members of the United Nations, …

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North Korea Warns US Of “Merciless Strike”

CNN reports: North Korea warned Sunday that the upcoming US-South Korea military exercises are “reckless behavior driving the situation into the uncontrollable phase of a nuclear war.” Pyongyang also declared that its army can target the United States anytime, and neither Guam, Hawaii nor the US mainland can “dodge the merciless strike.” The messages in Rodong Sinmun, the official government …

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Trump Congratulates Guam’s Governor Because The Nuclear Crisis Made Him “Extremely Famous” [VIDEO]

The New York Post reports: President Trump phoned the governor of Guam on Friday to assure him all the residents of the Pacific Island are safe. A video shows Gov. Eddie Baza Calvo laughing and joking with the president as they discuss everything from the readiness of the US military to tourism. Trump opened the conversation by telling Calvo, “Good …

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Russian Foreign Minister Slams “Over The Top” Rhetoric On North Korea: These Nonstop Threats Worry Us A Lot

Reuters reports: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday the risks of a military conflict over North Korea’s nuclear program are very high, and Moscow is deeply worried by the mutual threats being traded by Washington and Pyongyang. “Unfortunately, the rhetoric in Washington and Pyongyang is now starting to go over the top,” Lavrov said. “We still hope and …

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Trump Warns Kim Jong-Un That If More “Overt” Threats Are Made “He Will Truly Regret It Fast” [VIDEO]

CNBC reports: President Donald Trump on Friday said North Korea’s leader would “regret” making any “overt” threat, keeping up the pressure after a string of combative warnings. “If [King Jong Un] utters one threat in a form of an overt threat — which, by the way, he has been uttering for years, and his family has been uttering for years …

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Angela Merkel Hits Trump For Escalating War Rhetoric

Politico reports: German Chancellor Angela Merkel Friday implicitly criticized U.S. President Donald Trump’s fiery comments on North Korea and called for the crisis over Pyongyang’s missile program to be resolved through diplomacy. When asked at a press conference in Berlin whether Germany would “stand by the U.S. in case of war,” Merkel did not respond directly but said: “I consider …

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GUAM: Newspaper Relays Timing If Missiles Launch

USA Today reports: If North Korea fires missiles toward Guam, the deadly weapons would take about 14 minutes to reach the island, said Guam Homeland Security spokeswoman Jenna Gaminde. She said residents would be immediately notified by the 15 All-Hazards Alert Warning System sirens, located in low-lying areas throughout the island. North Korea announced Thursday that the nation has a …

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Ana Navarro: Trump Is Playing Battleship While Golfing

Via Mediaite: In the wake of the president’s early-morning tweet stating that U.S. military solutions are “locked and loaded” if North Korea acts, Navarro stated that she felt a level of comfort that Trump is surrounded by “measured” military minds and combat veterans. However, after praising Chief of Staff John Kelly and Defense Secretary James Mattis, Navarro noted that Trump …

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Wall Street Ponders Nuclear War

The Wall Street Journal reports: Here’s a question that’s probably not on the CFA exam: What happens to financial markets if two nuclear-armed nations go to war? After a week of escalating tensions between the U.S. and North Korea, some financial analysts are now taking a stab at it. Strategists at Nordea Markets estimate that in the unlikely event of …

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CHINA: State Media Warns That It Will Intervene If Trump Launches First Strike On North Korea

The Washington Post reports: China won’t come to North Korea’s help if it launches missiles threatening U.S. soil and there is retaliation, a state-owned newspaper warned on Friday, but it would intervene if Washington strikes first. The Global Times newspaper is not an official mouthpiece of the Communist Party, but in this case its editorial probably does reflect government policy …

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Trump: Military Solutions Are Locked And Loaded

Reuters reports: U.S. President Donald Trump issued another warning to North Korea on Friday with a reference to American weapons as being “locked and loaded.” “Military solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely. Hopefully Kim Jong Un will find another path!” Trump wrote on Twitter, a day after his defense secretary said the …

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Fox News Analyst: Millions Would Die In Trump’s Strike But Most Of Them Would Be North Koreans, So….

Media Matters has the transcript from Sean Hannity’s radio show today: THOMAS MCINERNEY: We have no choice, and by the way, if one — if one artillery round comes out of North Korea onto Seoul, he gets our full nuclear retaliatory capability. Make sure he understands that. That artillery is no longer valid, because when we retaliate, we’re going to …

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North Korean State Media: It’s Not Possible To Reason With A Senile Man Who Spends All His Time Playing Golf

The New York Daily News reports: Americans and North Koreans can agree on one thing this week: President Trump is golfing too much. A North Korean general took a swing at Trump’s favorite presidential activity at the end of the second day of nuclear tensions between their two nations. Speaking on North Korea’s state-run media Wednesday night, Gen. Kim Rak …

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Trump Escalates: Maybe My “Fire And Fury” Threat To Nuke North Korea “Wasn’t Tough Enough” [VIDEO]

CNBC reports: President Donald Trump on Thursday ramped up his rhetoric on North Korea again, saying his warning of bringing “fire and fury” on the isolated nation may not have gone far enough. “If anything, maybe that statement wasn’t tough enough,” he told reporters at his New Jersey golf club. On Tuesday, Trump strongly warned Pyongyang against threatening the United …

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LIVE VIDEO: State Department Briefing On North Korea

USA Today reports: State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert will hold a briefing Wednesday on the heels of tense exchanges between the U.S. and North Korea. A day earlier, President Trump threatened North Korea with “fire and fury” in response to reports of a new milestone in the country’s nuclear quest. South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported that North Korea’s military …

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