Japan yesterday called for cooperation on ending North Korea’s nuclear drive as its foreign minister held rare joint talks with regional powers China and South Korea.
Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura, China’s Yang Jiechi (楊潔箎) and Yu Myung-hwan of South Korea held the second-ever three-way meeting among the countries, whose relations have sometimes been uneasy.
The talks came a day after a surprise thaw in relations between Japan and North Korea, which agreed to start a new probe into an emotive row over the kidnappings of Japanese civilians.
Japan, which has taken the hardest line internationally against North Korea, in turn agreed to ease some sanctions on Pyongyang in a boost for a slow-moving six-nation deal on disarming North Korea.
North Korea missed a deadline to declare all of its nuclear programs by the end of last year as part of the agreement, which was signed by the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the US.
“It’s important North Korea make a full-fledged declaration early,” Komura told South Korea’s Yu, as quoted by a Japanese official who was in their bilateral meeting.
“As the six-nation talks are entering a crucial phase, cooperation between Japan and South Korea and among Japan, the United States and South Korea is more important than ever,” Komura said.
Yu agreed to close cooperation while vowing to work to settle the abduction issue in a way the Japanese can accept, the official said.
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
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
‘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
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
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