Japan is not considering holding direct bilateral talks with North Korea, a news report quoted Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso as saying yesterday.
The last meeting between Japanese and North Korean leaders was in May 2004, but the two sides have met for working-level talks since then, the last time in February of this year.
"Right now we are not thinking about direct talks between Japan and North Korea,' Kyodo News agen-cy quoted Aso as telling reporters.
The Yomiuri newspaper reported early yesterday that the US and Japan planned to take a hard line on North Korea's nuclear programs in upcoming six-nation talks.
The report, based on unidentified government sources, said the two allies would demand that the North immediately halt its nuclear tests and announce a schedule for disarming.
They are also expected to press Pyongyang to clarify a means of verification so outsiders can see whether the isolated, insular country is following through with disarmament promises.
The unified front comes after North Korea said this week it would return to nuclear disarmament talks in an effort to access its frozen overseas bank accounts, a vital source of hard currency for the impoverished and isolated communist nation.
The nuclear talks -- which include China, Japan, Russia, the US and the two Koreas -- reached an agreement in September last year where Pyongyang pledged to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for aid and security guarantees, but there was little progress toward implementing the accord. Tensions only worsened last month when North Korea tested its first nuclear explosion, drawing widespread international condemnation and UN sanctions.
No dates have yet been set for a new round of nuclear talks, but Tokyo and Washington are expected to press North Korea for a stronger commitment "because North Korea has made the situation more serious compared with that surrounding previous talks," Yomiuri cited an unidentified Foreign Ministry official as saying, referring to the Oct. 9 blast.
OUTRAGE: The former strongman was accused of corruption and responsibility for the killings of hundreds of thousands of political opponents during his time in office Indonesia yesterday awarded the title of national hero to late president Suharto, provoking outrage from rights groups who said the move was an attempt to whitewash decades of human rights abuses and corruption that took place during his 32 years in power. Suharto was a US ally during the Cold War who presided over decades of authoritarian rule, during which up to 1 million political opponents were killed, until he was toppled by protests in 1998. He was one of 10 people recognized by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto in a televised ceremony held at the presidential palace in Jakarta to mark National
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday vowed that those behind bogus flood control projects would be arrested before Christmas, days after deadly back-to-back typhoons left swathes of the country underwater. Scores of construction firm owners, government officials and lawmakers — including Marcos’ cousin congressman — have been accused of pocketing funds for substandard or so-called “ghost” infrastructure projects. The Philippine Department of Finance has estimated the nation’s economy lost up to 118.5 billion pesos (US$2 billion) since 2023 due to corruption in flood control projects. Criminal cases against most of the people implicated are nearly complete, Marcos told reporters. “We don’t file cases for
LANDMARK: After first meeting Trump in Riyadh in May, al-Sharaa’s visit to the White House today would be the first by a Syrian leader since the country’s independence Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrived in the US on Saturday for a landmark official visit, his country’s state news agency SANA reported, a day after Washington removed him from a terrorism blacklist. Sharaa, whose rebel forces ousted long-time former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad late last year, is due to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House today. It is the first such visit by a Syrian president since the country’s independence in 1946, according to analysts. The interim leader met Trump for the first time in Riyadh during the US president’s regional tour in May. US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack earlier
Ecuadorans are today to vote on whether to allow the return of foreign military bases and the drafting of a new constitution that could give the country’s president more power. Voters are to decide on the presence of foreign military bases, which have been banned on Ecuadoran soil since 2008. A “yes” vote would likely bring the return of the US military to the Manta air base on the Pacific coast — once a hub for US anti-drug operations. Other questions concern ending public funding for political parties, reducing the number of lawmakers and creating an elected body that would
RSS