Politics
Kishida vows further efforts to realize summit with N Korean leader
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida vowed Sunday to "step up efforts to realize an early summit meeting" with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and resolve the decades-long issue of Japanese nationals abducted by Pyongyang. Kishida renewed his pledge at a citizens gathering in Tokyo to bring home Japanese nationals… Read
Japan complains over S Korea's 'comfort women' ruling
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa said Tokyo finds it regrettable that a Seoul court recently ruled in favor of former "comfort women" who are seeking compensation from the Japanese government as she held talks with South Korean counterpart Park Jin in Busan on Sunday. Park told Kamikawa that South Korea… Read
Japan, China foreign ministers discuss security, seafood ban
Japan and China are hoping to hold security talks "in the near future", Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa said on Saturday after meeting with China's top diplomat Wang Yi in South Korea. The talks between Kamikawa and Wang marked the first time the two senior diplomats had met since Kamikawa became Japan's foreign… Read
N Korean leader Kim inspects new spy satellite photos of 'target regions'
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected photos taken by the country's new spy satellite of "major target regions", including the South Korean capital of Seoul and cities that host U.S. military bases, state media said on Saturday. Nuclear-armed North Korea launched the satellite on Tuesday, but South Korean defense… Read
Japan's lower house approves ¥13.2 tril FY2023 extra budget
Japan's lower house on Friday approved a 13.20 trillion yen supplementary budget for the current business year to next March to implement additional inflation relief measures intended to support struggling households. The budget plan, which includes the issuance of 8.88 trillion yen worth of government bonds to secure the necessary… Read
Japan warns that China, Russia share goal of creating new global order
A think tank linked to Japan's Defense Ministry warned Friday that China and Russia share a "common strategic goal" of creating a new international order so that they can use force to change the status quo more easily. Both Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin "have a… Read
LDP factions suspected of not reporting party revenues
Factions of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party are suspected of failing to report political party revenues of more than 1 million yen in 2022, Kyodo News confirmed Friday, taking a further toll on Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. The revelation came days after prosecutors began questioning five groups of the LDP,… Read
Foreign ministers of S Korea, China, Japan to meet on Sunday
The foreign ministers of South Korea, China and Japan will meet for talks in South Korea on Sunday, South Korea's foreign ministry said on Friday, as the three countries seek to hold their first leaders' summit in four years. The neighbors had agreed to hold a summit every year starting in 2008… Read
S Korean court orders Japan to compensate former 'comfort women'
A South Korean appellate court on Thursday ordered Japan to compensate a group of 16 women who were forced to work in Japanese wartime brothels, overturning a lower court ruling that dismissed the case and prompting a stern protest from Tokyo. The legacy of Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the… Read
China calls for independent monitoring of treated Fukushima water
China called for independent monitoring of the ongoing discharge of treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant into the sea during a meeting between its top diplomat and the chief of the junior partner in Japan's ruling coalition on Thursday in Beijing. Komeito party head Natsuo Yamaguchi… Read
