North Korea has increased its missile arsenal by 25 percent in the past two years to about 1,000, expanding the threat the state poses to the region, the South’s defense chief said Wednesday.
Pyongyang’s arsenal includes intermediate-range missiles that can hit targets at up to 3,000 km (1,860 miles) away, Yonhap news agency quoted Kim Tae-young [...]

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North Korea said on Tuesday it would boost its nuclear weapons capability because U.S. President Barack Obama was determined to ignore its calls for peace and bring it down by military force.
N.Korea to boost nuclear weapons capability | World | Reuters

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A group of American scientists is expressing alarm at a possible attempt by North Korea to ship portable anti-aircraft missile systems abroad. The missiles were part of a an airborne cargo intercepted by authorities in Thailand in December.
Anti-Aircraft Missiles Intercepted From North Korea Alarm Scientists | Asia | English

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“If North Korea is able to refurbish its fuel fabrication plant, that production rate could continue indefinitely with its arsenal reaching 14-18 weapons by 2019,” said Joel Wit, a visiting fellow at the U.S. Korea Institute at the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, in a report.
YONHAP NEWS

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China and South Korea are expanding their submarine fleets as the U.S. Navy shrinks its own. The conservative Heritage Foundation in a report last Tuesday said that by 2025 the number of U.S. submarines in the Pacific Ocean will fall from 30 to 27 while China will have 78 submarines and South Korea 26.
The [...]

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As South Korea climbs the economic ladder, the presence of foreigners is growing — and so are complicated reactions to them.
Foreign English Teachers | South Korea

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President Barack Obama’s top intelligence official said Tuesday that North Korea relies on its nuclear weapons program because of a crumbling military that cannot compete with South Korea.
Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair described in testimony before the U.S. Congress a North Korean army that struggles with aging weapons, poorly trained, out-of-shape soldiers, inflexible leaders, [...]

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An airport in Iran’s capital of Tehran was the intended destination for a North Korean weapons shipment seized in Bangkok on Dec. 12, according to a confidential report to the United Nations Security Council by Thailand’s government.
North Korean Arms Were Headed to Iran, Thailand Report Says – BusinessWeek

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This is South Korea’s problem, so why should we care? I certainly wouldn’t lift a finger to help the South Korean people if North Korea invades.
An American academic says South Korea’s military capabilities are inadequate to handle a North Korean invasion or other North Korean military action or regime collapse there. In an article entitled [...]

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Lind offers specific estimates of what it would take to seize North Korea’s nuclear facilities and disarm the entire North Korean defense establishment as if the collapse of the North Korean regime were almost certain and the U.S. had to lead the charge to fill the vacuum. The study offers a raft of figures on [...]

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