Senin, 09 Desember 2019

Five dead, many missing, after volcanic eruption on New Zealand island popular with tourists - The Washington Post

Actually, Lauren responded, it is. The Ureys had plans to visit White Island, which bills itself as “New Zealand’s most active volcano.” But Lauren and Matthew, 36, "weren’t concerned that there was any chance of an eruption,” Barham said.

Then, shortly after 2 p.m. Monday local time, as the Ureys and other tourists explored the island, thick clouds of ash started billowing out of the volcano. It was erupting.

At least five people have died and many are missing following an eruption that released ash 12,000 feet above the tourist destination. Fewer than 50 visitors were on or near White Island, which is also known as Whakaari, at the time of the eruption, and 23 people have been rescued so far, New Zealand Police Deputy Commissioner John Tims said at a media briefing. Among those transported to shore, many had burn injuries, Tims said. He didn’t know how many are still unaccounted for, estimating that figure to be in the “double digits.”

The American couple were rushed to a hospital with severe burn injuries, Barham said, but their families have since heard no updates about their condition.

New Zealand authorities, who have been conducting aerial searches, say they no longer expect any of the missing visitors to be found alive.

“No signs of life have been seen at any point,” according to a statement the police issued shortly after midnight Tuesday local time. “Police believe that anyone who could have been taken from the island alive was rescued at the time of the evacuation. Based on the information we have, we do not believe there are any survivors on the island.”

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told reporters at an earlier news conference that New Zealanders and foreign visitors were on or near the island when the volcano erupted. White Island is located roughly 30 miles from New Zealand’s North Island in the Bay of Plenty. It is uninhabited but frequented by tourists.

“I know there will be a huge amount of concern and anxiety for those who have loved ones on or around the island at the time, and I can assure them police are doing everything they can,” said Ardern, who noted that she will be traveling to the island Monday night along with New Zealand’s civil defense minister, Peeni Henare.

A number of visitors to the island during the eruption came from the Ureys’ cruise ship, the Ovation of the Seas, which offered an excursion to the volcano. In a statement to The Washington Post, the New Zealand Cruise Association’s CEO Kevin O’Sullivan extended “heartfelt concern to the passengers and their families.”

The volcano began erupting at 2:11 p.m. Monday local time, officials said. Photos of the volcano’s crater rim minutes before the eruption showed people walking nearby, the New Zealand Herald reported.

One video taken of the eruption from a boat offshore captured thick clouds rising from the island. A voice could be heard frantically telling passengers to go inside the boat’s cabin. In another clip, the island appeared to be completely enveloped by ash.

On Twitter on Monday afternoon, New Zealand’s National Emergency Management Agency warned that it was “hazardous in the immediate vicinity of the volcano” and urged people to pay attention to detailed safety advice, adding, “Act on it promptly.”

Dangerous conditions prevented police and rescue services from reaching the island, Tims said, with experts warning the area is unstable and that more eruptions could be possible.

Meanwhile, Barham told The Post she and her husband, who live east of Richmond, had no idea that chaos was unfolding halfway around the world — and that their daughter was involved. Then, Barham said she got a call from Royal Caribbean shortly after midnight Monday Eastern time asking her if she had heard from Lauren. The newlyweds hadn’t returned to their cruise ship after the volcano tour and were missing.

Soon, Barham’s phone was ringing again. It was Matthew’s mother, and she had just gotten a distressing voice mail from him.

“Her son called and said that they had been on the excursion and there had been a volcano eruption and they were burned very bad,” Barham said. “He said he would try to call as soon as he could, but talking and making phone calls was difficult. His hands were so badly burned it was hard for him to make a phone call.”

In the voice mail, Matthew said he and Lauren, who also suffered similar injuries, had been taken to a hospital. Their families haven’t heard from them since, Barham said.

“Obviously, I’m panicking,” she said. “I don’t know how to act. I feel like I should be crying, but I can’t even cry.”

But as Barham tuned into news coverage about the eruption, the shock began to give way to anger. Experts had reported increased volcanic activity on the island weeks before Monday’s incident.

“I’m just livid,” she said. “There’s been warnings about it. … My son-in-law never would have booked the excursion if he knew there was any chance of them being injured.”

GeoNet, an agency that provides geological hazard information for New Zealand, issued multiple reports of “volcanic unrest” on the island, going as far back as late October.

“Moderate volcanic unrest continues at Whakaari/White Island, with substantial gas, steam and mud bursts observed at the vent located at the back of the crater lake,” stated a report from last Tuesday.

During the news conference, Ardern declined to answer a question about whether visitors should have been allowed to go to the island.

“In this moment in time, the absolute focus needs to be the search and rescue operation,” she said. “There will be a time and a place to undertake further assessments. Now, we have to focus on allowing the police to do their job and focus on those who were in the vicinity of the island at the time.”

Emanuel Stoakes in Christchurch, New Zealand, contributed to this report.

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2019-12-09 12:21:00Z
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Five dead, many missing, after volcanic eruption on New Zealand island popular with tourists - The Washington Post

Actually, Lauren responded, it is. The Ureys had plans to visit White Island, which bills itself as “New Zealand’s most active volcano.” But Lauren and Matthew, 36, "weren’t concerned that there was any chance of an eruption,” Barham said.

Then, shortly after 2 p.m. Monday local time, as the Ureys and other tourists explored the island, thick clouds of ash started billowing out of the volcano. It was erupting.

At least five people have now died and many are still missing following an eruption that released ash 12,000 meters above the tourist destination. Fewer than 50 visitors were on or near White Island, which is also known as Whakaari, at the time of the eruption, and 23 people have been rescued so far, New Zealand Police Deputy Commissioner John Tims said at a media briefing. Among those transported to shore, many had burn injuries, Tims said. He didn’t know how many are still unaccounted for, estimating that figure to be in the “double digits.”

The American couple were rushed to a hospital with severe burn injuries, Barham said, but their families have since heard no updates about their condition.

New Zealand authorities, who have been conducting aerial searches, say they no longer expect any of the missing visitors to be found alive.

“No signs of life have been seen at any point,” according to a statement the police issued shortly after midnight on Tuesday local time. “Police believe that anyone who could have been taken from the island alive was rescued at the time of the evacuation. Based on the information we have, we do not believe there are any survivors on the island.”

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told reporters at an earlier news conference that both New Zealanders and foreign visitors were on or near the island when the volcano erupted at 2:11 p.m. White Island is located roughly 30 miles from New Zealand’s North Island in the Bay of Plenty. It is uninhabited, but is frequented by tourists.

“I know there will be a huge amount of concern and anxiety for those who have loved ones on or around the island at the time, and I can assure them police are doing everything they can,” said Ardern, who noted that she will be traveling to the island Monday night along with New Zealand’s Minister of Civil Defence, Peeni Henare.

A number of visitors to the island during the eruption came from the Urey’s cruise ship, the Ovation of the Seas, which offered an excursion to the volcano. In a statement to The Washington Post, the New Zealand Cruise Association’s CEO Kevin O’Sullivan extended “heartfelt concern to the passengers and their families.”

The volcano began erupting at 2:11 p.m. Monday local time, officials said. Photos of the volcano’s crater rim minutes before the eruption showed people walking nearby, the New Zealand Herald reported.

One video taken of the eruption from a boat offshore captured thick clouds rising from the island. A voice could be heard frantically telling passengers to go inside the boat’s cabin. In another clip, the island appeared to be completely enveloped by ash.

On Twitter Monday afternoon, New Zealand’s National Emergency Management Agency warned that it was “hazardous in the immediate vicinity of the volcano” and urged people to pay attention to detailed safety advice, adding, “Act on it promptly.”

Dangerous conditions prevented police and rescue services from reaching the island, Tims said, with experts warning the area is unstable and that more eruptions could be possible.

Meanwhile, Barham told The Post she and her husband, who live east of Richmond, had no idea that chaos was unfolding halfway around the world — and that their daughter was involved. Then, Barham said she got a call from Royal Caribbean shortly after midnight Monday eastern time asking her if she had heard from Lauren. The newlyweds hadn’t returned to their cruise ship after the volcano tour and were missing.

Soon, Barham’s phone was ringing again. It was Matthew’s mother, and she had just gotten a distressing voice mail from him.

“Her son called and said that they had been on the excursion and there had been a volcano eruption and they were burned very bad,” Barham said. “He said he would try to call as soon as he could, but talking and making phone calls was difficult. His hands were so badly burned it was hard for him to make a phone call.”

In the voice mail, Matthew said he and Lauren, who also suffered similar injuries, had been taken to a hospital. Their families haven’t heard from them since, Barham said.

“Obviously, I’m panicking,” she said. “I don’t know how to act. I feel like I should be crying, but I can’t even cry.”

But as Barham tuned into news coverage about the eruption, the shock began to give way to anger. Experts had reported increased volcanic activity on the island weeks before Monday’s incident.

“I’m just livid,” she said. “There’s been warnings about it. ... My son-in-law never would have booked the excursion if he knew there was any chance of them being injured.”

GeoNet, an agency that provides geological hazard information for New Zealand, issued multiple reports of “volcanic unrest” on the island, going as far back as late October.

“Moderate volcanic unrest continues at Whakaari/White Island, with substantial gas, steam and mud bursts observed at the vent located at the back of the crater lake,” stated a report from last Tuesday.

During the news conference, Ardern declined to answer a question about whether visitors should have been allowed to go to the island given the recent increase in volcanic activity.

“In this moment in time, the absolute focus needs to be the search and rescue operation,” she said. “There will be a time and a place to undertake further assessments. Now, we have to focus on allowing the police to do their job and focus on those who were in the vicinity of the island at the time.”

Emanuel Stoakes in Christchurch, NZ contributed to this report.

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2019-12-09 11:53:00Z
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Steele warned that IG report contains information previously blacked out, report says - Fox News

Christopher Steele, the British ex-spy and author of the anti-Trump dossier, was reportedly told that the Justice Department will release information about him that was previously blacked out in the department’s internal watchdog report on the investigation into President Trump’s 2016 campaign due on Monday.

The New York Times, citing two individuals with knowledge of the situation, reported that Attorney General William Barr approved the release of the previously redacted information in Michael Horowitz’s 400-page report. The report called Steele’s heads-up unusual and said he was not given any indication of whether the information would benefit or hurt him. An after-hours email from Fox News to the Justice Department was not immediately returned.

Steele is poised to be a notable figure in the Horowitz report because he provided opposition research into the Trump campaign's connections to Russia which was funded by Democrats and the Clinton campaign.

Much of the Steele dossier has been proven discredited or unsubstantiated, including the dossier's claims that the Trump campaign was paying hackers in the United States out of a nonexistent Russian consulate in Miami, and that former Trump attorney Michael Cohen traveled to Prague to conspire with Russians.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller also was unable to substantiate the dossier's claims that Carter Page, who worked on the Trump campaign, had received a large payment relating to the sale of a share of Rosneft, a Russian oil giant, or that a lurid blackmail tape involving the president existed.

Horowitz's report, as described by people familiar with its findings, is expected to conclude there was an adequate basis for opening one of the most politically sensitive investigations in FBI history and one that Trump has denounced as a witch hunt. It began in secret during Trump's 2016 presidential run and was ultimately taken over by Mueller .

The report comes as Trump faces an impeachment inquiry in Congress centered on his efforts to press Ukraine to investigate a political rival, Democrat Joe Biden — a probe the president also claims is politically biased.

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Still, the release of Inspector General Michael Horowitz's review is unlikely to quell the partisan battles that have surrounded the Russia investigation for years. It's also not the last word: A separate internal investigation continues, overseen by Trump's attorney general, William Barr and led by a U.S. attorney, John Durham. That investigation is criminal in nature, and Republicans may look to it to uncover wrongdoing that the inspector general wasn't examining.

Trump tweeted Sunday: "I.G. report out tomorrow. That will be the big story!"

Fox News'  Gregg  Re and the Associated  Press contributed to this report

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2019-12-09 09:46:28Z
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General election 2019: Boris Johnson targets Labour Leave seats in final push - BBC News

Boris Johnson is touring Brexit-voting Labour-held seats in Humberside and north-east England, with three days to go before polling day.

In a speech later in Sunderland - 61% of which voted to Leave - the PM is expected to tell voters: "The Labour party has let you down."

He will attack Parliament, saying it has "delayed" and "denied" Brexit.

Mr Johnson will also travel to south-west England, where he will warn against voting for the pro-EU Lib Dems.

Meanwhile, shadow chancellor John McDonnell will set out Labour plans to deliver a budget to "end austerity" within its first 100 days if the party wins Thursday's election.

In a speech in London setting out his priorities, he will also pledge to get "money moving out of Whitehall and the City".

The Liberal Democrats are, meanwhile, pledging to table legislation to stop Brexit immediately after the election by introducing two draft bills they say would pave the way for another EU referendum.

The first would enable the Electoral Commission to start the necessary consultation around a referendum question and lead campaign designation - and the second would provide a referendum on the government's Brexit deal versus remaining in the EU.

Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson told Radio 4's Today the "most likely way" to stop Brexit was through another vote as the possibility of her party winning power on its own and revoking Article 50 looked increasingly remote.

'Sunderland's roar'

The Conservative Party says the prime minister is intending to "visit every region in England and Wales" in the final three days, with a message that a vote for his party is a vote to "get Brexit done and unleash Britain's potential".

He started the day at a fish market in Grimsby, one of a number of longstanding Labour constituencies that voted heavily to leave the EU in the 2016 referendum that both the Conservatives and the Brexit Party are targeting.

On a visit to Sunderland later, Mr Johnson is expected to say: "It's now been 1,264 days since Sunderland's roar was heard on the night of 23 June 2016.

"1,264 days in which parliament should have delivered what you voted for, taken us out of the EU, and addressed all the reasons you voted so decisively for change."

He will attack Parliament, saying that it has "bent every rule and broken every convention as it has delayed, diluted and denied Brexit".

And he will suggest that Mr Corbyn, who is promising another Brexit referendum within six months if he wins power, has "let down" traditional Labour supporters,

"Under Jeremy Corbyn, they promised to honour the result of the referendum - before voting against Brexit every chance they had," he will say.

Mr Johnson has repeatedly warned that the only alternative to a Conservative majority is a hung Parliament, with Mr Corbyn and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon forming a coalition and resulting in further referendums on Brexit and Scottish independence.

Ms Sturgeon has said she is confident an agreement on a second independence vote could be done if Labour needed SNP support to form a government if there is a hung parliament.

But Mr Corbyn has ruled out supporting a Scottish independence referendum until after the next Holyrood election in 2021.

On Sunday, Mr Johnson insisted there will not be any checks for goods travelling from Northern Ireland to Great Britain under his Brexit deal.

He told Sky News that a leaked Treasury analysis document was "wrong" to suggest this would be the case.

His Brexit deal means there will be goods checks from GB to NI, but there has been confusion on whether there will be checks in the other direction. Labour said the PM's claims about his deal with the EU were "fraudulent".

Between now and the election on 12 December, we want to help you understand the issues behind the headlines.

Keep up to date with the big questions in our newsletter, Outside The Box.

Sign up to our Outside The Box here (UK users only).

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2019-12-09 07:59:28Z
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Five dead, many missing, after volcanic eruption on New Zealand island popular with tourists - The Washington Post

Dangerous conditions have prevented police and rescue services from reaching the island, Tims said, citing experts who found that the area is unstable and said more eruptions could be possible.

“The physical environment is unsafe for us to return to the island,” Tims said. “It is important that we consider the health and safety of those that are going to rescue those on the island.”

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told reporters at an earlier news conference that both New Zealanders and foreign visitors were on or near the island when the volcano erupted at 2:11 p.m. White Island is located roughly 30 miles from New Zealand’s North Island in the Bay of Plenty. It is uninhabited, but is frequented by tourists.

“I know there will be a huge amount of concern and anxiety for those who have loved ones on or around the island at the time, and I can assure them police are doing everything they can,” said Ardern, who noted that she will be traveling to the island Monday night along with New Zealand’s Minister of Civil Defence, Peeni Henare.

A number of visitors to the island during the eruption came from the Ovation of the Seas cruise ship, which is visiting the nearby city of Tauranga. In a statement to The Washington Post, the New Zealand Cruise Association’s CEO Kevin O’Sullivan extended “heartfelt concern to the passengers and their families.”

The eruption, described by GNS Science’s Ken Gledhill as a “throat-clearing kind of eruption,” released ash 12,000 meters above the island.

“On the scheme of things for volcanic eruptions, it’s not large, but if you were close to that, it is not good,” Gledhill said at the news conference. Photos of the volcano’s crater rim minutes before the eruption showed people walking nearby, the New Zealand Herald reported.

One video taken of the eruption from a boat offshore captured thick clouds rising from the island. A voice could be heard frantically telling passengers to go inside the boat’s cabin. In another clip, the island appeared to be completely enveloped by ash.

On Twitter Monday afternoon, New Zealand’s National Emergency Management Agency warned that it continues to be “hazardous in the immediate vicinity of the volcano” and urged people to pay attention to detailed safety advice, adding, “Act on it promptly.”

White Island bills itself as “New Zealand’s most active volcano,” according to its official website, which advertises a “fully-guided exploration” of the volcano’s inner crater complex as a “must-do experience.” The island’s last eruption occurred in 2016, but no one was hurt, according to the Guardian.

In the weeks before Monday’s incident, GeoNet, an agency that provides geological hazard information for New Zealand, issued multiple reports of “volcanic unrest” on the island.

“Moderate volcanic unrest continues at Whakaari/White Island, with substantial gas, steam and mud bursts observed at the vent located at the back of the crater lake,” stated a report from last Tuesday.

During Monday’s news conference, Ardern declined to answer a question about whether visitors should have been allowed to go to the island given the recent increase in volcanic activity.

“In this moment in time, the absolute focus needs to be the search and rescue operation,” she said. “There will be a time and a place to undertake further assessments. Now, we have to focus on allowing the police to do their job and focus on those who were in the vicinity of the island at the time.”

Emanuel Stoakes in Christchurch, NZ contributed to this report.

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2019-12-09 08:59:00Z
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Minggu, 08 Desember 2019

Congress just kicked Trump's trade deal in the teeth for all the right reasons - Business Insider

Donald Trump smiling teethPresident Donald Trump smiles as he speaks during an event to honor the 2019 Stanley Cup Champions, the St. Louis Blues hockey team in the Rose Garden of the White House, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2019, in Washington.AP

  • Over the past few weeks Congress has passed two bills that ensure Donald Trump's dreams of a trade deal that would reshape the Chinese economy are dead.
  • The bills condemn the Chinese government for political repression and violence in Hong Kong and Xinjiang, a province in Western China. As such, to Beijing they represent a violation of Chinese sovereignty.
  • Here in the US the bills should represent a commitment to US values.
  • And politically, they show that US sentiment toward China has darkened to the point that even Republicans know they cannot be seen as soft on the country — even when it means destroying one of the Trump administration's most important initiatives.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

If — and it's a big if — Donald Trump gets his "Phase 1 trade deal" with China, there will be no "Phase 2." He'll suffer this loss, in part, because Congress passed two bills standing up for human rights on Chinese territory. The US is a better country for it.

The two bills angered Beijing by stepping on the third rail of Chinese politics — China's territorial integrity. It's a red line Washington, and the Trump administration, have been warned of in no uncertain terms.

In 2017 Lu Kang, an official in the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, gave a rare American interview to NBC News and made it clear that Beijing would be happy to work with the new US President on any issue except for one — Taiwan. To China, Taiwan is still a part of its territory. And the message was that any perceived threat to China's territorial integrity would not be tolerated.

Almost three years later it is not Taiwan that has Beijing crying foul over US interference on its land, but rather Xinjiang and Hong Kong. Both places have garnered international attention for the Chinese government's trampling of human rights in those regions.

The first bill addressing the two regions, passed a few weeks ago, is called the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, and the legislation articulates US support for the months-long protests in Hong Kong. The second bill, passed last week, is The Uighur Human Rights Policy Act. It condemns China's internment of Uighur Muslim minorities in "reeducation" camps in the country's western Xinjiang province.

After each bill was passed China's propaganda machine went into overdrive. The country's Foreign Ministry didn't sound much different from nationalist newspaper The Global Times. For example, this week Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying compared China's actions in Xinjiang to the US's anti-terrorism drive after 9/11, and reminded the US of its own past.

"What ignorance, what brazenness, what hypocrisy!" Hua said. "Have they forgotten? The two-century long American history is tainted with the blood and tears of native Indians, who were originally masters of the continent."

So, if you were under the impression that working on 'Phase 1' of the trade deal implied that there would also be a 'Phase 2' you can put that to rest. There will be no grand bilateral trade deal with China that opens up its economy through negotiation. The best we can hope for now is a cessation of hostilities, some small adjustments to how China treats US companies, and some agricultural purchases on China's part.

On one hand, this failure can ultimately be attributed, in part, to Congress' decision to stand up for American values. Good. On the other hand, it is a testament to the intense anti-China sentiment that has taken over Washington in the age of Donald Trump — a sentiment that is bound to linger beyond his administration and change the tenor of relationships across the planet.

Mitch's House  

The GOP-controlled US Senate is not supposed to pass bills that wreck a Republican President's agenda, especially in this age of Trump. But it did.

Both the Xinjiang and Hong Kong bills were passed by unanimous consent (UC). That means that bill was not brought to the floor by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as bills normally are. Instead, under UC any Senator can bring a bill to the floor, but any of the other 99 Senators can hold up the bill with a word.

In both the Xinjiang and Hong Kong bill's cases, not a single Senator stopped the passage of the legislation which gave both bills veto-proof majorities. 

"Train left the station and was moving full steam ahead, and the White House couldn't stop it," one Senate aide involved with the efforts to pass the Hong Kong bill told Business Insider. "The public sentiment in favor of Hong Kong and against China was too strong." 

President Donald Trump, left, hugs Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., right, as he comes up on stage during a campaign rally in Lexington, Ky., Monday, Nov. 4, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)President Donald Trump, left, hugs Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., right, as he comes up on stage during a campaign rally in Lexington, Ky., Monday, Nov. 4, 2019. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)Associated Press

McConnell couldn't stop the bills and risk looking weak when the legislation was likely forced through, and the White House couldn't find a Senator willing to stand up and stop its passage. Compare that to a bill condemning the Armenian genocide, which — in part as an effort to placate the Turkish government — the White House has been able to stop three separate times using three different Senators over the past few weeks.

Sources on Capitol Hill told Business Insider that members of both houses were too afraid of looking weak on China to stop the bill. After all, for years the Trump administration has made it clear that the rivalry between the US and China was to intensify on virtually every front, attacking individual Chinese companies and the government alike.

"Trump stirred up an anti-China fever among Republicans, so they're all looking for ways to f--k with China," one House Democratic source told Business Insider, citing Congresses move to ban the purchase of Chinese made buses and trains as an example. 

"But then [members of Congress] also realize that their districts stand to lose a lot of the trade war escalates," the person continued. "So they tried to balance that [with pleasing Trump]. But that can only last so long." 

Phase forever

You can be forgiven for not knowing exactly where we stand on "Phase 1" of the trade deal with China.

This week Bloomberg reported that the deal was close. Reuters said the Chinese are waiting for Trump to agree to roll back existing tariffs on Chinese goods. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told CNBC that the deal still lacked details, that what the parties had on paper was a view "from 40,000 feet."

The President himself said he may postpone the deal until after the 2020 elections (if he's reelected), and finally the Wall Street Journal reported Jared Kushner — the President's son-in-law, advisor, and White House patron saint of hopeless causes —  has added pushing "Phase 1" past the finished line to his seemingly ever-growing list of duties.

It's exhausting and all roads lead to virtually nowhere. Here's the most optimistic scenario: The White House will not increase tariffs on China on December 15th, meaning "Phase 1" could materialize, if not this month, then next quarter. But it would require Donald "Tariff Man" Trump to roll back tariffs on China — something we have yet to see him do.

"We may have a deal, we may have a punt, I don't think we'll have a blow up," Leland Miller, founder of private Chinese business survey, China Beige Book, told Business Insider. 

And then there are the pessimists, who know that —whatever happens next — the game is over. One former US State Department official who spent their career in Asia assumed the passage of the Hong Kong and Xinjiang bills meant Trump had given up on a deal all-together.

"There is not going to be a trade deal," they said. "Someone should tell the markets."

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2019-12-08 13:20:05Z
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North Korea holds 'very important test' at supposedly closed missile site - New York Post

North Korea conducted a “very important test” at a long-range missile launch site that the reclusive regime had promised to close as part of nuclear weapons talks with the United States, state media reported on Sunday.

The development comes as Pyongyang has warned it would seek a “new path” with the stalled denuclearization talks if the US fails to make major concessions by the end of the year, according to KCNA, the Korean Central News Agency.

The test occurred Saturday at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground and will have an “important effect on changing the strategic position of (North Korea) once again in the near future,” a spokesman for the North’s Academy of National Defense Science said in a statement carried by KCNA.

North Korean President Kim Jong-un agreed to dismantle the Sohae facility during talks with President Trump in Singapore last year, but reports in March said it was being restored.

North Korea didn’t elaborate on what the test included.

Missile experts said it appears North Korea tested a rocket engine rather than a missile launch, which are typically quickly detected by South Korea.

South Korea and the US closely monitor activity at such sites.

“If it is indeed a static engine test for a new solid or liquid fuel missile, it is yet another loud signal that the door for diplomacy is quickly slamming, if it isn’t already,” Vipin Narang, a nuclear affairs expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told Reuters.

“This could be a very credible signal of what might await the world after the New Year,” Narang said.

Solid fuel increases a weapon’s mobility and lessens the amount of preparation time for a launch. In the past, North Korean long-range missiles used liquid fuel.

Pyongyang informed the United Nations on Saturday that denuclearization talks with Washington are not needed.

“The results of the recent important test will have an important effect on changing the strategic position of the DPRK once again in the near future,” KCNA reported, referring to North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

North Korea, which launched two short-range projectiles last month, has been ramping up its rhetoric against the Trump administration.

It once again referred to Trump as a “dotard” last week after the president called Kim “Rocket Man.”

A dotard refers to an elderly person with weakening mental or physical capabilities.

Asked on Saturday about reestablishing negotiations with North Korea, Trump said he and Kim have a good relationship.

“I think we both want to keep it that way. He knows I have an election coming up. I don’t think he wants to interfere with that. But we’ll have to see,” Trump said at the White House.

With Post wires

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2019-12-08 13:46:00Z
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