South Korea's foreign minister was to hold talks with Japanese officials beginning yesterday to discuss plans for an Asia-Pacific leaders' summit next month and efforts to convince North Korea to halt its nuclear weapons program, officials said.
Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon was to arrive in Tokyo late yesterday. The South Korean government said in a statement, released on Tuesday, that Ban will discuss plans for next month's APEC forum, and how to convince North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions, ahead of a multilateral talks, also scheduled for next month.
Ban was to meet with his counterpart Nobutaka Machimura yesterday and hold talks with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi today.
His three-day trip comes as the relations between the two countries have soured over Koizumi's Oct. 17 visit to Yasukuni Shrine. South Korea and China have strongly urged Koizumi to stop his annual visits there saying that the shrine glorifies Japan's wartime invasions of East Asia.
Ban has said that a summit between the two countries was put on hold, and Tokyo's response will be taken into account in deciding whether to go ahead with the plan later this year.
It was unclear whether Ban's trip would lead to a meeting between South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and Koizumi. Roh's office has said a summit would be difficult "unless there is a significant change in the situation."
Since last year, the two leaders have met twice a year. It's Roh's turn to visit Japan before the end of this year. They may also meet on the sidelines of international conferences, including a summit of the 21-member APEC forum in the South Korean city of Busan on Nov 18-19.
South Korea and Japan are key trading partners and have closely cooperated in efforts to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions. A new round of multilateral talks on the North's nuclear issue is scheduled for early next month.
Meanwhile, North Korea said yesterday the US military presence in South Korea was a cancer, adding the withdrawal of US troops was needed to secure a deal at six-party talks aimed at curbing Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.
North Korea has in the past attached conditions to implementing a deal such as demanding a civilian reactor up front before it scraps its atomic weapons programs.
In a report in its official media yesterday, North Korea said removing US troops from the Korean peninsula was fundamental for progress at the next round, saying the troops were part of Washington's plans to take North Korea by force.
There are about 32,500 US troops in South Korea. The North has demanded for years they be taken off the peninsula. Washington has pledged not to attack North Korea and is reducing its troop contingent but has no plans to pull out completely.
Last month, at six-party talks in Beijing, North Korea agreed in principle to dismantle its nuclear programs in exchange for economic assistance, security guarantees and greater diplomatic recognition. Washington and others said conditions, such as the civilian reactor up front, were not part of the outline deal.
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
US president-elect Donald Trump is not typically known for his calm or reserve, but in a craftsman’s workshop in rural China he sits in divine contemplation. Cross-legged with his eyes half-closed in a pose evoking the Buddha, this porcelain version of the divisive US leader-in-waiting is the work of designer and sculptor Hong Jinshi (洪金世). The Zen-like figures — which Hong sells for between 999 and 20,000 yuan (US$136 to US$2,728) depending on their size — first went viral in 2021 on the e-commerce platform Taobao, attracting national headlines. Ahead of the real-estate magnate’s inauguration for a second term on Monday next week,
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
RSS