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• North Korea agreed to send a 140-member orchestra to perform during the Winter Olympics in South Korea next month, another surprising easing of tensions after the lengthy standoff over the North’s weapons programs.

The U.S. defense secretary, Jim Mattis, and Gen. Joseph Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have argued for diplomacy in addressing North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.

But recent military exercises suggest that the U.S. military is preparing for the last resort.

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