Biden-Macron summit meeting ... "Strongly denounce North Korea's missile provocation"

"We strongly condemn North Korea's unprecedented number of illegal ballistic missile test launches this year," said US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron on December 1st (local time).

In a joint statement released after the summit meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., on the same day, the two leaders said they would continue to cooperate at the UN Security Council to resolve the issue of North Korea's provocations, according to the White House.

"North Korea's missile launch violates Security Council resolutions," the two leaders said. The United States and France are permanent members of the Security Council. However, the Security Council was blocked by China and Russia, who are also permanent members of the Security Council, and could not take any special measures against North Korea.

The two leaders also agreed to coordinate South Korea's concerns in relation to China's challenge to the rules-based international order, including respect for human rights. We reaffirmed the importance of it," they said.

Regarding the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the two leaders said they hoped that the US and EU task forces would work in a mutually beneficial manner. President Macron has expressed strong dissatisfaction with the IRA's discrimination against electric vehicle subsidies.