Displaying items by tag: New Year message

Emmanuel Macron delivered a defiant New Year's address on TV, vowing to push forward with economic reforms despite the protests by the ‘yellow vests’ over the past two months. He acknowledged their anger over injustices, but he also strongly condemned their leaders, ‘who claim to speak for the people, but in fact speak for a hateful mob - attacking elected representatives, security forces, journalists, Jews, foreigners and homosexuals - these are quite simply the negation of France.’ He promised that his economic reforms would continue despite the prolonged clashes between protesters and security forces that have turned French cities into battlegrounds, and rejected demands for referendums on major policy decisions and the possibility of ousting elected representatives, including the president himself. The ‘yellow vests’ vowed to continue their protests.

In a New Year speech, Kim Jong Un has said that he is prepared to meet Donald Trump at any time, while warning he would pursue an alternative course if Washington kept up sanctions on Pyongyang. He wanted an outcome that would be ‘welcomed by the international community’, but warned the US not to ‘misjudge our patience by unilaterally demanding certain things and pushing ahead with sanctions and pressure’. Kim also said the US should continue its halt to joint military exercises with South Korea and not deploy strategic military assets there. He also called for stronger inter-Korean cooperation, stating that he is ready to resume operations at a jointly-run factory park in the North Korean border town of Kaesong and to restart South Korean tours to the North's Diamond Mountain resort. Neither is possible unless sanctions are removed.