The early-morning launch came as the United Nations Security Council met in New York to discuss last week’s test of what Pyongyang called a hypersonic missile, although Seoul has cast doubt on that claim.

After an emergency meeting, South Korea’s national security council expressed “strong regret over the launch,” according to a statement from the president’s office.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters it was “extremely regrettable that North Korea continues to launch missiles.”

The United States Indo-Pacific Command issued a brief statement identical to the one it issued in response to last week’s launch.

Tuesday’s statement said in part that, “While we have assessed that this event does not pose an immediate threat to U.S. personnel or territory, or to our allies, the missile launch highlights the destabilizing impact of the DPRK’s illicit weapons program. The U.S. commitment to the defense of the Republic of Korea and Japan remains ironclad.”

There were no immediate reports of damage to Japanese aircraft or vessels, according to Japanese government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno.

“(The suspected missile) is estimated to have flown approximately up to 700 kilometers (435 miles) and landed outside of Japan’s exclusive economic zone,” he said.

Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it had been fired from land at around 7:27 a.m. local time Tuesday (5:27 p.m. EST on Monday).

Pyongyang didn’t issue any immediate claims about its latest test.

The second one in a week came after six countries, including the United States and Japan, urged North Korea Monday to cease “destabilizing actions” ahead of a U.N. Security Council closed-door meeting. France, Britain, Ireland and Albania joined the call for North Korea to “engage in meaningful dialogue towards our shared goal of complete denuclearization.”

CBS News’ Pamela Falk at the U.N. said the six nations’ joint statement, delivered by U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, condemned North Korea for the latest missile test, which it said demonstrated the isolated nation’s “determination to expand its unlawful weapons capabilities,” which in turn heighten the “risk of miscalculation and escalation and pose a significant threat to regional stability.”

Analysts said Pyongyang had likely planned the latest launch to coincide with the U.N. meeting.

“North Korea continues testing to diversify its nuclear arsenal, but it timed the launch on the day of the UNSC meeting to maximize its political impact,” Shin Beom-chul, a researcher at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy, told AFP.

The frequency of testing indicated Pyongyang could be fitting in the launches ahead of the Beijing Olympics next month, said Park Won-gon, a professor at the Ewha Womans University in Seoul.

North Korea has been barred from the Beijing Winter Olympics after skipping the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games over COVID-19 concerns, a move Pyongyang has blamed on “hostile forces.”

In the decade since leader Kim Jong Un took power, North Korea has seen rapid progress in its military technology at the cost of international sanctions.

In 2021, nuclear-armed North Korea said it had successfully tested a new type of submarine-launched ballistic missile, a long-range cruise missile, a train-launched weapon, and what it described as a hypersonic warhead.

South Korea has cast doubts over Pyongyang’s hypersonic claims, saying last week’s test represented limited progress on the regime’s existing ballistic missiles.

A second hypersonic test so soon could indicate last week’s launch was actually a failure, said Kim Dong-yub, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies.

“It’s hard to understand why they would carry out another test less than a week after they announced a success,” he added.

The Associated Press cited some experts as saying the latest test may have been Pyongyang’s reaction to Seoul downplaying last week’s test.

Hypersonic missiles move far faster and are more agile than standard ones, making them much harder for missile defense systems — on which the United States is spending billions — to intercept.

They were listed among the “top priority” tasks for strategic weapons in North Korea’s current five-year plan, and it announced its first test – of the Hwasong-8 – last September.

The tests come as North Korea has refused to respond to U.S. appeals for talks.

At a key meeting of North Korea’s ruling party last month, Kim vowed to continue building up the country’s defense capabilities, without mentioning America.

Instead of policy positions on diplomacy, for which Kim’s New Year statements are closely watched, he focused on food security and economic development.

Dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang remains stalled and the country is under multiple sets of international sanctions over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

The impoverished nation has also been under a rigid self-imposed coronavirus blockade that has hammered its economy.

CBS News’ Lucy Craft says the regime’s work on even more advanced rockets, including harder-to-intercept, trajectory-shifting hypersonic glide missiles, have caused particular alarm in Tokyo.

Japan’s so-called “peace constitution,” written in the wake of its defeat in World War II, restricts its armed forces to self-defense only. But as North Korea accelerates its weapons development, Japan has announced that it’s considering a fundamental shift in its governing document that would grant its military the ability to strike enemy targets, including missile sites.

Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/north-korea-ballistic-missile-launch-second-week/

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With France set to start its six-month stint in the rotating EU presidency, Emmanuel Macron spoke on Thursday of a budget rethink within the bloc, took a swipe at the post-Brexit British government and said he planned remote talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin next week.

Macron also said that France would not be following in the footsteps of the United States, UK, Canada and Australia, by conducting a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics, set to take place in February 2022.

The French leader said his priorities for the European Council presidency were encapsulated within the motto: “Recovery, power, belonging” as he seeks a “strong, fully sovereign, and united Europe.”

France’s aim was “to move towards a Europe that is powerful in the world, free in its choices and in charge of its own destiny,” Macron said at a news conference in Paris.

France takes on the rotating presidency as Belarus stands accused of engineering a refugee crisis on EU borders, amid global calls for a tougher stance on China over human rights issues, during renewed tensions with Russia over Ukraine, and as post-Brexit relations with the UK — not least Franco-British ties — become more and more strained.

Macron on EU budget
The French president said it was possible the bloc would need to go beyond the initial €750-billion coronavirus recovery package.

Macron, speaking a day before hosting Germany’s new Chancellor Olaf Scholz, said he would use France’s six-month presidency to convene an extraordinary summit of the bloc’s 27 member state leaders in Paris, on March 10 and 11..

To be held just a month before France’s presidential election, Macron said the EU gathering would help define a new European growth model in the wake of the pandemic.

Germany’s Scholz supported the original COVID stimulus package but he is wary of any joint borrowing mechanism becoming permanent.

Macron also said the new budget rules must help boost investments in the digital sector. “For that we must start building a budgetary and financial framework that is credible, simplified and transparent,” he said.

One aspect, he stressed, will be discussing whether budget stimulus is enough, while also defining whether some national investments can be allowed to go beyond the bloc’s allowance.

Macron also believes the EU should try to work towards a common, decent EU minimum wage.

Macron on the UK government
Meanwhile, relations with the UK remain strained over fishing rights, migration and security because the British government cannot be trusted, Macron said.

“The problem with the British government is that it does not do what it says,” Macron said, albeit swiftly adding how much he “loved Britain” and “its people.”

But “I have an overwhelming desire to have a [British] government that wants to works with us in good faith,” Macron said.

Regarding recent tensions over migrant crossings and a row over the granting of British fishing licences to French fishermen, Macron said he wanted the issues resolved before a Paris-imposed deadline on Friday, even though London says it is not working to such a timetable.

Referring to the UK’s part in arranging the sale of US-designed submarines to Australia at the expense of French ones, Macron said this was “not the most obvious sign of friendship,” before adding that this formulation was an “understatement.”

Last month 27 people drowned as they crossed the Channel, heading to Britain from France, and Macron said the UK’s policies were to blame, suggesting Britain’s economic model was based on illegal labor.

Macron on Russia
Macron said he planned to hold a meeting next week with Russian President Vladimir Putin “online” as he seeks reassurances over the Kremlin’s intentions in and around Ukraine.

The French president also said he would be speaking next week with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Tensions between the EU and Russia have escalated in recent months amid reports of Russia amassing troops near its border to Ukraine. This is further compounded by Moscow’s close relationship with Minsk, with Brussels accusing Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko of engineering a migration crisis aimed at destabilizing the bloc.

Macron on Beijing Winter Olympics diplomacy
Macron also highlighted the need to avoid “politicizing” sport ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games, which are set to begin on February 4 — indicating that the EU might not be following the diplomatic boycott of the Games.

Several countries have said they will not be sending officials to the event in the Chinese capital, but Macron said he was “in favor of action that has a useful outcome.”

“To be clear: You either have a complete boycott, and not send athletes, or you try to change things with useful actions.”

Canada is the latest country to announce a diplomatic boycott of the event, joining Australia, Britain and the United States in doing so. China has described the boycotts as “political posturing” and said the countries who opt for this policy will “pay the price.”

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/emmanuel-macron-slams-uk-government-as-he-sets-french-eu-presidency-agenda/a-60073593

The post Emmanuel Macron slams UK government as he sets French EU presidency agenda first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.