Tornado Alley (PROG)

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High-ranking North Korean diplomat in London defects to South Korea

"CHINA’S CHANGING RELATIONS WITH THE TWO KOREAS"

Defection of Thae Yong Ho is coup for UK intelligence as diplomat could have useful knowledge of Kim Jong-un regime


Thae Yong-ho at the North Korean embassy in west London. Photograph: Katie
Schubaubr/AFP/Getty Images

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/16/north-korean-diplomat-in-london-defects-says-south-korean-media

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In defiant U.N. speech, North Korea vows to strengthen nuclear forces


North Korea's Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho addresses the 71st session of the United Nations General
Assembly on Friday. (Associated Press)

Associated Press

SEPTEMBER 23, 2016 6 PM REPORTING FROM UNITED NATIONS

North Korea's foreign minister condemned the United States on Friday for flying supersonic bombers over South Korea this week and vowed his country will strengthen its nuclear capabilities in defiance of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions.
http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-north-korea-un-speech-20160923-snap-story.html

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South Korea’s President Has No Easy Options in Dealing with an Aggressive North

By CHOE SANG-HUNSEPT. 23, 2016


President Park Geun-hye of South Korea in Washington in October. Despite the urging of other leaders
of the nation, she has refused to talk to North Korea after its nuclear testing. Carlos Barria/Reuters

SEOUL, South Korea — After North Korea conducted its fifth and most powerful nuclear test this month, South Korea’s president, Park Geun-hye, met with her country’s opposition leaders to discuss how to react. The outcome was not surprising.

Her liberal political opponents urged her to talk to the government in Pyongyang. Ms. Park, a conservative, said that would be a waste of time. Rather, she said, South Korea and its allies must focus on tightening sanctions, pressing the North to give up its nuclear program or face collapse.

“This is a battle of wills that we must win,” Ms. Park told the opposition leaders, asking them to support her position. They refused. One of them said later that talking to the president was “like talking to a wall.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/24/world/asia/south-koreas-president-has-no-easy-options-in-dealing-with-an-aggressive-north.html?_r=0