Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said yesterday he believes the acrimony between the US and some of its allies over Iraq is largely past, and that he's optimistic this week's summit of leading industrial nations will offer the world a display of unity.
Koizumi, who recently returned from a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, also said Pyongyang is aware of the importance of breaking a diplomatic impasse over its suspected development of nuclear weapons and "moving forward."
Speaking to a small group of foreign media, the Japanese leader said he believes Iraq and its transition to self-government will dominate the agenda at the Group of Eight summit in Sea Island, Georgia.
"France, Germany and Russia are not calling for the immediate withdrawal of US forces," he said, as an example of the improvement this year in the mood ahead of the annual summit, which begins tomorrow. "I consider this to be a great chance for the international community to demonstrate its cooperation and for the Iraqi people to stand up on their own two feet."
He was to leave this morning to attend the summit. It is the fourth for Koizumi, who was elected in a landslide victory in April 2001.
Koizumi -- whose outspoken, maverick approach to leadership is something of a rarity in consensus-conscious Japan -- continues to be one of the most popular leaders this nation has had in decades.
But as he heads to Georgia, he is under pressure amid a national pension scandal that has rocked his Cabinet.
Like many of this country's top politicians, Koizumi has acknow-ledged he failed to make all of the proper payments into the system. He has not been accused of any legal wrongdoing, however, or charged with any crimes.
He has also recently been under increasing fire from Japan's opposition for his staunch backing of US President George W. Bush's Iraq policy.
Despite deep concerns among the Japanese public, Koizumi has sent about 500 non-combatant soldiers to southern Iraq in this country's biggest military mission since World War II.
Koizumi said he stands by his support of Bush, but added that it is important to involve the UN as closely in the reconstruction process as is feasible.
"I have made that clear in many talks with American leaders," he said.
On North Korea, Koizumi said Kim indicated an understanding at their summit on May 22 that it is crucial for his impoverished nation to abandon its nuclear weapons program if it is to receive badly needed economic aid.
Koizumi and Russian President Vladimir Putin are the only G8 leaders who have met Kim, and his decision to hold a one-on-one with the North Korean leader is a step apart from Washington's policy of dealing with the North primarily through multilateral channels.
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
A US federal judge on Tuesday ordered US President Donald Trump’s administration to halt efforts to shut down Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Asia and Middle East Broadcasting Networks, the news broadcasts of which are funded by the government to export US values to the world. US District Judge Royce Lamberth, who is overseeing six lawsuits from employees and contractors affected by the shutdown of the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), ordered the administration to “take all necessary steps” to restore employees and contractors to their positions and resume radio, television and online news broadcasts. USAGM placed more than 1,000
RSS