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Tensions flare between North and South Korea

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South Korea is fed up with North Korea’s garbage—literally. Last week, North Korea sent around 3,500 balloons full of manure, scrap paper, and cigarette butts over the border into South Korea, in response to South Korean activist groups sending balloons with propaganda leaflets and other contraband to their isolated neighbors to the north.

And even though no one was hurt by the North Korean deliveries—and Pyongyang promised to pause the mud-slinging for now—the damage had been done. The relative calm on the Korean Peninsula was officially trashed.

On Tuesday, Seoul suspended a six-year-old military agreement with Pyongyang that aimed to decrease tensions between the two countries by requiring both sides to stop holding military drills or carrying out psychological warfare activities in border areas. It’s a move that has some officials and experts worried that hostility on the Korean Peninsula—already on the rise after North Korea carried out an underwater nuclear test in January—could blow through the roof.

Tit-for-tat. The scrapped 2018 deal dated back to former South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s time in office, where he sought direct rapprochement with the north in three successive meetings with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un. Both sides agreed to stop blaring propaganda messages across the border at one another and to halt live-fire exercises within the 400-square-mile demilitarized zone (DMZ) along the 38th parallel that roughly splits the two countries.

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But even before Seoul killed the deal, relations on the Korean Peninsula were already deteriorating. North Korea’s failed launch of a military spy satellite in late May prompted South Korea to conduct air drills with 20 fighter jets—including F-35s, F-16s, and F-15s—maneuvering near the no-fly zone along the DMZ. And that’s when North Korea started sending trash balloons over the border.

“We cannot help being enraged by such intolerable saber-rattling, a blatant violation of our national sovereignty,” Kim said. He called South Korea a “gangsters’ regime.” And he punctuated his comments by firing 18 short-range ballistic missiles in a military drill.

Now, the Americans are involved. On Wednesday, the United States sent a long-range B-1 bomber over the Korean Peninsula in joint drills with Seoul and dropped precision-guided bombs. It was the first time that had happened in seven years. It last occurred during the war of words between former U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim that lasted for most of 2017.

Unwelcome distraction. For the last three years, the Biden administration has said that the U.S. will meet with North Korea anytime, anywhere, and without preconditions—a message that Pyongyang has pointedly ignored, even as Biden himself publicly repeated the pledge during Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s visit to Washington in April.

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But the flare-up in tensions comes at a time when the United States is trying to get South Korea to focus outside of the Korean Peninsula and repair relations with Japan to deal with the threat of China’s military rise.

Historical animosity stemming from Japan’s World War II-era occupation of Korea, including the military sexual enslavement of thousands of Korean women, had undermined the prospect of a diplomatic thaw for most of the past eight decades. But Seoul and Tokyo had a “kumbaya” moment at a Camp David summit with Biden, Kishida, and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol in August 2023. Earlier this week, all three countries agreed to hold joint military exercises, and Japan and South Korea agreed to re-normalize defense ties in a significant step toward overcoming those historical issues.

Now, South Korea’s military assets—and the political bandwidth to keep an eye on China—are once again being diverted to deal with North Korea’s threats.

Biden has nominated Julie Smith to serve as the undersecretary of state for political affairs, the State Department’s fourth-ranking job. The role has been vacant since Victoria Nuland retired in March. Smith will stay on in her current job as U.S. ambassador to NATO while she goes through the confirmation process.

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Biden has also tapped Kin Moy to be U.S. ambassador to Vietnam and James Story to be U.S. ambassador to Mozambique. Both are career foreign service officers.

Kelly Magsamen, the chief of staff to U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, is set to leave her job at the end of the month after three and a half years.

House Speaker Mike Johnson has appointed Reps. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Ronny Jackson of Texas to serve on the House Intelligence Committee, putting two close Trump allies on the powerful congressional panel charged with overseeing U.S. spy agencies.

Johnson has also tapped Republican U.S. Rep. Ben Cline of Virginia to serve on the China select committee.

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Beyond the Russian border. The Biden administration is now allowing Kyiv to hit targets inside Russia close to the Ukraine border with U.S. arms, and Ukraine hasn’t wasted any time since it got the green light. By Wednesday, Ukraine had already struck inside Russia with U.S. weapons, congressional aides and NATO officials told us, as Russia ramps up attacks on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv near the Russian border. Other European countries, including the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, have given Ukraine similar approvals.

Some officials and congressional aides we’ve spoken to (all spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters) concede there’s a chance this could further escalate tensions between Russia and NATO, particularly as Russian President Vladimir Putin floats more nuclear threats. Others believe the policy is necessary for Ukraine to defend itself and are frustrated the Biden administration has taken so long to approve the measure, believing the White House is leaning too far into micromanaging how Ukraine uses U.S. weapons systems.

We just want to talk. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has been aggressively recruiting former fighter pilots from NATO countries to train members of its air force and naval aviators, according to a bulletin issued Wednesday by the Five Eyes intelligence alliance composed of the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

“The PLA wants the skills and expertise of these individuals to make its own military air operations more capable while gaining insight into Western air tactics, techniques, and procedures,” the notice said. Front companies around the world have offered potential recruits “exorbitant salaries,” Michael C. Casey, the director of the U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security Center, said in a statement.

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“Somalia on steroids.” The U.S. special envoy for Sudan told Foreign Policy that the East African country’s ongoing civil war could devolve into a failed state, warning that it could become “Somalia on steroids,” as Robbie reported this week.

Sudan’s civil war, one of the world’s deadliest conflicts, has killed around 150,000 people by some estimates and been the scene of widespread atrocities including ethnic cleansing and potentially genocide. It has significant geopolitical implications as well: Russia is eyeing establishing a naval refueling station in Sudan on the strategically important Red Sea coast in exchange for supplying the Sudanese Armed Forces with more weapons.

Toxic workplace. U.S. military personnel responsible for maintaining America’s nuclear weapons arsenal were exposed to dangerous toxins and chemicals without proper safety equipment or support from the Air Force, according to a new investigation from Military.com. “Many believe their jobs repairing intercontinental ballistic missiles contributed to prolonged illnesses and cancer diagnoses,” the report found.

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US Secretary of State Rubio to meet Ukrainian counterparts in Saudi Arabia this week

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The US Department of State announced on Sunday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio will travel to Saudi Arabia from March 10-12 to hold discussions with his Ukrainian counterparts.

A statement from spokesperson Tammy Bruce mentioned that Rubio will also meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

After his time in Saudi Arabia, Rubio will head to Canada for the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting scheduled for March 12-14.

It’s worth noting that Rubio had a conversation with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha on Friday, during which he expressed that President Donald Trump aims to bring the Russia-Ukraine conflict to an end as soon as possible.

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Trump had halted military assistance and intelligence sharing with Ukraine following a dispute with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on February 28.

Zelenskyy has also confirmed plans to visit Saudi Arabia for a Monday meeting with Mohammed bin Salman, with Ukrainian diplomatic and military representatives set to meet the U.S. team on Tuesday.

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Russia releases 870 drones, 80 missiles on Ukraine

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that Russia conducted over 2,100 aerial bomb attacks on Ukraine in the past week.

In a post on his X account on Sunday, Zelenskyy also stated that Russian forces launched nearly 870 attack drones and more than 80 missiles of various types at Ukraine.

The Ukrainian leader emphasized that many of Russia’s weapons depend on foreign-made components.

“Throughout this week, Russia has carried out hundreds of attacks against our people using various types of weapons: around 1,200 guided aerial bombs, nearly 870 attack drones, and over 80 missiles of different types,” Zelenskyy wrote.

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“Every Shahed drone and aerial bomb Russia uses contains components supplied in circumvention of sanctions. These weapons include more than 82,000 foreign components.

“Every day, we work with our partners to ensure that decisions are made to provide life-saving support: air defense systems, investments in our defense production, and the strengthening of sanctions against Russia.

“We continue our efforts to bring a just peace closer and ensure reliable security guarantees.”

Ukraine and Russia have been engaged in conflict for more than three years since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale military operation in Ukraine in February 2022.

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Forget it, we can never be part of US, new Canada PM Carney hammers Trump

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The newly elected leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, Mark Carney sharply criticised United States President Donald Trump in his victory speech on Sunday, Forbes reported.

Carney rejected Trump’s suggestion that Canada should become the 51st US state, declaring that “Canada will never, ever… be a part of America in any way, shape or form.”

The economist, who previously served as governor of both the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England, also condemned Trump’s trade policies, accusing the US president of attempting to weaken Canada’s economy through unjustified tariffs.

Carney warned that if Trump succeeded in his objectives, it would lead to the destruction of Canada’s way of life.

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The prime minister-designate said the Americans “want our resources, our water, our land, our country…if they succeeded, they would destroy our way of life.”

Carney, speaking on the U.S. healthcare system, saying, “In America, healthcare is a big business…in Canada it is a right.”

The newly elected leader, who won the leadership race with nearly 86 percent of the vote, vowed to maintain retaliatory tariffs against the US “until the Americans show us respect.”

He framed Canada’s response as part of a broader effort to protect the country’s resources, economy, and sovereignty.

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Carney is poised to take over from Justin Trudeau as Canada’s prime minister after being sworn in by the country’s Governor General.

Trudeau announced his decision to step down earlier this year, facing pressure from his own party. Following his swearing-in, Carney is expected to call for an early federal election.

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