The foreign ministers of Japan and South Korea have failed to narrow their differences over a wartime labor issue that has soured bilateral relations.
Japan's defense minister urged Beijing to work toward improving the situation regarding China's increasing maritime activities ahead of President Xi Jinping's planned visit to Japan.
The World Health Organization has confirmed that a new strain of coronavirus was detected in people who developed a mysterious form of pneumonia in China.
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Key words : foreign ministers of Japan and
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200115_22/
The foreign ministers of Japan and South Korea have failed to narrow their differences over a wartime labor issue that has soured bilateral relations.
Toshimitsu Motegi talked with his South Korean counterpart Kang Kyung-wha near San Francisco on Tuesday after both met with the US secretary of state.
Motegi repeated Japan's demand for the South to act responsibly to correct a breach of international law following court rulings and to make a proposal to settle the issue.
The South Korean side failed to come up with a new proposal and both parties remain at odds.
The ministers also reiterated their stances on Japan's tightened export controls on high-tech materials to the South.
In 2018, the Supreme Court of South Korea ordered Japanese firms to compensate those who say they were forced into work during World War Two. The Japanese government maintains that the right to claim compensation was settled by a 1965 bilateral agreement.
Late last month, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Moon Jae-in met for the first time in 15 months and agreed on the need to resolve the wartime labor issue through continued dialogue.
On Tuesday, Moon asked Japan to present its own solution in response to his country's proposals.
Key words : defense minister urged Beijing
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200115_14/
Japan's defense minister urged Beijing to work toward improving the situation regarding China's increasing maritime activities ahead of President Xi Jinping's planned spring visit to Japan.
Taro Kono made the call Tuesday during a speech at Washington-based think tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
He said Chinese government vessels violate Japanese territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea three times a month on average. He also said they enter Japan's contiguous zone around the island on a daily basis.
Japan controls the Senkaku islands. The Japanese government maintains the islands are an inherent part of Japan's territory. China and Taiwan claim them.
Kono said Japan is concerned about China's continuous attempts to unilaterally change the status quo in the East China Sea, particularly around the Senkaku Islands, by forceful means. He added Japan cannot overlook such aggressive behavior.
He said that if China makes light of international norms, such as democracy and freedom, the country will have to pay the cost.
Kono also said Japan wants to extend a heartfelt welcome to Xi as a state guest this year. But, he said Beijing needs to work hard to improve the situation, otherwise, there may be a "difficult environment" for the visit.
Key words : Abe middle east tour
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200115_08/
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is returning to Japan from a three-nation Middle East tour. He agreed with the leaders of these countries that dialogue will be crucial for stabilizing the region and de-escalating tensions.
Abe left Oman, the final leg of his tour, early Wednesday morning. His itinerary also included Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
He agreed with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that all the countries concerned should join hands to achieve their objectives.
Abe and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan agreed on the importance of diplomatic efforts. The two leaders also reaffirmed that they will closely work with Saudi Arabia.
Abe and Oman's leaders agreed that regional issues should be resolved through dialogue. The Gulf state maintains good relations with Iran.
Abe told the Middle Eastern leaders that Japan's dispatch of a Self-Defense Force mission to the region is aimed at ensuring the safe navigation of Japan-related vessels.
The three nations expressed their support for the dispatch. Oman showed its willingness to accept Japan's plan to set up a supply station for the mission in the country.
Key words : Japan and the United States
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200115_31/
The governments of Japan and the United States will consider how to cooperate to deal with toxic chemicals detected in high levels around US bases in Japan.
Organic fluorine compounds, such as PFOS, have been detected near US bases in the southern prefecture of Okinawa and Tokyo's Yokota Air Base. The chemicals have been proved toxic in tests using animals.
Japanese Defense Minister Taro Kono discussed the issue with US Defense Secretary Mark Esper during their meeting at the Pentagon on Tuesday.
In the US, officials have set up a task force to handle toxic chemicals on US soil. Kono and Esper agreed that their governments will work together to do likewise.
They reaffirmed that the understanding and cooperation of people living near bases are essential for US forces in Japan to maintain readiness in the increasingly harsh regional security environment.
Key words : EU trade
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200115_30/
Japan, the US, and the EU have agreed to push for stronger global trade rules on industrial subsidies.
Japanese trade minister Hiroshi Kajiyama, US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and EU trade commissioner Phil Hogan held a ministerial-level meeting on Tuesday in Washington.
They say they'll lobby the World Trade Organization to rein in what they call market-distorting government aid, a move that appears aimed at China.
They say they'll seek stronger rules on subsidies for industries with excessive production. They also want to target government support for failing businesses.
But the effort to get the WTO onside follows a drawn-out campaign by the US to weaken the body's top court undermining its ability to rule on disputes.
Kajiyama said members of the WTO must work together to restore its authority.
Key words : prosecutor Hiroshima
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200115_33/
Prosecutors in Hiroshima Prefecture, western Japan, have raided the offices of Upper House member Anri Kawai and her husband, Lower House member Katsuyuki Kawai, on suspicion of violating the election law.
Anri Kawai has been charged with paying her campaign staff above the legal limit during her successful run for the Upper House in July last year. Prosecutors have been questioning her staff since last month.
Investigators searched for evidence at her office in Hiroshima City on Wednesday. They also seized documents from her husband's office. He resigned as Justice Minister because of his wife's possible violation of the election law.
The couple, both members of Japan's main governing Liberal Democratic Party, have not been seen in public since the allegations were made over two months ago.
In the Diet, the opposition is demanding that the couple be held accountable.
The Diet affairs chief of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party, Jun Azumi, met on Wednesday with his LDP counterpart Hiroshi Moriyama to put forward the demand.
Azumi pointed out that neither the Kawais nor Isshu Sugawara, who resigned as Economy, Trade and Industry Minister over his own alleged election law violations, have offered the public an explanation for their misconduct.
He urged the LDP to question the couple and Sugawara before the ordinary session of the Diet is convened, and brief the opposition.
Azumi told reporters it would be difficult for the opposition to agree to Diet deliberations until the three politicians fulfill their accountability.
Moriyama told reporters that searches of the offices of incumbent lawmakers by prosecutors is a serious matter, and it's disappointing that the integrity of an election campaign is under investigation.
But he said since people in areas hit by last year's typhoons have been waiting for relief, the LDP will aim to pass an extra budget for the current fiscal year as soon as possible, and to pass the fiscal 2020 budget by the end of March.
Key words : university Tokyo dismiss
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Key words : world health
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200115_03/
The World Health Organization has confirmed that a new strain of coronavirus was detected in people who developed a mysterious form of pneumonia in China.
A WHO official told a news conference in Geneva on Tuesday that the confirmation was made after the UN body received information from the Chinese authorities.
The official said there are no cases of sustained human-to-human transmission but mentioned the possibility of limited transmission, potentially among families.
The WHO has released infection control guidelines for medical institutions on its website.
It says there's no cure for the new type of pneumonia at the moment and further research will be necessary.
Cases of pneumonia with unknown causes have been reported in Wuhan in China's inland Hubei Province since December.
A strain of coronavirus has been detected in the patients.
Thailand's health ministry says the same virus was detected in a Chinese tourist in her 60s from Wuhan earlier this month.
Key words : Australian open
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200115_32/
Qualifying for the Australian Open has been delayed due to smoky air resulting from the ongoing bushfire crisis.
Air quality has deteriorated since Tuesday in Melbourne, where qualifying for the Grand Slam tennis tournament is underway.
Bushfires engulfing large parts of the country's southeast are behind the worsened air quality. Twenty-eight people have died due to the fires since last September. More than 10 million hectares have been burned.
Melbourne authorities are calling on citizens to stay indoors.
The problem forced matches to start later than scheduled and practice sessions to be suspended.
Organizers were criticized for going ahead with qualifying on Tuesday, when a Slovenian player ended her match early after she collapsed to the court due to a coughing fit.
She said she hadn't thought she would be playing because of the poor air quality.
Organizers suggested the tournament, due to open next Monday, will go ahead as planned by using indoor courts.
Key words : people living in Japan
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200115_28/
People living in Japan have another chance to buy tickets for this summer's Tokyo Paralympic Games.
The event's organizing committee began accepting applications on its website on Wednesday. People can apply for up to 18 tickets for each of their first and second choices. Results will be determined by lottery.
At a promotional event in Tokyo, a canoeing athlete who plans to compete in the games said she wants many people to come watch, and that their cheers will provide a tailwind for athletes.
The committee says it aims to sell more than six hundred thousand tickets.
Key words : wide area record-low
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20200115_34/
Wide areas along the Sea of Japan coast are experiencing a winter with record-low amounts of snow.
The Meteorological Agency says snowfall is at its lowest level since 1961, when the earliest available records were kept.
Agency officials say that snowfall in December was only zero to 47 percent of the average in various spots along coastal areas.
They also say the snowless condition have continued until now. The amount of snow was zero to 28 percent of the average so far in January.
The agency explains that westerly winds are blowing over northern Japan, blocking a cold air mass from moving south. It forecasts the snowless situation will continue for one month.
No snow accumulation was recorded on Wednesday morning in the city of Yamagata, northeastern Japan, where snow normally lays about 20 centimeters deep at this time of year.
Organizers of a snow festival in the area scheduled to start in two weeks' time say they are worried if they can hold the event as planned. They asked a Shinto priest to pray for snow on Tuesday.
Hiroki Sato, who serves as the head of the festival organizing committee, said they had no choice but to ask God for help.
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