2025-01-24
10 分钟Welcome to the world in 10 in an increasingly uncertain world.
This is the Times daily podcast dedicated to global security Today with me, Tom Noonan, and Alex Dibble.
Donald Trump's return to the White House has had immediate consequences across the world.
This week we've been looking at them in detail and at specific comments Trump's made about Putin and Russia.
For example, do go back and listen to this week's episodes.
One talking point, though, which we haven't yet covered, but we'll do now, is North Korea.
As he was signing his executive orders earlier this week, Donald Trump told reporters about how friendly he was with Kim Jong Un in his first term when they met in 2019, and he became the first sitting American president to step inside North Korean territory.
Then he said, north Korea is a nuclear power.
Now, that might seem innocuous given all that we know about North Korea's missile tests, but it set the hairs running in South Korea and with other US Allies in the region.
So.
So was it a deliberate choice of words?
And if so, what is Trump's plan?
Our guest today is the Times Asia editor, Richard Lloyd Parry.
Richard, just to drill down into what we know, first of all, what actually are North Korea's nuclear capabilities?
Is Trump right about North Korea being a nuclear power?
I don't think anyone really knows with complete accuracy.
They don't declare this kind of thing, but the best independent estimate seem to assume that North Korea now has scores of nuclear warheads.
60, 80, 120, something like that.
Making warheads and successfully mounting them on a missile are not the same things.
The second step requires a higher degree of technology expertise and testing.