In The News

N Korea Sets Stark Policy Test for China

Leslie Hook February 13, 2013
International observers had hoped that the Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s leader since 2011, would be less belligerent and more open to cooperation with neighboring countries. Instead, the country has launched a nuclear test, in violation of international law, once again challenging China, its key ally: “[T]he relationship has started to fray after a series of diplomatic snubs by Pyongyang since [Un...

North Korea Tests China and the World

Shim Jae Hoon January 28, 2013
Foreign relations with isolated North Korea are in an unending winter – hints of a thaw repeatedly followed by hard freezes. The country’s young leader, Kim Jong Un, gave a speech, the first broadcast by a North Korean leader since 1994, suggesting that his country might be ready for dialogue with South Korea President-elect Park Geun Hye. Then, responding to UN Security Council Resolution 2087,...

US and China Come Together Over Defiant North Korea

January 25, 2013
North Korea’s leaders have long sought international attention with threats of missile launches. Rather than ignore the errant behavior, China now sides with the United States. After meeting with Chinese officials, the US special representative for North Korea reported that “Both sides agreed that ‘a nuclear test would be troubling and a setback to the efforts to denuclearise the Korean peninsula...

Iran’s Nuclear Program: Handle With Care

Jamsheed K. Choksy, Carol E. B. Choksy November 14, 2012
Both the United States and Iran must contend with polarized politics. Yet large majorities of Iranians and Americans do not support Iran’s development of nuclear capability for military purposes and do not want to start a war over the issue. An attack on Iran’s nuclear program, which it insists is for peaceful purposes, is useless because the knowhow is there, as it is in many other places, and...

World Anxious as Iran Inches Toward Nuclear Bomb

Leonard S. Spector November 14, 2011
As the international community seeks ways to reduce nuclear weapons, the few nations that defy this common goal are targets for ire, monitoring, and escalating sanctions. The International Atomic Energy Agency has reported evidence that Iran is continuing to build the technical skills required for producing nuclear weapons and accumulating stocks of partially enriched uranium. Nonproliferation...

福岛之后的黎明——下篇

理查德•维茨（Richard Weitz） May 26, 2011
全世界共有400多座核反应堆，分布在29个国家，还有64座正在建设中。本期耶鲁全球系列上下两篇文章认为，灾难比工业发展更能够暴露出工业评估和管理更新的需要。分析家理查德•维茨（Richard Weitz）在下篇中指出，日本福岛核电站事故揭示了，目前全球应急响应和安全标准可能不足以应对老化的反应堆、预期的工业增长和严重的天气事件。各国对本国的核活动安全负责，如果事故发生，国际原子能机构可以提供资源。维茨敦促道，国际原子能机构至少必须审议并增强应对多种原因造成的灾难的标准，不管这种灾难是自然的还是人为造成的。现场检查和对事故报道的要求也要合乎程序。所有国家都有强烈的兴趣来避免因世界任何地方发生核灾难而造成的巨大代价、生命的失去和跨国的混乱。

After the Fukushima Disaster

Richard Weitz May 26, 2011
The world has more than 400 nuclear reactors in 29 nations, with 64 more under construction. Disaster rather than industry growth exposes the need for industry review and regulation updates, suggests a YaleGlobal series. The accident at the Fukushima power plant in Japan revealed that global emergency-response and safety standards currently in place may be inadequate for aging reactors,...