North Korea continues to push toward its goal of possessing nuclear-tipped missiles that could reach as far as the U.S. mainland. Since mid-year, North Korea has test-fired two long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles, sent a couple of mid-range missiles flying over Japan and staged the country’s most powerful nuclear test. U.S. President Donald Trump, whose visit to Asia includes stops in Japan, South Korea and China, stoked a war of words when he labeled North Korean President Kim Jong Un “Rocket Man” and said that if the U.S. had to defend itself or its allies against North Korea it would “totally destroy” the country. Kim called Trump a “dotard” and warned of the “highest level of hard-line countermeasure in history.”
1. Who leads the world’s response to North Korea?
South Korea, the U.S. and Japan bear the brunt of Kim’s threats and constitute the front line of the international response. The alliances among them have been tested, as when Trump described South Korea’s approach toward its neighbor as “appeasement.” A greater challenge for the three nations is getting China, North Korea’s most important ally and biggest trading partner, and Russia to work with them. United Nations resolutions going back to 2006 demand that North Korea abandon all nuclear-weapons and ballistic-missiles programs.
2. What’s the climate for Trump’s trip?
His visit began during a relatively quiet period, following the series of North Korea tests that provoked Trump’s outbursts. China recently moved to end a yearlong spat with South Korea over its deployment of a U.S. missile defense system that Chinese leaders complained upset the strategic balance in the region. And South Korea’s president, Moon Jae-in, called on North Korea to take part in the Winter Olympics being held in his country early next year.
3. What has the U.S. done to punish North Korea?
Trump signed an executive order effectively allowing the U.S. to impose a full trade and financial embargo on North Korea through the use of secondary sanctions targeting non-U.S. banks, companies and people who do business with the country. Analysts say those sanctions, unlike the multitude of measures that came before, have real bite. The U.S. has also allowed South Korea, under a treaty with the U.S. originally aimed at preventing a regional arms race, to put more powerful payloads on its missiles. It also pledged to let Japan and South Korea buy more “highly sophisticated military equipment” from the U.S. Trump has threatened a trade embargo against countries that do business with North Korea.
4. Is a pre-emptive military attack an option?
Such a strike might take out North Korea’s known nuclear and missile sites but would potentially carry a huge cost, even if North Korea reacted only with conventional weapons. That’s because North Korea has too many facilities spread out over too much terrain to destroy simultaneously, and South Korea’s capital, Seoul (population: 10 million), is within artillery range of the border.
Ballistic missile launch, Feb 12.
5. What’s China’s position?
China says it wants a nuclear weapons-free Korean peninsula, and its leadership has urged the U.S. and North Korea to make conciliatory gestures as a way to revive negotiations. China’s ruling Communist Party wants to avoid military conflict, which could send North Korean refugees flooding over the border, threaten the party’s grip on power and bring U.S. troops to its doorstep. China supplies about 90 percent of North Korea’s energy and much of its food. It suspended coal imports from North Korea and collaborated with the U.S. to get the UN Security Council to expand sanctions.
6. So the U.S. and China are working together?
They’ve pledged to, but the two have quarreled over the value of China’s efforts. After U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson characterized China’s cooperation on North Korea as “uneven,” the U.S. took steps in June to penalize a Chinese bank, a Chinese shipping company and two Chinese citizens it claimed had worked to help North Korea evade sanctions. In July, following North Korean long-range missile tests, Trump tweeted, “China could easily solve this problem!”
7. What do South Korea and Japan say?
South Korea’s Moon came to office in May promising a new era of engagement with North Korea, but at the same time he’s pushing for a military overhaul to keep Kim’s regime at bay. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has strongly backed Trump’s line, repeatedly saying that he favors pressure over dialogue to resolve the issue.
8. What would be the point of talks?
Diplomats have long talked about seeking a grand bargain first suggested by retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Lloyd Vasey: In exchange for economic assistance and security guarantees, North Korea would agree to verifiable denuclearization. This may be unrealistic, since Kim is unlikely to agree to shed his arsenal. A senior North Korean defector said in December 2016 that as long as Kim is in power, the country won’t give up its nuclear weapons “even if it’s offered $1 trillion or $10 trillion in rewards.” U.S. officials are concerned that initiating talks would be seen as rewarding irresponsible behavior by North Korea. Others argue that talks could achieve a freeze on Kim’s program, which — left unchecked — would multiply the numbers of warheads and missiles at his disposal.
9. What are North Korea’s capabilities?
miniaturize warheads to fit on missiles, the Washington Post reported in August. The September nuclear test, of what North Korea claimed was a hydrogen bomb, was more than 10 times stronger than a test a year earlier. The explosion was big enough to “pretty much end an American city” if successfully delivered by an intercontinental ballistic missile, according to Vipin Narang, an associate professor of political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who focuses on nuclear issues. After North Korea’s ICBM test in July, the U.S. confirmed that the missile was capable of reaching at least some U.S. states. Kim claims the entire U.S. is now in range.
10. Is accepting North Korea’s nukes an option?
No major country has said yet that it will accept North Korea as a nuclear-armed state. Some analysts have suggested that’s the best way to ease the current tensions. But accepting North Korea as a nuclear power could lead South Korea, Japan and perhaps Taiwan to seek their own nuclear arms — undermining, perhaps fatally, the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. South Korean politicians are already discussing the redeployment of U.S. tactical nuclear weapons, which were removed in the early 1990s.
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Sen. Rand Paul is recovering from five broken ribs and bruises to his lungs, and it is unclear when he will return to Washington, aides said Sunday, signaling that injuries he sustained Friday are far more severe than initially thought.
The second-term Republican senator from Kentucky and 2016 presidential candidate was attacked, allegedly by a next-door neighbor, Rene Boucher, 59, who was charged with fourth-degree assault.
Paul made his first public comments since the incident on Sunday, tweeting that his wife “Kelley and I appreciate the overwhelming support after Friday’s unfortunate event. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.”
Doug Stafford, Paul’s chief of staff, said in a statement Sunday that the senator has five rib fractures, including three displaced fractures, meaning the bones are partly or completely cracked.
“This type of injury is caused by high velocity severe force. It is not clear exactly how soon he will return to work, as the pain is considerable as is the difficulty in getting around, including flying,” Stafford said.
This photo provided by the Warren County, Ky. Regional Jail shows Rene Boucher, who was arrested and charged with assaulting and injuring Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.). (AP)
Paul has lung contusions, or bruises, caused by the broken ribs, Stafford said. He could not say whether one lung was bruised or both, but said Paul’s recovery could last several months. Such fractures can cause other significant medical problems, including internal bleeding, damage to other organs or pneumonia.
The nature of the dispute between Paul and Boucher remained a mystery Sunday to locals who know both men as medical professionals based in this southwestern Kentucky town.
Paul is an ophthalmologist who has practiced in town since moving here with his wife in 1993. He continues to provide free medical care to low-income Kentucky residents on a regular basis throughout the year when the Senate is not in session.
Boucher is an anesthesiologist and the inventor of the Therm-a-Vest, a cloth vest partly filled with rice and secured with Velcro straps that is designed to help with back pain. He has worked at several local medical facilities through the years, according to public health records.
David Ciochetty, a doctor with Interventional Pain Specialists in Bowling Green, said in an interview Sunday that Boucher worked there as a “general pain medicine physician” for about a year and a half beginning in January 2010 before leaving.
Asked whether he knew what might cause Boucher to lash out, Ciochetty said, “The rest of Bowling Green would like to know that, too. I was quite surprised to see this in the news.”
Ciochetty said Boucher used to work as an anesthesiologist at the hospital but “told people that he sustained a neck injury and could not continue his anesthesiology duties.”
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) speaks to reporters outside the White House after golfing with President Trump on Oct. 15. (Andrew Harnik/AP)
After Boucher left IPS, Ciochetty did not hear of him practicing anywhere else.
Paul had full staff privileges at the hospital when Boucher worked there, so Paul and Boucher “must have worked together at some point,” Ciochetty said.
Boucher was released Saturday on $7,500 bond, according to county jail records. He is scheduled to appear in court Nov. 9.
A motive is not known, and there is no indication that the attack was political in nature.
Jeff Jones, a registered nurse who worked with Boucher at the Bowling Green Medical Center, described Boucher’s politics as “liberal.”
“He was active on social media and said some negative things about the Republican agenda,” Jones said.
“I think it was unfortunate that they lived so close together,” he added.
A Facebook page that appeared to be Boucher’s included links to articles and memes critical of President Trump and a news article about a Montana Republican congressional candidate who attacked a reporter the day before winning his seat. The page said Boucher is a former Army pain-management specialist and graduated from the College of Osteopathic Medicine in Des Moines in 1984.
By late Saturday, the page had been overrun by other Facebook users criticizing Boucher for the alleged assault. On Sunday, the page appeared to be blocked from public view.
Jim Bullington, a former member of the city commission, knows both men. He said Sunday that Boucher is divorced and lives alone. Bullington described Boucher as a socialist.
“He’s pretty much the opposite of Rand Paul in every way,” Bullington said in an interview.
The neighbors had been known to have “heated discussions” about health care, Bullington said, adding that Boucher is an advocate of a national health system.
Paul, an outspoken libertarian, voted last summer against a Republican plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act, saying the plan didn’t go far enough in repealing the 2010 health-care law.
Robert Porter, a friend of Paul’s, said late Saturday that the senator was mowing his lawn moments before the attack.
Paul and Boucher live side by side along a small lake in Rivergreen, a close-knit gated community with large houses. On Sunday afternoon, nobody answered at Boucher’s home. Next door at the Paul residence, four people were seen doing yard work. Other neighbors were out walking, enjoying the unseasonably warm weather.
The senator joins a growing list of lawmakers in both parties who have been attacked or threatened with violence this year. Congressional security officials have investigated thousands of general or specific threats against Democratic and Republican lawmakers.
The threats turned to violence during the summer when House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) was nearly killed by a gunman who showed up at a congressional baseball practice in Alexandria, Va.
Paul, a member of the team, was on the field at the time of the shooting but was not hurt.
More recently, Rep. Frederica S. Wilson (D-Fla.) skipped several days of votes after threats were made against her after she sparred with Trump over the treatment of the widow of a U.S. soldier killed in Niger.
O’Keefe reported from Washington. Alice Crites, Caitlin Dewey and David Weigel contributed to this report.
This photo provided by the Warren County, Ky. Regional Jail shows Rene Boucher, who was arrested and charged with assaulting and injuring Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.). (AP)
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) speaks to reporters outside the White House after golfing with President Trump on Oct. 15. (Andrew Harnik/AP)