at 20:00 (JST), July 17

South Korea is looking to reduce its reliance on Japan for certain high-tech materials.

A senior Japanese government official has criticized South Korea for refusing to agree to an arbitration panel over a wartime labor dispute.

Japan's government is arranging to send a delegation to a briefing planned by the United States on a new initiative to ensure security in the Strait of Hormuz.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/upld/medias/en/radio/news/20190717200000_english_1.mp3


Key words : south looking
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190717_23/

South Korea is looking to reduce its reliance on Japan for certain high-tech materials. The country's economy and finance minister says the government will soon announce comprehensive measures to counter Japan's export curbs.

Hong Nam-ki has criticized Japan for restricting supply of materials for semiconductors and other products. The export restrictions came into effect on July 4th.

Hong said, "Unfair trade restrictions on a specific country is a matter of deep concern considering the international rules on trade. It could undermine the bilateral economic cooperation between South Korea and Japan."

Hong said South Korea will take the case to the World Trade Organization and seek the understanding of the global community.

He added the government will work with parliament on the budget to add support measures for businesses affected by Japan's clampdown.

Key words : south current tension
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190717_32/

South Korea has presented its stance to the United States about current tensions with Japan over recent export restrictions put in place by Tokyo.

South Korea's deputy chief of the presidential National Security Office met with the US diplomat for the region David Stilwell in Seoul on Wednesday.

Kim Hyun-Chong told reporters after the meeting he had explained Seoul's view on the restrictions to Stilwell.

The relationship between Tokyo and Seoul has soured over a series of South Korean court rulings and tensions further escalated over Japan's restriction of exports. Japan says the export curbs are necessary from a security viewpoint.

Stilwell didn't answer questions from reporters about Japan's move specifically, but said overall talks were productive.

Last week, he said the White House has no plans to mediate between its most important allies in the region.

Stilwell is also meeting South Korea's Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha on Wednesday.

Key words : senior criticize
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190717_25/

A senior Japanese government official has criticized South Korea for refusing to agree to an arbitration panel over a wartime labor dispute.

Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasutoshi Nishimura spoke to reporters on Wednesday, a day after a senior South Korean official said his country would reject Japan's request for an arbitration panel.

Nishimura said Japan will continue urging the South to agree to arbitration, as stipulated in an agreement signed in 1965.

Thursday is the deadline to choose a third country to join such a panel.

South Korea's Supreme Court last year ordered Japanese companies to pay compensation to South Koreans who say they were forced to work for the firms during World War Two.

Japan maintains that any right to compensation was settled completely and finally in the 1965 agreement signed when the two countries normalized ties.

Nishimura also addressed an announcement made Tuesday by plaintiffs in one of the cases. The plaintiffs said they will soon begin court procedures to sell assets seized from Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

Nishimura said the government will deal with the issue resolutely as part of its responsibility to protect the legitimate business of a Japanese firm. He said the government would consider every possible option in response to the plaintiffs' move.

Nishimura also responded to criticism from South Korea's intelligence chief on Japan's handling of sanctions on North Korea. National Intelligence Service head Suh Hoon said on Tuesday that Japan had allowed ships suspected of violating UN Security Council resolutions to enter its ports.

Nishimura said the government is aware that some ships subject to a South Korean entry ban entered Japanese ports.

He said the Japanese authorities inspected the ships and found no evidence they carried North Korean coal or violated Japanese laws.

Key words : tourism agency impact visitors
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190717_40/

The Japan Tourism Agency is monitoring how tensions with South Korea may affect tourism.

Agency Commissioner Hiroshi Tabata said on Wednesday that some South Korean firms have canceled employee tours to Japan.

The moves come after Tokyo tightened curbs on exports of certain high-tech materials to South Korea earlier this month.

Tabata maintained the effect on individual tourists is limited and the dispute has had no major impact.

But he added, "We cannot deny the possibility South Korean tourists may avoid coming to Japan due to trends in public opinion. We're keeping a close watch."

Tabata said the agency will continue efforts to boost tourism between the 2 countries.

Japan welcomed more than 7.5 million visitors from South Korea last year. The country was the second largest region for travelers after mainland China, and accounted for about a quarter of Japan's total foreign visitors.

However, the figure for the first 6 months of this year was down almost 4 percent from a year before.

Key words : new report says
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190717_14/

A new report says that, despite international sanctions, North Korea has been obtaining luxury goods, including vehicles, from abroad via third countries.

US research organization C4ADS released the report on Tuesday detailing how North Korea has acquired high-end luxury goods while a UN Security Council resolution that prohibits such exports to the country is in place.

The report says that between 2015 and 2017, 90 countries served as procurement sources. It says the goods included 803 foreign vehicles, 256 of which were Japanese brands.

In one case, the report shows how two armored Mercedes-Maybach S600 Guard Vehicles, one of which was used by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Hanoi, Vietnam, in February, were shipped to the North.
Using container-tracking information and satellite images, the report identifies that the vehicles were loaded onto a container ship and left Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in June last year. They reached Pyongyang via Dalian, China, and Osaka, Japan.

It says two firms based in western Japan were likely involved in the transport.

The report concludes that economic sanctions have not been effective and calls for a stricter crackdown on such illicit transactions.

It says high-end luxury goods are scarce, specialized products with high monetary value and great symbolic importance for the Kim regime.

Key words : Osaka logistics
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190717_26/

An Osaka-based logistics company reported to be involved in smuggling luxury goods to North Korea has denied it had any intention to violate international sanctions on the country.

The company told NHK all it did was transport Mercedes-Benz cars from Dalian in China to Busan in South Korea, and had no idea the vehicles would be taken from there to North Korea.

Key words : government arranging
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190717_28/

Japan's government is arranging to send a delegation to a briefing planned by the United States on a new initiative to ensure security in the Strait of Hormuz.

Last week, the US military announced a plan to form a coalition to ensure safe passage of vessels in the strategic waterway amid growing tension over Iran.

A US State Department official said diplomatic officials from relevant countries will be invited to the Friday briefing.

Japan is considering sending officials from its embassy in the US to the meeting.

Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya said on Tuesday that Japan has no plans to dispatch the Self-Defense Forces to join the US-proposed coalition.

Observers say the government apparently aims to collect more information on the US initiative by sending a delegation to the briefing.

Key words : philippine
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190717_33/

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is toughening his stance against China amid a public outcry over a boat collision incident.

In June, a Chinese vessel collided with a Philippine fishing boat in the disputed South China Sea. The Chinese vessel reportedly abandoned 22 Filipino fishermen as their boat sank.

Amid criticism over his conciliatory approach to Beijing, Duterte brought up a mutual defense treaty with the US in a TV program on Tuesday.

He said that if the US sends its Seventh Fleet to the South China Sea, the Philippines will join it.

The remarks represent a shift in attitude by Duterte, who had effectively shelved the territorial dispute in favor of gaining economic assistance from China.

Key words : US house of representative
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190717_22/

The US House of Representatives has voted to condemn President Donald Trump for what it says are racist comments against four non-white Democratic congresswomen.

The draft resolution, submitted by Democratic lawmakers, was approved on Tuesday with 240 votes in favor and 187 against. Four Republicans and an independent lawmaker were among those in favor of it.

The resolution said the House strongly condemns President Trump's racist comments, which have legitimized and increased fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color.

The move came in response to Trump's tweet on Sunday in which he told the congresswomen to go back and help fix the totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came. He said that they should leave if they hate the US or are not happy living in it.

The four lawmakers who Trump referred to are all US citizens and three of them were born in the US.

Hours before Tuesday's vote in the Democratic-led House, Trump wrote on Twitter that his earlier tweets were not racist and that he doesn't have a racist bone in his body. He described the vote as a Democrat con game.

Key words : social media users
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20190717_27/

Social media users around the world are celebrating World Emoji Day on Wednesday.

The organizers of the emoji search website Emojipedia designated July 17 as World Emoji Day in 2014. US online giant Apple unveiled an emoji-conversion app on the date 17 years ago.

Twitter users on Wednesday posted congratulatory messages and looked back on emoji history.

On Tuesday, Apple unveiled on its website new emojis to debut on its iPhones this year.

Users of the "holding hand" emoji can now choose skin tone variations in addition to same gender options.

These and other emojis showing a hearing aid and artificial limbs are designed to represent social diversity and allow more people to show who they are.

The pictograms were first created in Japan 20 years ago. They've gone global with the spread of smartphones, and are now commonly used even by athletes and other celebrities.