The Japanese government yesterday issued an entry permit for North Korea's chief nuclear negotiator and four other officials to attend a security conference in Tokyo next week, a news report said.
The US embassy announced on Tuesday that officials from the six countries participating in stalled North Korean nuclear disarmament talks -- the US, China, Japan, Russia and two Koreas -- would meet at a privately sponsored conference in Tokyo next Monday and Tuesday.
The talks come amid efforts to salvage the nuclear talks, which have been halted since November by a dispute over restrictions the US imposed on a Macau-based bank and North Korean companies for alleged illegal financial activities.
Yesterday, Japan issued the entry permit to North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan and four others, Kyodo News agency reported from Beijing, citing unidentified Japanese officials.
Kim, who arrived in Beijing Thursday morning en route to Tokyo, was quoted as saying by Kyodo that he regards the Tokyo conference as important. The report said North Korea's deputy chief of mission to the UN, Han Song-ryol, was traveling with him.
Yasuhiro Togo, an immigration bureau spokesman at Japan's Justice Ministry, said he could not comment on individual visa cases, to protect personal privacy.
A Foreign Ministry official, citing ministry protocol to speak under condition of anonymity, would say only that Japan was making the necessary arrangement to ensure the visit of Kim, as well as Han. He refused to provide other details, citing privacy concerns.
The private conference next week also is expected to draw US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Chun Young-woo, and Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Koji Tsuruoka. The meeting is sponsored by the University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation.
Kyodo earlier reported that Japan plans to urge Hill and Kim to hold bilateral talks while they are in Japan.
South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said on Wednesday he expected "an opportunity will naturally rise for exchange of opinions" between representatives of North Korea and other countries on the nuclear issue.
Last September, the North agreed in the six-party talks to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for aid and security guarantees. Since then, however, no progress has been made on implementing the accord.
The US, meanwhile, has increased pressure on the Macau-based Banco Delta Asia and North Korean companies for alleged involvement in counterfeiting, money laundering and weapons proliferation.
North Korea has denied the allegations and vowed not to return to the talks until the restrictions are lifted. The US has refused to lift the penalties, saying they are separate from the arms talks.
North Korea declared last year that it has nuclear weapons, although the claim hasn't been independently confirmed.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
RSS