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Groton Daily Independent
Saturday, July 29, 2017 ~ Vol. 25 - No. 029 ~ 24 of 67
companies from driving up premiums or abandoning regions.
Schumer said he hoped the two parties could “work together to make the system better” by stabilizing
marketplaces.
But many conservatives oppose such payments and consider them insurance industry bailouts, raising
questions about whether Congress could approve such a package.
McConnell said it was time for Democrats “to tell us what they have in mind.” But saying he was backed
by most Republicans, he added, “Bailing out insurance companies, with no thought of any kind of reform, is not something I want to be part of.”
____
Associated Press writers Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Stephen Ohlemacher contributed to this report.
North Korean ICBM launches dim South’s hopes for talks By KIM TONG-HYUNG, Associated Press
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea’s rapidly accelerating nuclear weapons program is beginning to pose a grave challenge for liberal South Korean President Moon Jae-in, whose dovish proposals for engage- ment have been met by silence and two intercontinental ballistic missile tests in less than a month.
Throughout the election campaign and his presidency that began in May, Moon has persistently expressed a de- sire to reach out to North Korea. But in the wake of the North’s latest ICBM test, a stern-looking Moon on Satur- day sounded more like his conserva- tive predecessor as he ordered his troops to conduct a live- re exercise withU.S.forcesandendorsedstron- gerpressureandsanctionsagainst Pyongyang.Hethentoldgovernment of cialstoscheduletalkswithWash- ington over increasing the warhead limits of South Korean missiles.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in, right, speaks as he presidesoverameetingoftheNationalSecurityCouncil atthepresidentialBlueHouseinSeoul,SouthKorea,early Saturday,July29,2017.NorthKoreatest- redonFriday whattheU.S.believeswasitssecondintercontinentalbal- listic missile, which ew longer and higher than its rst ICBM launched earlier this month, of cials said. (Yonhap via AP)
Moon also made a dramatic policy
reversal, ordering his military to talk with U.S. commanders in South Korea to temporarily place additional launchers of a contentious U.S. missile defense system, which was seen as a sign that Moon was ready to get tougher on the North. He likely has no other choice as it is well past the point where Seoul could afford being seen as “begging” Pyongyang for talks, said Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert at Seoul’s Dongguk University and a policy adviser to Moon.
“Ministries related to foreign policy and security must work with our allies including the United States to ensure that today’s provocation is met by a stern international response, such as U.N. Security Coun- cil measures,” Yoon Young-chan, Moon’s senior press secretary, quoted him as saying during a National Security Council meeting. Yoon said Moon also directed government of cials to consider the possibility of unilateral sanctions against the North.
Through statements released by his of ce and later by the Foreign Ministry, Moon’s government made