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.
A US YouTuber who caused outrage for filming himself kissing a statue commemorating Korean wartime sex slaves has been sentenced to six months in prison, a court in Seoul said yesterday. Johnny Somali, 25, gained notoriety several years ago for recording himself doing a series of provocative stunts in South Korea and Japan, and streaming them on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. South Korean authorities indicted Somali — whose real name is Ramsey Khalid Ismael — in 2024 on public order violations and obstruction of business, and banned him from leaving the country. “The court has sentenced him to six months in
Former Lima mayor Rafael Lopez Aliaga, a Peruvian presidential hopeful, gathered hundreds of supporters in Lima on Tuesday and gave authorities 24 hours to annul the first round of the country’s election over allegations of fraud. Lopez Aliaga is locked in a tight three-way race with two other candidates for second place in Sunday’s vote. The election runner-up wins a ticket to June’s presidential run-off against front-runner Keiko Fujimori. “I am giving them 24 hours to declare this electoral fraud null and void,” said Lopez Aliaga, surrounded by a crowd of several hundred supporters. “If it is not declared null and void tomorrow,
PAPAL RETORT: Pope Leo told reporters that he has ‘no fear, neither of the Trump administration nor speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel’ US President Donald Trump has feuded with Pope Leo XIV over the Iran conflict — setting off an unholy row that could have serious political implications for the Republican leader back in the US. Trump has drawn barbs even from some allies over the attacks on the US-born pontiff, who has criticized the Trump administration over its immigration crackdown, the intervention in Venezuela and the Iran war. The president risks alienating the religious right in November’s crucial US midterm elections. So far the unprecedented clash between the leader of the most powerful military on Earth and the head of the world’s 1.4 billion
A 16-year-old boy has been charged with murder and aggravated sexual abuse in Florida in the death of his 18-year-old stepsister on a Carnival Cruise ship, the US Department of Justice said on Monday. Timothy Hudson was initially charged in February and subsequently indicted on March 10, but the breadth of the case was not known until a seal was lifted on Friday last week, weeks after US District Judge Beth Bloom in Miami said that he would be prosecuted as an adult at the request of the government. Anna Kepner had been traveling on the Carnival Horizon ship in November last
RSS