Japan will discuss the fate of Japanese citizens abducted to North Korea at nuclear disarmament talks this week but should not endanger the weapons negotiations by pushing the abduction issue too far, a Japanese official said Sunday.
"I think Japan will bring up this issue," Taku Yamasaki, former vice president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said on TV Asahi's < The fate of several Japanese kidnapped to North Korea decades ago has been a sticking point as the countries prepare for six-nation talks in Beijing aimed at eliminating North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Pyongyang -- brought to the negotiating table through months of delicate diplomacy -- has objected to discussing anything outside the nuclear agenda and says the abduction issue has already been resolved. North Korea, which kidnapped the Japanese decades ago to use as language teachers for spies, said Wednesday it would not deal with Japan at all during the next round and blamed Tokyo for "trying to change the direction and atmosphere of the six-party talks." Yu Kameoka, a spokesman for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said afterward that Japan still intends to pursue the issue and "hear what North Korea thinks." Ahead of the nuclear talks, which resume tomorrow after a 13-month hiatus, Tokyo reportedly dispatched a diplomat to revive negotiations over the kidnappings. China has offered to provide a venue for bilateral talks between Japan and North Korea during the six-nation nuclear talks, Kyodo News agency reported. North Korea has admitted kidnapping 13 Japanese in the 1970s and 80s. It allowed five of them to return to Japan, saying the other eight died. Japan is demanding proof of the deaths, as well as information on other cases of missing Japanese.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
Japan yesterday heralded the coming-of-age of Japanese Prince Hisahito with an elaborate ceremony at the Imperial Palace, where a succession crisis is brewing. The nephew of Japanese Emperor Naruhito, Hisahito received a black silk-and-lacquer crown at the ceremony, which marks the beginning of his royal adult life. “Thank you very much for bestowing the crown today at the coming-of-age ceremony,” Hisahito said. “I will fulfill my duties, being aware of my responsibilities as an adult member of the imperial family.” Although the emperor has a daughter — Princess Aiko — the 23-year-old has been sidelined by the royal family’s male-only
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