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In North Korea, there are fears of over 200 dead at the Punggye-ri test site and concerns from South Korea and Japan that radiation could be emenating from the site itself. The mountain where North Korea has been conducting the vast majority of its nuclear weapons testing has been experiencing strain over the last few weeks from repeated detonations and tunnelling.
This news comes just after the North Koreans held a notable exercise on its eastern shoreline this week, demonstrating that the North Korean armed forces -- while not in a position of military readiness -- are ignoring calls from the United States to defuse the rhetoric and suspend both their nuclear weapons and missile delivery programs.
Despite earlier complaints that both China and Russia were demonstrating intransigence over the North Korean dilemma, there are increasing signs of a thaw -- namely that the Chinese government has come to a detente with South Korea over the deployment of a US-based THAAD theater missile defense system. Formerly, the Chinese government had imposed a series of sanctions on South Korea for destabilizing the status quo on the peninsula, with THAAD having the ability to scan Chinese airspace for potential threats.
Such conditions, while delicate for U.S. policy makers, show increasing signs that both Tillerson and Mattis are doing a remarkable job of coalescing opinions and isolating the North Korean regime. President Trump will be making a tour of Asia later next week in an effort to shore up both American economic interests as well as demonstrate the commitment of the United States to nuclear non-proliferation in the region.
Our takeaways at this point are rather consistent with previous observations. North Korea's military is neither adopting an offensive posture nor are they showing any signs of decreasing their rhetoric or suspending their nuclear weapons program. Thus far, the American response has been measured and comprehensive, including all regional actors towards a condition in Asia that is stable, lasting and firm.
Some news and articles we recommend for information and discussion purposes, none of which necessarily represent the position of A/O:
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