North Korea has prepared a long-range rocket for use in a controversial launch later this month. The launch is coming amid reports that North Korea may also be planning a nuclear test. South Korean officials say new satellite images suggest the North is preparing to carry out a third test at the same site where tests of a nuclear bomb were previously carried out in 2006 and 2009. Damian Grammaticas, correspondent for our partner the BBC, was among a group of foreign journalists taken by train to North Korea’s north-west coast to see the final preparations for the rocket launch.
The U.S. and its allies are planning a new round of negotiations with Iran, set to begin Friday. According to our partner the New York Times, one of the U.S. demands is that Iranian leaders close and eventually dismantle its nuclear facility located deep under a mountain. Steven Erlanger is the Paris Bureau Chief for our partner the New York Times.