South Korea will make a strong push to highlight the threats that North Korea's nuclear ambitions are posing both to the Asian region and the global community as a whole during the upcoming regional security meeting, observers and government officials said Friday.Top diplomats from 27 Asia-Pacific countries and the European Union are scheduled to meet in Vientiane for a series of talks led by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations starting this weekend. South Korea's Foreign Minister Yun Byu

North Korea July 22, 2016

A U.S. research institute on Thursday said it has located a suspected secret nuclear facility that North Korea used in the early stages of its uranium enrichment program."Recent information suggests that an early centrifuge research and development facility was located at the Panghyon Aircraft Plant, at or near the Panghyon Air Base, which is located about 45 kilometers west of the Yongbyon nuclear site," the Institute for Science and International Studies said in a report. "This is a preliminar

North Korea July 22, 2016

The United States will work closely with South Korea to deploy the THAAD missile defense system in a way that maximizes the protection it provides and minimizes any inconvenience it causes, the White House said Thursday."This is a highly sophisticated anti-ballistic missile defense system in South Korea to protect our allies from the missile threat emanating North Korea," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said at a regular press briefing."So we are certainly going to work closely with the

Defense July 22, 2016

The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama should not adopt a nuclear "no first use" doctrine at a time when North Korea increases its nuclear arsenal and threatens key U.S. allies South Korea and Japan, U.S. experts said Thursday.Jonathan Pollack and Richard Bush, senior experts at the Brookings Institution, made the appeal in a joint article, saying the Obama administration is reportedly trying to enunciate the "no-first use" doctrine to advance Obama's nuclear-free world vision in his

World News July 22, 2016

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said he would be "absolutely" prepared to tell U.S. allies, "Congratulations, you will be defending yourself," unless they agree to shoulder more of the cost for American troop presence.Trump made the remark in an interview with the New York Times held a day after he officially clinched the Republican presidential nomination, once again signalling he's ready to abandon U.S. security commitments overseas unless they make economic sense."I would prefer

World News July 22, 2016

The United States pledged Tuesday to put unrelenting pressure on the "leadership of North Korea" after the communist nation carried out banned ballistic missile launches in defiance of international pressure. The North fired the three missiles -- two of them short-range Scud and the third an intermediate-range Rodong -- earlier Tuesday in what was seen as a show of force against the planned deployment in South Korea of the U.S. THAAD missile defense system."This is just another in a series of pr

North Korea July 20, 2016

North Korea's latest firing of three ballistic missiles is "deeply troubling" and runs counter to efforts to reduce tensions on the Korean Peninsula, a U.N. spokesman said Tuesday.The communist nation fired the missiles -- two of them short-range Scud and the third an intermediate-range Rodong -- earlier Tuesday in what was seen as a show of force against the planned deployment in South Korea of the U.S. THAAD missile defense system."The Democratic People's Republic of Korea's firing of missiles

North Korea July 20, 2016

The U.S. Republican Party has adopted its new policy platform, calling for change in North Korea that it denounced as the "Kim family's slave state" and pledging to work toward ending the communist nation's nuclear weapons program.North Korea was the first issue mentioned in the Asia Pacific part of the platform adopted on Monday, the opening day of the party's national convention in Cleveland, Ohio, in an indication of the significance the party attaches to the problem."We are a Pacific nation

North Korea July 20, 2016