North Korea launched an unidentified ballistic missile Tuesday.

South Korean Military officials are quoted as saying the missile flew on an eastward trajectory and that authorities are analyzing the launch in cooperation with the U.S. military.

“We detected a probable missile launch from North Korea. We will provide additional information as available,” Pentagon spokesman Army Col. Robert Manning said.

The United States is “not surprised” by the development, a U.S. intelligence official told VOA.

White House Press Secretary tweeted President Donald Trump “was briefed, while missile was still in the air, on the situation in North Korea.”

The last ballistic missile launch by North Korea was in September.  It is still unclear what type of missile was launched Tuesday.

In Japan, the Cabinet crisis team has been summoned for an emergency meeting.  Japan’s chief Cabinet secretary said Tokyo “strongly protests” the launch.

The latest North Korean launch comes as the U.S. and South Korea are preparing a five-day joint exercise called “Vigilant Ace” from December 4-8 with thousands of military personnel and more than 230 aircraft, including six F-22 Raptor fighter jets deployed to South Korea for the first time.

Pyongyang routinely condemns such military drills using belligerent language and military threats.

Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb, National Security correspondent Jeff Seldin, White House correspondent Steve Herman and Seoul correspondent Daniel Schearf contributed to this report
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Native Americans have taken to social media to criticize President Donald Trump for using a racial slur during a Monday White House ceremony honoring Fleming Begaye, Thomas Begay, and Peter MacDonald, three of the 13 Navajo Code Talkers still living.

“I just want to thank you because you’re very, very special people,” Trump said to the men who were recruited into the U.S. Marine Corps to transmit tactics and vital information in a language that was then incomprehensible to America’s World War II enemies.

WATCH: Trump comments to honorees

“You were here long before any of us were here — although we have a representative in Congress who they say was here a long time ago. They call her Pocahontas. But you know what? I like you. Because you are special,” Trump continued, touching MacDonald on the shoulder.

Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye described the incident as part of an “ongoing feud” between Trump and Elizabeth Warren, over her claims to have Native American heritage during her Senate campaign.

“In this day and age, all tribal nations still battle insensitive references to our people. The prejudice that Native American people face is an unfortunate historical legacy,” Begaye said. “As Native Americans, we are proud people who have taken care of this land long before there was the United States of America and we will continue to fight for this Nation.”

Navajo Nation Council delegate Amber Kanazbah Crotty cited the event as the “latest example of systemic, deep-seated ignorance” about Native Americans.

“The Navajo Code Talkers are not pawns to advance a personal grudge or promote false narratives,” Crotty said in a statement released Monday. “Such pandering dishonors the sacrifice of our national heroes.”

Dine Code Talkers secretary Debra Klecan posted on Facebook that the White House ceremony was the first time she had ever heard disparaging comments made against the Code Talkers.

“I’ve seen men and women of all ages break down in tears in honor and in awe of meeting them in person and they subsequently share their personal or family stories about how the Code Talkers affected their lives. It is too bad the president of the United States cannot do the same.”

In a personal Facebook message to Trump, Marty Thompson, whose great uncle Dennie Housteen was a Navajo Code Talker, demanded an official apology.

“There were three… Navajo Code Talkers standing and sitting with pride and dignity next to you. But, you Honor and Respect them with a…racist, derogatory comment about Pocahontas. Do you even know the true Pocahontas?” Thompson asked.

Jefferson Keel, president of the National Congress of American Indians, issued the following statement Monday:

“Today was about recognizing the remarkable courage and invaluable contributions of our Native code talkers. That’s who we honor today and everyday – the three code talkers present at the White House representing the 10 other elderly living code talkers who were unable to join them, and the hundreds of other code talkers from the Cherokee, Choctaw, Comanche, Lakota, Meskwaki, Mohawk, Navajo, Tlingit, and other tribes who served during World Wars I and II.”

Keel also called on the president to refrain from invoking Pocahontas in a way that “denigrates the legacy” of the 17th century Pamunkey woman, born Matoaka, who is credited with helping foster relations between Virginia tribes and early British colonizers.

“As a Marine Vet myself, I am keenly aware of how great a sacrifice these Navajo Marines made to the war effort,” said Ray Cook, former op/ed editor of Indian Country Today Media Network. “There is something basically wrong that a man would on one hand hand praise Native veterans and, on the other and in the same breath, denounce another person with a claimed Native background with a racial slur that is derogatory to Natives.”

Native Americans observers were quick to note that Monday’s ceremony took place beneath a portrait of Andrew Jackson, the seventh U.S. president and architect of the policy that forcibly drove thousands of Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole tribe members from their homes to the West. Along the way, thousands died of cold, disease or hunger.

And as if all this weren’t insult enough, Oglala Lakota journalist and Native Sun News Today publisher Tim Giago cited Trump’s tone of voice.

“He talked down to Peter MacDonald and the other brave Navajo as if they were children,” he told VOA, expressing fear that this may have detracted from Code Talker Peter MacDonald’s speech.

In his speech, MacDonald urged the creation of a museum commemorating the Code Talkers and preserving their stories for future generations of Americans. And he praised America’s unity and diversity.

“We have different languages, different skills, different talents, and different religion. But when our way of life is threatened, like the freedom and liberty that we all cherish, we come together as one. And when we come together as one, we are invincible.”

White House Spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders, responding to questions from reporters Monday, said she didn’t believe calling Warren “Pocahontas” was a slur.

“I don’t think that it is [a racial slur] and I don’t think that was the President’s intent,” Sanders said.

“Look, I think that Sen. Warren was very offensive when she lied about something specifically to advance her career.  I don’t understand why no one’s asking about that question and why that isn’t constantly covered.”
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Sen. Al Franken apologized Monday to “everyone who has counted on me to be a champion for women” as the Minnesota Democrat fought to bolster his support with his first Capitol public appearance since being drawn into a wave of sexual harassment accusations buffeting Congress.

Franken spoke as lawmakers began returning from an extraordinary weeklong Thanksgiving break that saw sexually tinged problems engulf two other legislators as well: Reps. John Conyers (D-Michigan) and Joe Barton (R-Texas). Those revelations were on top of allegations that Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl and sought romantic relationships with other teenagers when he was in his 30s four decades ago, which he has denied.

 

With harassment charges bringing down big names in the worlds of entertainment and journalism, Congress was adding widespread complaints about how it handles such incidents to its pile of year-end work.

 

A new allegation, indeed, surfaced late Monday against Conyers.

 

A former deputy chief of staff for Conyers said the veteran lawmaker had made unwanted sexual advances toward her, including inappropriate touching.

 

Deanna Maher, who ran a Michigan office for him from 1997 to 2005, told The Detroit News that there were three instances of inappropriate conduct.

 

She says the first was in 1997 during an event with the Congressional Black Caucus, when she rejected his offer to share a hotel room and have sex. She said the others involved unwanted touching in a car in 1998 and unwanted touching of her legs under her dress in 1999.

 

Conyers’ attorney Arnold Reed questioned why Maher continued to work for him after the alleged incidents.

 

Maher said she needed a job at age 57 and feared no one would hire her.

​In a brief appearance before reporters in Washington Monday, Franken stopped short of specifying how his memory differs from four women’s accounts of separate incidents in which he allegedly initiated improper sexual contact. He said he recalls “differently” one woman’s allegation that he forcibly kissed her but provided no detail, and said he doesn’t remember three other times women assert he grabbed their buttocks, citing “tens of thousands” of people he meets annually.

 

“But I feel that you have to respect, you know, women’s experience,” he said.

 

Franken said he’ll cooperate with an Ethics Committee investigation of his behavior. He said it will take “a long time for me to regain people’s trust” and said he hoped to begin that process by returning to work.

 

“I want to be someone who adds something to this conversation,” said Franken, a longtime liberal.

 

Looking for new ways for reporting, settlement

The House planned to vote Wednesday on a resolution requiring lawmakers and staff to annually complete anti-harassment training. Its chief sponsors included Reps. Barbara Comstock (R-Virginia) and Jackie Speier (D-California), who has said she was sexually assaulted by a male chief of staff as a House aide decades ago. The Senate approved a similar measure this month.

 

With many lawmakers – particularly women – pushing for more, the House Administration Committee planned a hearing next week on how to strengthen Congress’ processing of harassment allegations. Under the 1995 Congressional Accountability Act, complaints have been sent to an obscure Office of Compliance, which requires a lengthy counseling and mediation period and has allowed virtually no public disclosure of cases.

 

Rep. Gregg Harper (R-Mississippi) said the hearing will consider “ways to create a respectful reporting and settlement process” and said he expected legislation by early 2018. Comstock, also on that panel, said members are discussing whether federal funds should be spent to settle harassment suits and if people can be released from nondisclosure agreements.

 

Congress’ procedures drew intensified fire after a report last week by the news website BuzzFeed that Conyers’ office paid a woman more than $27,000 under a confidentiality agreement to settle a complaint in 2015 that she was fired from his Washington staff because she rejected his sexual advances. The money came from taxpayers, not Conyers himself.

Conyers, 88, the House’s current longest-serving member, has relinquished his post as top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, and the House Ethics Committee is reviewing the case. He’s denied the allegations.

 

Late Monday, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-California) said she’d met with a woman who described “unacceptable and disappointing” treatment from Conyers when she worked for the Judiciary panel in the 1990s. Melanie Sloan, an attorney, told The Washington Post last week that Conyers criticized her appearance and once attended a meeting in his underwear, but said she didn’t feel sexually harassed.

 

Conyers’ counsel has denied Sloan’s allegation. Pelosi said she believes Sloan and said the “ridiculous system” of secret settlements must be ended so accusers can speak to the Ethics committee.

 

Speier and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-New York) have introduced legislation requiring that lawmakers who settle harassment claims with the Office of Compliance repay the Treasury for the settlement. It would eliminate mandatory nondisclosure agreements as a condition for entering mediation and require public identification of offices that have settled cases.

 

Barton, a 32-year House veteran, has acknowledged sharing a nude photo of himself with an unidentified lover that was spread online. He’s accused her of threatening to make it public when he ended the relationship.

 

The woman told The Washington Post that she didn’t put it online and said the congressman threatened to go to the authorities if she exposed his conduct. Barton, 68, said he was separated from his second wife at the time and has apologized for not using “better judgment.”

 

Leeann Tweeden, now a Los Angeles radio news anchor, has said Franken forcibly kissed her on a USO tour and took a sexually suggestive photo while she was sleeping in 2006, before he entered the Senate. Three other women allege Franken grabbed their buttocks while posing with them for photos during campaign events in 2007, 2008 and 2010.
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