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Kyodo Top12 News (10:40)(Japan Economic Newswire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) ---------- Japanese officials asked to visit N. Korea to meet "survivors" TOKYO - Pyongyang has asked Japan to send government officials to North Korea in a secret contact related to its probe into past abductions of Japanese nationals, proposing that the officials meet with "survivors," a source close to bilateral relations said Sunday. Tokyo has apparently turned down the offer, considering the possibility that the "survivors" may not actually include abduction victims, though Japan views the proposal as indicating that North Korea intends to make Pyongyang the venue for handing over its first report on the abduction probe. The Japanese government was apparently also cautious that the meeting could be used by North Korea to "draw a curtain" on the cases of Japanese nationals who were abducted by Pyongyang in the 1970s and 1980s. ---------- U.S. requests N. Korea pardon convicted U.S. citizen Miller WASHINGTON - A U.S. State Department official said Sunday the United States has asked North Korea to pardon Matthew Miller, a U.S. citizen sentenced to six years of hard labor in the country. The official also called for Miller's immediate release so he can be reunited with his family, while at the same time calling for the release of two other U.S. citizens detained in North Korea. Miller, held since he tore up his tourist visa upon arrival in the country and demanded political asylum, was sentenced on Sunday for "acts hostile to the DPRK," North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency reported. The DPRK is an acronym for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official name. ---------- Abe suggests daily's retracted reports on "comfort women" misled world TOKYO - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Sunday suggested a major Japanese daily misled the world about Japan's wartime military brothels on the Korean Peninsula through its recently retracted reporting on the issue. In an NHK television program, Abe urged The Asahi Shimbun to make efforts to explain how the articles on the treatment of women in the brothels, euphemistically called "comfort women" in Japan, were produced. The paper "is required to retract (its past reports) before the world," he said. In a review published in August, Asahi retracted a series of articles in the 1980s and 1990s that reported a Japanese man's statements that women on the South Korean island of Jeju were forcibly taken to serve at brothels for the wartime Japanese military, admitting they were erroneous. ---------- Asahi admits to making up interview with Nintendo president TOKYO - The Asahi Shimbun, under fire for erroneous reports on Japan's wartime military brothels and the testimony of the late chief of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, said Sunday it fabricated an interview with the president of Nintendo Co. In a statement in its Sunday edition, the Asahi said it produced a story in June 2012 that appeared to be an interview with Nintendo President Satoru Iwata, though the paper actually compiled remarks he had posted on Nintendo's website. The purported interview with Iwata appeared in a story carried on June 8 that year featuring interviews with several major game makers. The Asahi had asked the game console and software maker for an interview with Iwata but was turned down. ---------- Ferry sinks in Philippines, 3 dead, 110 rescued MANILA - A search for a ferry and three missing passengers continued Sunday after it sank the previous evening in the central Philippines following a report of steering problems. Three people have been confirmed dead and 110 others rescued. The Maharlika Dos made a distress call at around 4 p.m. Saturday as it was approaching Southern Leyte Province, according to the Philippine Coast Guard. It was bound for the town of Liloan in the province. The coast guard said the ship's captain, who survived the accident, claimed there were 85 passengers and 31 crew members aboard the vessel, more than registered. The ship's manifest said it was carrying only 58 passengers, 26 crew members and 13 vehicles. ---------- S. Korean Foreign Minister Yun meets Japan envoy for 1st time SEOUL - South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung Se and Japanese Ambassador to Seoul Koro Bessho held talks Sunday at a cultural exchange event in Seoul as the two countries struggle to mend strained relations. It was Yun's first meeting with the Japanese ambassador since assuming the post in February last year, when the government of President Park Geun Hye was launched. The talks lasted around 20 minutes. "The South Korean government is not linking history issues with problems in other areas and is actively involved in economic and cultural exchanges," Yun told reporters after the meeting. To make next year, which will mark the 50th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic ties, a starting point for the two countries to foster a future-oriented bilateral relationship, "I'd like to make further efforts to resolve outstanding issues," he said. ---------- Japanese group heads for Pyongyang to visit kin's graves in N. Korea TOKYO - A group of Japanese citizens on Sunday departed for Pyongyang via Beijing to pay their respects at the graves of relatives who died in North Korea around the end of World War II. Five Japanese are scheduled to visit burial sites in Chongjin in North Korea's northeast and Hamhung in the east during their nine-day visit to the country from Monday. Members of the Association for Families to Retrieve Japanese Remains in DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) will accompany them. About 34,600 Japanese are believed to have died of hunger and disease around the end of the war in the northern part of the Korean Peninsula, which was under Japanese rule from 1910 to 1945. The remains of 13,000 have been repatriated to Japan, while the remains of the remaining 21,600 are believed to have been buried in North Korea. ---------- 4 Turks, 3 locals nabbed in Indonesia over terror group link JAKARTA - Four Turkish nationals were arrested along with three Indonesians in central Indonesia on Saturday as they were heading to join a group linked to Jemaah Islamiyah, a militant organization said to be the Southeast Asian wing of al-Qaida, according to local authorities. National Police spokesman Ronny Franky Sompie said via a text message that the seven were arrested early Saturday in the Central Sulawesi provincial capital of Palu after counterterrorism police unit Detachment 88 followed a car with the suspects inside. The four Turks are believed to be members of an international terrorist network, Sompie said. A passport in the name of Ahmed Bozoglan, 27, a Turkish national, was found in the car. ---------- Punjabi Taliban declare end to activities in Pakistan ISLAMABAD - The Punjabi Taliban, a group that split from Tehreek Taliban Pakistan, will cease operating in Pakistan and restrict its activities to Afghanistan, group leader Ismat Ullah Moawia announced in a video received by Pakistani journalists Saturday. According to video clips shown on GEO TV, the decision to restrict its activities to Afghanistan was taken at a meeting of its shura advisory council four days ago at an undisclosed location. The group, also known as Tehreek Taliban Punjab, largely comprises mujaheddin who fought in Indian-administered Kashmir and is responsible for several acts of terrorism in Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan bordering China. ---------- Japan thrash Kuwait in men's soccer to kickstart Incheon campaign INCHEON, South Korea - Japan launched their Asian Games campaign with victory on Sunday, the defending champions defeating Kuwait 4-1 in the men's soccer competition. Five days ahead of the opening ceremony of the 17th Games, Albirex Niigata forward Musashi Suzuki struck on either side of halftime for Japan, who were also boosted by a goal each from captain Ryota Oshima and Takuya Iwanami. Japan's next game is on Wednesday against Iraq. Japan beat the United Arab Emirates 1-0 in the final to snare gold four years ago in Guangzhou, China. Nadeshiko Japan, who also won the title in 2010 alongside the men, play China on Monday in their first game of the competition. ---------- Golf: Suzuki earns maiden tour victory as youngest LPGA c'ship winner MIKI, Japan - Ai Suzuki earned her first title on Japan's LPGA tour on Sunday, capturing the LPGA Championship by one stroke and replacing Ai Miyazato as the event's youngest winner. Suzuki, at the age of 20 years, 128 days, seized the lead on the second day at the par-72 Minagi Golf Club in Hyogo Prefecture and carried a one-stroke lead into the final day. She carded five birdies and four bogeys in the final round to finish at 5-under 283. Lala Anai, Misuzu Narita, and South Korea's Lee Na Ri and Shin Ji Yai tied for second at 4-under par. "I was nervous, but I had a feeling that I would absolutely win," said Suzuki, who earned 25.2 million yen in prize money. "It still hasn't sunk in yet." ---------- Weather forecast for key cities in Japan TOKYO - Weather for Monday: Tokyo=cloudy, occasionally fair; Osaka=fair, then cloudy; Nagoya=cloudy; Sapporo=fair, then cloudy; Sendai=fair, then cloudy; Niigata=cloudy, occasionally fair; Hiroshima=cloudy; Takamatsu=fair, then cloudy; Fukuoka=cloudy; Naha=fair. (c) 2014 Kyodo News |