
North Korea expected to be central part of Biden's meetings with South Korea
CNN
Joe Biden begins his first visit to Asia as President in earnest Saturday, meeting with South Korea's newly elected leader as the country's belligerent northern neighbor appeared poised to thrust itself into the conversation with a nuclear or missile test.
The hermit nation's intensifying provocations were expected to be at the center of Biden's talks with South Korea's new president Yoon Suk Yeol, who took office a little more than a week ago and has signaled a tougher stance on Pyongyang than his predecessor.
Yet Biden also hopes to use the occasion of a new leader in Seoul to expand the US alliance with South Korea beyond just a security partnership defined by the North. Officials said in their first meeting, the US president was hoping to cultivate a willing economic partner who can also help advance collective security goals in the broader Asia-Pacific.

The two men killed as they floated holding onto their capsized boat in a secondary strike against a suspected drug vessel in early September did not appear to have radio or other communications devices, the top military official overseeing the strike told lawmakers on Thursday, according to two sources with direct knowledge of his congressional briefings.












