World

BRUSSELS — Ireland’s deputy prime minister, Micheal Martin, warned on Monday that progress towards a deal between London and Brussels on Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit trade rules should not be endangered by political manoeuvres.

British news reports over the weekend, citing unnamed sources, said former British prime minister Boris Johnson had come out strongly against ceding ground to Brussels by abandoning a bill he introduced that would unilaterally rewrite the trade protocol.

This was widely seen as a political challenge to Johnson’s successor, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who met European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Munich over the weekend amid optimism that a deal to resolve the stand-off was close.

But a Downing Street source refused on Monday to be drawn on timing for any deal, saying only that the talks were “continuing”.

Arriving at a meeting of EU ministers in Brussels, Martin said “very good progress has been made” in the talks but he did not believe that the face-to-face between Sunak and von der Leyen “was meant to be the culmination of this entire process”.

Martin did not directly address Johnson’s reported intervention in the British debate.

But he warned: “I think what’s really important is that everybody now, from here on, thinks about the people of Northern Ireland — not powerplay, not politics elsewhere.”

“I think the people of Northern Ireland have had enough of that, of people playing politics with their future,” he said.

He hailed the “sincere and substantial” attempt by the UK and EU negotiators to resolve “legitimate concerns” that some in Northern Ireland had about the deal.

Domestic pushback 

Despite giving a positive tone after his meeting with von der Leyen, Sunak faces strong pushback domestically against a revision of the trade deal.

Opponents are especially vigilant against changes that would see EU single market laws continue to apply in Northern Ireland, even if lighter-touch rules favoured by both sides were introduced.

Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which is refusing to reenter a power-sharing government in Belfast, opposes implementation of the protocol, which has the province remaining in the EU single market after the rest of the UK left.

Sammy Wilson, a senior DUP lawmaker in Westminster, accused the British government of going into the talks with “an attitude of defeat” and played down prospects for a deal this week.

Johnson approved and signed the protocol as part of the Brexit withdrawal agreement.

But his government then refused to implement it amid claims from unionists that the imposition of some border controls between Northern Ireland and Great Britain would weaken UK unity.

“We are British and we expect to be governed by British law, not Brussels law. We would certainly not collaborate in administering Brussels law in our part of the United Kingdom,” Wilson told Sky News.

Ardent Brexiters in Sunak’s party are backing the DUP’s hard line, reportedly with support from Johnson.

There was no immediate comment from 10 Downing Street.

SEOUL — North Korea fired two ballistic missiles Monday, its second weapons test in 48 hours, which Pyongyang said was a drill for a rocket launcher capable of a "tactical nuclear attack" that could take out entire enemy air bases.

Pyongyang had already tested one of its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) on Saturday and warned more was to come, with leader Kim Jong-un's powerful sister calling the Pacific the North's "firing range".

Seoul and Washington, who are moving to bolster security cooperation in the region to address Pyongyang's growing threats, staged joint air drills after the ICBM launch — further enraging the North, which views such exercises as rehearsals for invasion.

State media outlet KCNA said Monday's missile drill involving "super-large multiple rocket launchers, the tactical nuclear attack means", showed the North's army could deter and counter any US-South Korean exercises, adding the weapons could "reduce to ashes the enemy's operational airfield".

Kim’s sister, Kim Yo-jong, said Pyongyang was closely monitoring Washington and Seoul’s moves to deploy more US strategic assets to the region, vowing “corresponding counteraction” if needed.

“The frequency of using the Pacific as our firing range depends upon the US forces’ action character,” she said in a statement published by KCNA.

Relations between the two Koreas are at one of their lowest points in decades, after the North last year declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear power and Kim Jong-un called for an “exponential” increase in weapons production, including tactical nukes.

South Korea’s military, which said it had detected the launch of two short-range ballistic missiles early Monday, called the string of weapons tests by Pyongyang “a serious provocation that undermines peace and stability on the Korean peninsula”.

And Seoul’s foreign ministry rapidly imposed fresh sanctions on four individuals and five entities linked to North Korea’s weapons programmes Monday.

“Our government has made it clear that North Korea’s provocations will inevitably come at a price,” it said in a statement.

The UN Security Council will hold a meeting to discuss the situation on Tuesday.

 ‘Surprise’ drill 

Pyongyang said its Saturday ICBM launch was a “surprise” drill that demonstrated North Korea’s capacity to carry out a “fatal nuclear counterattack”.

Such claims intend to demonstrate, in the face of international scepticism, “not only the development of strategic and tactical nuclear forces but also the operational capability to use them”, said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul

North Korea gave its soldiers an “excellent mark” for carrying out the “sudden launching drill” on Saturday, but South Korean analysts pointed out that the estimated nine hours between the order and the launch was not particularly rapid.

Kim Yo-jong dismissed such criticism on Monday as “a bid to undervalue the preparedness of the DPRK missile forces”, she said, using North Korea’s official name.

Hong Min of the Korea Institute for National Unification told AFP that the strong reaction was part of a pattern of North Korea pushing back against any external analysis of its ICBM capabilities.

The angry retort “shows the North really cares about delivering a message that it is capable of hitting the US mainland”, he said.

The North Korean weapons launches came ahead of a joint US-South Korean tabletop exercise this week aimed at improving their response in the event of a nuclear attack by Pyongyang.

And North Korea warned last week of an “unprecedentedly” strong response to ramped-up drills by Seoul and Washington.

Go Myong-hyun, a researcher at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, said the tests and rhetoric were all “strategic signalling that North Korea wants to send to the United States that North Korea is now a nuclear and missile power”.

SEOUL — North Korea said Sunday it had test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile as a warning to Washington and Seoul, saying the successful "surprise" drill demonstrated Pyongyang's capacity to launch a "fatal nuclear counterattack".

In response, the US and South Korea staged joint air drills featuring a strategic bomber and stealth fighter jets, Seoul said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong -un ordered the "sudden launching drill" at 8:00 am Saturday (23:00 GMT Friday) and a Hwasong-15 missile, a weapon first tested by the North in 2017, was fired from Pyongyang airport that afternoon, the official KCNA reported.

South Korea's military said it detected an ICBM launch at 17:22 (08:22 GMT) Saturday, which Japan said flew for 66 minutes before splashing down in its Exclusive Economic Zone, with their analysis indicating it was capable of hitting the mainland United States.

North Korea's leadership hailed the test — the country's first in seven weeks — saying it showed "the actual war capacity of the ICBM units which are ready for mobile and mighty counterattack", KCNA said.

The launch was “actual proof” of the country’s “capacity of fatal nuclear counterattack on the hostile forces”, it added.

The South Korean military said Sunday it had staged joint air drills with the United States featuring at least one US B-1B long-range bomber.

“The exercise displayed the timely and immediate deployment of the US extended deterrence assets to the Korean Peninsula,” demonstrating the “overwhelming force” of the allies, the ministry said in a statement.

The sanctions-busting North Korean launch came just days before Seoul and Washington are due to start joint tabletop exercises aimed at improving their response in the event of a North Korean nuclear attack.

Pyongyang had last week warned of an “unprecedentedly” strong response to upcoming drills, which it describes as preparations for war and blames for the deteriorating security situation on the Korean Peninsula.

The Saturday test is significant as “the event was ordered the day-of and so this is not so much a traditional ‘test’, but an exercise”, US-based analyst Ankit Panda told AFP.

“We should expect to see additional exercises of this sort,” he added.

The exercise appeared to be “Kim’s way of telling the US and ROK that his country is continuing to hone its ballistic missile capabilities for eventual use in a real-time scenario”, said Soo Kim, a former CIA Korea analyst who now works at management consulting firm LMI.

“The weapons aren’t for display only,” she told AFP. “This layer of imminence is probably intended to intimidate the allies, notably as they’re making efforts to strengthen deterrence in the Korean Peninsula.”

Park Won-gon, a professor at Ewha University, said it marked the first time that North Korea had given a detailed account of the order-to-launch process.

“The clear indication of Kim Jong-un’s order is significant,” Park said. “The Sunday test shows that these weapons are all deployed for actual combat and ready to launch at any time.”

But the nine-hour process from Kim Jong-un’s order to the actual launch was “a long time”, Soo Kim said, suggesting Pyongyang may face “greater challenges in launching in a realistic scenario”.

Relations between the two Koreas are already at one of their lowest points in years, after North Korea declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear state and leader Kim called for an “exponential” increase in weapons production, including tactical nukes.

In response, South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol has sought to boost cooperation with the US, pledging to expand joint military exercises and improve Washington’s so-called extended deterrence offering, including with nuclear assets.

On Sunday, North Korea spokeswoman and Kim’s sister Kim Yo-jong claimed it was these moves by Seoul and Washington that “further endangers the situation every moment, destroying the stability of the region”, according to a KCNA report.

“I warn that we will watch every movement of the enemy and take corresponding and very powerful and overwhelming counteraction against its every move hostile to us,” she added.

All of this points to “the start of high-intensity provocations from North Korea”, Professor Park of Ewha University told AFP.

“What’s different from 2022 is that last year their justification was that the launches were part of their five-year military plan,” he said.

“Now they are making clear that they will counter the United States and South Korea.”

Park said the redoubled aggression from Pyongyang could also indicate the domestic situation had worsened. South Korean officials recently warned the country could be facing severe food shortages after years of pandemic-linked isolation.

“North Korea always takes a hardline approach and creates external crisis as part of its ‘siege mentality’ tactic to overcome internal struggles. It is a typical North Korean behaviour to unite the people by highlighting the South Korea-US threat.”

WASHINGTON — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday that China was considering providing weapons to Russia in its war against Ukraine, warning Beijing that any supplies would "cause a serious problem".

"The concern that we have now is based on information we have that they're considering providing lethal support," Blinken told CBS's "Face The Nation".

Asked what lethal support would entail, he said “everything from ammunition to the weapons themselves”.

Blinken made similar comments in a series of interviews with American television from Germany, where on Saturday he attended the Munich Security Conference and met with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi.

He told Wang then that “if China provides material support to Russia or assistance with systemic sanctions evasion”, there will be consequences, a State Department official said.

Taken together, the US comments appeared to be among the clearest warning yet that China might be poised to go beyond rhetorical, political or diplomatic support for Russia and be ready to help arm it in its nearly year-old fight against Ukraine.

They also came at a time when already strained US-Chinese relations have been further tested by Washington’s shooting down of what it said was a large Chinese spy balloon.

Appearing on Sunday on ABC, Blinken emphasized that US President Joe Biden had warned his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, as long ago as last March against sending weapons to Russia.

Since that time, “China has been careful not to cross that line, including by holding off on selling lethal weapons systems for use on the battlefield,” according to an administration source familiar with the issue.

A top Republican senator who also attended the Munich conference, Lindsey Graham, said it would be a serious mistake for China to provide Russia with weapons.

Doing so now, he said, would be “dumber than dirt. It would be like buying a ticket on the Titanic after you saw the movie”.

‘No apology’ 

Graham, known as a well-informed foreign policy hawk, also said he had strong indications that the US will soon announce plans to train Ukrainian fighter pilots, which would represent a further step in the West’s gradually escalating efforts to arm Ukraine.

Graham said he believed the US should declare Russia a state sponsor of terror for its actions in Ukraine — which would mean that China or any other country supplying it with arms would face sanctions.

Blinken’s meeting with Wang — the highest-level encounter between the countries since US jets shot down the Chinese balloon on February 4 — did not appear to ease tensions.

“I told him quite simply that that was unacceptable and can never happen again,” Blinken told CBS about the balloon incident.

Wang on Saturday dismissed the US allegations of high-altitude spying in uncharacteristically strong language, calling them “hysterical and absurd”.

Blinken said Sunday that his counterpart had offered him “no apology”.

The tough-sounding exchanges came a day after US Vice President Kamala Harris said in Munich that Russia had committed “crimes against humanity” in Ukraine through “widespread and systemic” attacks on the country’s civilian population.

SEOUL — North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile Saturday which landed in Japan's exclusive economic zone, Seoul and Tokyo said, after Pyongyang warned of a strong response to upcoming US-South Korean military drills.

The launch, Pyongyang's first in seven weeks, comes days before Seoul and Washington are due to start joint tabletop exercises aimed at improving their response in the event of a North Korean nuclear attack.

Japan said North Korea "fired one ICBM-class ballistic missile" which flew for some 66 minutes before landing in the country's exclusive economic zone, chief government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters.

Tokyo's defence minister Yasukazu Hamada said the missile could have had the capacity to fly 14,000km, which would mean it was capable of hitting anywhere on the mainland United States.

Seoul's military told AFP it had detected the launch of an ICBM, which was fired on a lofted trajectory, up instead of out, typically done to avoid overflying neighbouring countries — and flew some 900 kilometres.

"Detailed specifications are being closely analysed by South Korea-US intelligence authorities," it added in a statement.

The South's presidential office said it held a National Security Council meeting to discuss the launch, and that its participants decided to "take stern measures against any attempts to threaten our people".

The estimated flight time of just over an hour is similar to that of the Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile Pyongyang tested last November, Seoul-based specialist site NK News reported.

The United States said on Saturday that it "strongly condemns" the launch and it would "take all necessary measures" to protect itself and its allies South Korea and Japan.

"This launch needlessly raises tensions and risks destabilising the security situation in the region," White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement.

The launch was "another step in the efforts of North Korea to perfect its long-range strike capabilities," Chun In-bum, a retired South Korean army general, told AFP.

“The message of North Korea is clear: We are steadily progressing with the aim to perfect long-range nuclear weapons.”

‘Tit-for-tat’ 

Military tensions have risen on the Korean Peninsula after a year in which North Korea declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear state and carried out sanctions-busting weapons tests nearly every month.

In response, Seoul has ramped up joint military drills and cooperation with key security ally Washington, in a bid to convince the increasingly nervous South Korean public of America’s commitment to deter nuclear-armed Pyongyang.

North Korea on Friday threatened an “unprecedentedly” strong response to upcoming US-South Korea drills, which it described as preparations for war.

An Chan-il, a defector-turned-researcher who runs the World Institute for North Korea Studies, said the latest launch indicated North Korean leader Kim Jong-un “has finally pulled out his sword”.

“Kim Jong-un seems to want to confront the issue with a tit-for-tat approach,” he said.

The launch “can be read as a threat that Kim Jong-un is capable of attacking the US mainland with strategic nuclear weapons, not just tactical nuclear weapons”.

Solid-fuel ICBM? 

South Korea’s hawkish President Yoon Suk-yeol, who took office in May 2022, has vowed to get tough on North Korea.

Earlier this week, South Korea called Pyongyang its “enemy” in a defence document, the first time in six years it has used the term, signalling a further hardening of Seoul’s position.

North Korea has also ramped up its testing, including firing a ballistic missile last year that landed near South Korea’s territorial waters for the first time since the end of the Korean War in 1953.

Pyongyang has repeatedly said it is not interested in further talks, and Kim recently called for an “exponential” increase in his country’s nuclear arsenal.

At a military parade in Pyongyang last week, North Korea showed off a record number of what it said were nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missiles, including what analysts said was possibly a new solid-fuelled ICBM.

Joseph Dempsey from the International Institute for Strategic Studies told AFP Saturday’s test could have been a second successful test of a Hwasong-17 or even “the as yet unseen solid-fuel ICBM in development”.

North Korea has long sought to develop a solid-fuel ICBM because such missiles are easier to store and transport, as well as being more stable and quicker to prepare for launch — and thus harder for the United States to detect and destroy preemptively.

“North Korean missile firings are often tests of technologies under development, and it will be notable if Pyongyang claims progress with a long-range solid-fuel missile,” said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul.

MINSK — In Moscow-allied Belarus, officers look out across a snowy training ground outside the capital Minsk as Russian and Soviet-era tanks fire into the distance.

Painted in white camouflage, a brand new Russian BTR-82A tank and a modernised Soviet tank send echoes booming around the field as they shoot.

The tanks are driven by cadets from an elite academy that turns young Belarusians into officers.

The army in Belarus, an isolated country of around 9.5 million people, showed AFP the combat training and the main military academy on an organised tour.

Fears have grown that Minsk, which allowed Moscow to use its territory to send troops to Ukraine last year, could also enter the conflict.

President Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in power since 1994, said on Thursday he would be ready to wage war alongside Russia if Belarus was attacked on its soil. He also accused Kyiv of provocations.

At the firing range, cadets, whose uniforms and helmets featured the red-and-green Belarusian flag, took part in various combat simulations.

They also practised evacuating the wounded, dragging a pretend injured soldier across the snow.

At the end of last year Belarus and Russia announced the creation of a unified response force, with several thousand Russian servicemen arriving in the country.

In a rare meeting with the international press on Thursday, Lukashenko said he asked his Russian ally Vladimir Putin for an extra division that would fall under his command.

He gave no further details and travelled to Moscow the next day.

At the firing range, colonel Maxim Zhuravlev said the academy was training “future defenders of the motherland”.

“Today, we are studying the experience from all modern conflicts in the world,” he said.

“From this we are taking what is new and making it part of the education process.”

Officials on the tour toed a careful line and did not want to discuss Belarus’s role in Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine.

‘Threat of war’ 

Fears over a Russian-style mobilisation have grown in the authoritarian country, which has largely been cut off from the West due to sanctions.

Lukashenko said he does not “plan to send my people” over the southern border but stressed the need to be prepared for war.

“If we see a threat of war, we will conduct mobilisation,” the strongman said, adding that Belarus was learning from Russian “mistakes”.

If Belarus had to call up reservists, “it would be better than in Russia”, Lukashenko claimed, mostly because Belarus is far smaller.

In the military academy’s classroom on the outskirts of Minsk, officers oversaw conscripts simulate combat on computers.

Officials said it was part of a “unit of information technologies”, programming for the nation’s army. Lukashenko this month called for the IT unit to be strengthened.

Minsk used to be an IT haven, but many specialists have fled the country following a massive crackdown on the opposition following Lukashenko’s disputed reelection in 2020.

“Stand!” an officer said as he entered the room, with uniformed conscripts rising from their computers simultaneously.

“Sit down!”

In another room, trainee pilots took orders from air traffic controllers in simulated flights.

The academy featured Soviet and Belarusian symbols, heavy on World War II history and patriotism.

“Knowing military history helps to promote tactical thinking,” one officer said.

MUNICH, Germany — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday called on Armenia and Azerbaijan to seize a “historic opportunity” to end their decades-long dispute over the Nagorno Karabakh region.

The two countries have fought two wars for control of Azerbaijan’s Armenian-populated enclave that have claimed tens of thousands of lives.

Internationally mediated peace talks between the ex-Soviet republics have since produced little, if any, result.

But Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Thursday said he had presented to arch-foe Baku a project for a full peace treaty to end the Caucasus neighbours’ dispute.

“We believe that Armenia and Azerbaijan have a genuinely historic opportunity to secure an enduring peace after more than 30 years of conflict,” Blinken said ahead of a meeting with Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

“The parties themselves have renewed their focus on a peace process, including through direct conversation as well as with the EU and ourselves,” Blinken said.

The United States remains “committed to doing anything we can to support these efforts”, he added.

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, ethnic Armenian separatists in Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan. The ensuing conflict claimed around 30,000 lives.

‘Ethnic cleansing’ 

Another flare-up in violence in 2020 left more than 6,500 dead and ended with a Russian-brokered truce that saw Armenia cede territories it had controlled for decades.

Pashinyan’s announcement about the peace treaty came after Yerevan accused Baku of conducting a “policy of ethnic cleansing” and forcing ethnic Armenians to leave the breakaway region.

Since mid-December, a group of self-styled Azerbaijani environmental activists has barred the only road linking Karabakh to Armenia to protest what they say is illegal mining.

In a statement after the meeting in Munich, Pashinyan’s office confirmed that the draft peace treaty had been discussed.

“Pashinyan reaffirmed the determination of the Armenian side to achieve a treaty that will truly guarantee long-term peace and stability in the region,” his office said.

However, he had also denounced “Azerbaijan’s illegal blockade of the Lachin Corridor and the resulting humanitarian, environmental and energy crisis in Nagorno Karabakh”, the statement said.

Aliyev told journalists after the meeting that it had taken place “in a constructive manner”, and he was “studying” the Armenian proposals, according to the RIA Novosti news agency.

“At first sight, there is progress regarding Armenia’s position, but it is not enough,” he said.

NAPIER, New Zealand — New Zealand redeployed gunships and helicopters to deliver water, food and fuel to cities cut off by Cyclone Gabrielle on Thursday, as overwhelmed rescue teams embraced overseas offers of help.

Five people have died and 10,500 more have been displaced, according to authorities, in a disaster that has crippled the country’s populous North Island.

Four days of violent winds and lashing rains caused landslides and widespread flooding that lacerated the island’s road network, caused rolling power cuts and knocked out hundreds of mobile phone towers.

Police said 3,500 people had been reported as “uncontactable”, as residents around the country tried desperately to reach loved ones.

New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said the police held “grave concerns” for those still missing.

“We do need to be prepared for the likelihood there will be more fatalities,” he warned.

Hipkins said over 100,000 households were still without power on the North Island, home to more than three-quarters of the country’s five million residents.

On Thursday, the east-coast city of Napier was briefly cut off after experts detected damage to the last useable bridge linking its 65,000 residents with the rest of the country.

The national Transport Agency said the bridge had since reopened, but only for emergency services and critical workers.

Isolated residents have been told not to leave their homes unless “absolutely essential” and to restrict water use.

When residents do venture out, they wade through murky floodwaters to get supplies or huddle on the steps of a few buildings that still have wifi, trying to let loved ones know they are safe. 

Around the city, petrol stations have put up signs declaring there is “NO FUEL” for anyone other than emergency services.

‘Bumpy ride’ 

Earlier Hipkins warned New Zealanders of a long, gruelling recovery ahead, with power not expected to be restored to some areas for weeks and the clean-up likely to take much longer.

“This is a traumatic event,” he said. “It’s a very big challenge to restore infrastructure as fast as we can, but we have to acknowledge that we are in for a bumpy ride.”

“There are no overnight fixes. We could have the bulldozers working 24/7 and it would still take time to reestablish road links.”

The New Zealand Defence Force has deployed two large naval vessels and a C-130 Hercules transport plane to deliver thousands of litres of water along with personnel and several mobile water treatment plants to hard-hit regions.

NH90 helicopters have brought in supplies and rescued hundreds of people stranded on their rooftops.

After offers of help from the United States and other countries were initially set aside, Hipkins said emergency response experts from Australia would arrive in the coming days.

The cyclone itself has already faded into the South Pacific, but further downpours and severe thunderstorms complicated relief efforts and sparked new landslides.

Authorities are still grappling with the scale of the devastation wrought by the storm, and estimates of the damage done and the cost of repairs are scarce.

“We know it’s going to be in the region of billions, not millions, of dollars,” Kiwibank Chief Economist Jarrod Kerr told AFP.

“I think the figure will be in the range of several billion, five to 10 billion dollars [$3-6 billion], possibly more.”