US

“The ballistic missile was fired on a lofted trajectory and flew 1,000 km before splashing down in the East Sea,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, referring to the body of water also known as the Sea of Japan. A lofted trajectory involves firing a missile up and not out, a method Pyongyang has previously said it employs in some weapons tests to avoid flying over neighboring countries. The launch “is a grave provocation that damages the peace and security of the Korean peninsula” and violates UN sanctions on Pyongyang, the JCS said, calling on North Korea to stop such actions. Pyongyang last fired one of its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles in April -- the purportedly solidfuelled Hwasong-18 -- and in February launched a Hwasong-15, which flew a similar 989 km.

The flight time of around 70 minutes is also similar to some of North Korea’s previous ICBM launches, experts said.

“Given what we have at this point, it’s about 90 percent certain that it was an ICBM launch,” Choi Gi-il, a professor of military studies at Sangji University, told AFP.

He added that it could also have been North Korea attempting to re-test its satellite launch technology to prepare for another attempt to put a spy satellite into orbit, after a May launch failed.

Wednesday’s launch came after North Korea on Monday accused a US spy plane of violating its airspace and condemned Washington’s plans to deploy a nuclear missile submarine near the Korean peninsula.

A spokesperson for the North Korean Ministry of National Defense said the United States had “intensified espionage activities beyond the wartime level”, citing “provocative” spy plane flights over eight straight days this month.

“There is no guarantee that such shocking accident as downing of the US Air Force strategic reconnaissance plane will not happen in the East Sea of Korea,” the spokesperson added. AFP

Cambodia’s opposition fighting for democracy

PHNOM PENH—In white tuk-tuks kitted out with megaphones and banners, supporters of a tiny Cambodian opposition party wind down a dusty Phnom Penh street, rallying votes ahead of the country’s one-sided election. It will be a herculean task for the littleknown Grassroots Democratic Party to win any seats in Cambodia’s 125-member National Assembly at the July 23 election -- widely dismissed as a sham.

But party president Yeng Virak insists his team is fighting the good fight.

“We have a mission to restore democracy,” he told AFP.

At the last national poll in 2018, Prime Minister Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) made a clean sweep, winning every parliamentary seat after a court outlawed the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party.

This time around, the Candlelight Party -- the CPP’s only credible rival -- was barred from running over registration technicalities.

“The future for the Cambodian opposition is dim,” said Sebastian Strangio, author of “Hun Sen’s Cambodia”.

For the 17 remaining parties contesting the poll, it’s difficult to compete against the deep pockets and long-entrenched power of Hun Sen’s ruling party.

The prime minister has led Cambodia for nearly four decades, and critics accuse him of winding back democratic freedoms and using the court system to thwart political opponents. Across the capital over the past week, CPP campaigning has featured musicians playing atop trucks and a rally with tens of thousands of supporters decked out in freebie T-shirts and hats bearing the party’s logo.

VILNIUS, Lithuania—Western powers will propose long-term security commitments for Ukraine on Wednesday after NATO dashed President Volodymyr Zelensky’s hopes of a clear timeline for joining the alliance.

Zelensky will hold symbolic talks with NATO’s 31 leaders at their summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, a day after blasting them for not moving faster to bring Ukraine into the fold.

In a bid to reassure the Ukrainian leader, the G7 group of nations are expected to issue a declaration on how they will help Kyiv defeat Russia and deter any new aggression in the coming years.

“As Ukraine makes strategic progress in their counteroffensive ... we are stepping up our formal arrangements to protect Ukraine for the long term,” British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said in a statement.

“We can never see a repeat of what has happened in Ukraine and this declaration reaffirms our commitment to ensure it is never left vulnerable to the kind of brutality Russia has inflicted on it again.”

The announcement will provide a framework under which individual nations will later agree bilateral deals with Kyiv detailing the weapons they will give.

US President Joe Biden has previously mooted a model for Ukraine similar to one under which Washington has committed to giving Israel $3.8 billion in military aid per year over a decade.

Russia launched drone strikes on Kyiv for the second night in a row, the head of the city’s military administration said early Wednesday.

All of the Iran-made Shahed explosive drones launched at Kyiv were were “detected and destroyed,” Sergiy Popko said on Telegram, adding “there was no information about victims or destruction as of now.”

Western backers have already sent weapons worth tens of billions to Ukraine to help it fight back against Russia’s invasion.

Germany on Tuesday said it would provide more tanks, Patriot missile defenses and armor vehicles worth another 700 million euros ($772 million).

France said it was sending longrange missiles and a coalition of 11 nations announced they will start training Ukrainian pilots on F-16 jets from next month.

But the pledges, while desperately needed by Ukraine’s troops, fall short of Zelensky’s aspirations of putting Kyiv under NATO’s collective defense umbrella. AFP

WASINGTON, DC—US envoy John Kerry will travel to China on Sunday, the State Department said, as the world’s two biggest polluters work to restart talks on climate change.

The July 16-19 trip will be Kerry’s third since taking the special climate envoy position under President Joe Biden, and he will also become the third top administration official to head to the country in recent weeks.

Kerry will follow in the footsteps of Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who last month paid the highest-ranking US visit to Beijing in nearly five years, and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen who was in China last week.

“Kerry aims to engage with the PRC on addressing the climate crisis, including with respect to increasing implementation and ambition and promoting a successful COP28,” the State Department said in a press release Tuesday, using an acronym for the People’s Republic of China.

The United Arab Emirates will host the UN COP28 climate talks starting in November, with nearly 200 nations gathering to wrestle with how to mitigate global warming and its impacts.

Confirming Kerry’s visit, Beijing’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment said the two sides would “have an in-depth exchange of views on cooperation in tackling climate change.”

The Grassroots Democratic Party’s campaign, in contrast, is decidedly modest -- banners on motorbikes, social media posts and oldfashioned leaflets. AFP

Australia fears China’s latest Pacific deal

SYDNEY—Australia has urged China to release the details of a new policing pact with Solomon Islands, saying Beijing’s latest push for influence threatens to inflame tensions in the South Pacific.

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare inked a raft of deals during a trip to Beijing this week, including an agreement allowing China to maintain a police presence in the developing Pacific nation until 2025.

China has lavished attention on Solomon Islands since it severed ties with Taiwan in 2019, pledging large amounts of aid and bankrolling a series of critical infrastructure projects.

A spokesperson for Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Tuesday there were concerns the police cooperation plan between Solomon Islands and China “will invite further regional contest”.

“Solomon Islands and China should provide transparency of their intentions to Australia and the region by publishing the agreement immediately, so the Pacific family can collectively consider the implications for our shared security.”

Solomon Islands, one of the poorest countries in the Pacific, sits at the centre of an escalating tug-of-war as China vies for regional influence with Australia and the United States.

Australia’s own longstanding security pact with Solomon Islands was recently put under review, stoking fears the Solomons were drifting closer to China’s orbit. AFP