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Jul 31 08:04 AM US/Eastern
TOKYO, July 31 (AP) - (Kyodo) — Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda will reshuffle his Cabinet on Friday afternoon for the first time since he assumed office last September, several senior lawmakers of the ruling coalition and a high-ranking government official said Thursday.
Fukuda told reporters he will decide the upcoming political schedules after meeting with Akihiro Ota, leader of the New Komeito party, on Friday morning.
He indicated that the reshuffle could take place depending on the outcome of the 9 a.m. meeting with Ota.
"I would like to have discussions on a number of matters including the upcoming political schedules," Fukuda told reporters. "I will decide everything there."
Asked by reporters if the reshuffle could take place Friday after his meeting with Ota, the prime minister responded, "It's up to our meeting."
Fukuda will also appoint new executives of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Friday, the lawmakers said.
Calls have been growing for Fukuda to form a Cabinet that reflects his own political stance, given that he inherited 15 of his 17 Cabinet ministers from his predecessor Shinzo Abe.
The reshuffle is apparently aimed at bolstering his sluggish support ratings, which have not improved much even after the Group of Eight summit that he chaired in July in Hokkaido.
According to major newspaper polls in mid-July following the G-8 summit, the approval rating on Fukuda's Cabinet remained below the "danger" line of 30 percent.
After meeting with Ota, Fukuda is expected to convene a meeting of current ministers so they will submit their resignations and appoint the LDP's new leadership in the afternoon.
The focus of the Cabinet reshuffle is whether the premier will retain Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura.
Concerning the LDP leadership, interest centers on whether the party's Secretary General Bunmei Ibuki will remain in his post as some members in the LDP question his ability.
It was widely expected within the ruling coalition that the reshuffle would be carried out Monday, but Fukuda has moved up the schedule -- probably as a way to demonstrate his resolve by conducting a "lightning-like" reshuffle.
The reshuffle will be followed by an extraordinary Diet session, at which the ruling and opposition blocs will debate the special antiterrorism law authorizing Japan's refueling mission in the Indian Ocean.
Meanwhile, if Fukuda fails to raise support ratings after the reshuffle, the ruling coalition may pressure him to resign with an eye on possible dissolution of the House of Representatives, which would lead to a general election.
Thu Jul 31, 7:48 AM ET
SEOUL (Reuters) - Elation replaced a sense of betrayal in South Korea on Thursday after Washington reversed how it referred to the ownership of a cluster of rocks at the centre of a war of words between Seoul and Tokyo.
The U.S. Board on Geographic Names, which had listed the desolate islands as South Korean territory, recently changed its designation of them as not belonging to any state, sparking outrage in Seoul.
The change came just as South Korea was berating Japan for telling its schools to teach that the islets were Japanese territory.
"The rare swift action indicates President (George W.) Bush is fully aware of South Koreans' sentiment and reflects the deep trust and friendship between the two countries' leaders," the presidential Blue House said in a statement after the U.S. agency announced it would reverse its change.
Relations between the two allies has looked strained in recent months by mass protests in South Korea against an agreement to resume imports of U.S. beef, long banned over fears of mad cow disease.
The latest decision comes less than a week before Bush is due to visit Seoul for talks with President Lee Myung-bak who has seen his popularity plunge over the beef issue and a number of other perceived policy stumbles.
Analysts said Bush was loathe to antagonize South Korea ahead of his visit and wanted to show support for the conservative ex-CEO Lee who had gone out of way to open up the country to U.S. beef and had taken a tough stand with U.S. arch foe North Korea.
Dennis Wilder, senior director for Asian affairs at the White House National Security Council, told reporters in Washington on Wednesday that after the United States was contacted by high-level South Korean government officials, Bush had ordered U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to look into the matter.
South Korea controls the lonely islands, called Dokdo in Korean and Takeshima in Japanese and which lie about halfway between the two countries' mainlands.
Japan and South Korea both claim historical rights to the cluster of rocks, which have little obvious economic value but are in the midst of fishing grounds and may sit above valuable deposits of natural gas hydrate.
(Reporting by Kim Junghyun and Jack Kim; Editing by Valerie Lee)
Jul 31 03:27 AM US/Eastern
TOKYO, July 31 (AP) - (Kyodo) — Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda will meet Akihiro Ota, leader of the New Komeito party, at 9 a.m. Friday, a senior lawmaker of the Liberal Democratic Party said Thursday.
The heads of the ruling coalition parties are expected to make arrangements for a Cabinet reshuffle and discuss when to convene an extraordinary Diet session.
Jul 31 03:02 AM US/Eastern
(AP) - LOS ANGELES, July 30 (Kyodo) — The U.S. Navy announced Wednesday that the May 22 fire on the aircraft carrier George Washington, scheduled for deployment in Japan shortly, is likely to have been caused by unauthorized smoking that ignited improperly stored combustible materials.
The vessel's commanding and executive officers have been relieved of their duties.
The revelation that the probable cause was lax discipline may heighten anxiety among citizens in the Japanese port town of Yokosuka which hosts the U.S. Navy base where the nuclear-powered carrier will be based. At least two rallies drawing more than 10,000 citizens were held in July against the deployment.
Capt. David Dykhoff was relieved of his duties Wednesday "due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command and his failure to meet mission requirements and readiness standards," a press release from the commander of the Naval Air Forces in San Diego said.
The vessel's executive officer, Capt. David M. Dober, was also relieved "for substandard performance."
The navy's investigation determined that "the likely cause of the fire was unauthorized smoking that ignited flammable liquids and other combustible material improperly stored in an adjacent space," the statement said. "The fire and the subsequent magnitude of the fire were the result of a series of human acts that could have been prevented."
Capt. J.R. Haley, who was deputy chief of staff to the commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, has taken command of the George Washington, it said. He was the commanding officer of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt from June 2005 until this January.
Capt. Karl O. Thomas has been assigned as the new executive officer of the George Washington.
The fire broke out in an unmanned auxiliary boiler exhaust and supply space on May 22 when the carrier was in the Pacific off South America. The storage of 90 gallons of refrigerant compressor oil in the space helped intensify the fire, the statement said.
Previously, the Japanese Foreign Ministry and other sources said they were told by the United States that it was an incipient fire but the navy's statement indicated that it was more than that, throwing into question the Japanese government's intelligence capabilities.
The press release said it took around 12 hours to extinguish and 37 sailors were treated for minor injuries incurred during fire fighting and about 80 out of over 3,800 total spaces aboard the carrier were damaged, incurring around $70 million in estimated repair costs.
With repairs nearly complete, the George Washington will depart San Diego on Aug. 21 and is expected to arrive in Yokosuka in late September as the successor to the U.S. Navy's last conventional fuel- powered aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk, which is scheduled for arrival in San Diego on Aug. 7, it said.
The deployment was initially scheduled for August, but repairs from the fire on the carrier caused the delay.
An official at the U.S. Navy's San Diego base told Kyodo News that the name and other information of the smoker including possible disciplinary actions cannot be disclosed. Smoking is said to be banned aboard the carrier except for designated areas.
In Yokosuka, some residents on Thursday voiced anxiety over the upcoming arrival of the George Washington for deployment in the port city, after the U.S. Navy's announcement that the likely cause of the fire was unauthorized smoking.
Masahiko Goto, a lawyer and co-representative of an anti-nuclear vessel civic group, said, "The fire indicates that the morale and quality of the crew has dropped to an alarming level."
"The (Japanese) government should not accept the deployment because anxiety among citizens has not been dispelled," he said.
Meanwhile, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said Thursday afternoon that the government has been reassured of the safety of U.S. nuclear- powered military vessels when making port calls in Japan after a briefing by U.S. officials on the investigation results.
Shinichi Nishimiya, director general of the ministry's North American Affairs Bureau, was quoted as telling Rear Adm. James Kelly, commander of U.S. Naval Forces in Japan, and James Zumwalt, deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, that Japan hopes the U.S. Navy would continue efforts to prevent recurrence of a similar incident.
Jul 31 02:43 AM US/Eastern
TOKYO, July 31 (AP) - (Kyodo) — A South Korean man in his 50s cut his finger with a knife Thursday morning in Tokyo's Nagatacho district, location of Japan's parliament, in protest over a territorial dispute between Japan and South Korea, police said.
The man sustained a shallow cut of around 7 millimeters long at the tip of the ring finger of his right hand, the police said. He was apparently attempting to write his protest in blood on a flag, they said.
He was with several other people at the time on a sidewalk not far from the prime minister's residence.
The man was quoted by the police as saying, "I am here to stage a protest over the Dokdo issue."
The issue has received renewed attention since Japan decided in mid- July to effectively claim for the first time sovereignty over the islets in the Sea of Japan -- called Takeshima in Japanese and Dokdo in Korean -- in a teaching guideline for junior high schools.
Jul 31 01:21 AM US/Eastern
SEOUL, July 31 (AP) - (Kyodo) — South Korea on Thursday welcomed the U.S government's decision to restore wording in a geographic names database to indicate that a pair of rocky islets claimed by Japan are South Korean territory.
President Lee Myung Bak's spokesman Lee Dong Kwan said the "unusually swift" reaction by the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush in the wake of South Korean protests shows that Bush "has a full understanding of the Korean people's sentiment" and also "reflects deep trust and friendship" between the two leaders.
"This reflects the restoration of the South Korea-U.S. alliance and mutual trust," he said in a brief statement.
The spokesman's remarks came after Bush ordered Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to check into why the U.S. Board on Geographic Names had recently reclassified the disputed Liancourt Islands, known as Dokdo in South Korea and as Takeshima in Japan, as an area of "undesignated sovereignty" on its website, whereas before it had said the islets are South Korean territory.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Bush said, "I asked Condi Rice to review it, and the database will be restored where it was seven days ago."
The board, which was set up to maintain uniform geographic name usage throughout the U.S. government, now indicates on its website that the islets, which are located in what South Korea calls the East Sea and Japan calls the Sea of Japan, are under South Korean administration.
U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormick told reporters Wednesday the earlier reclassification, which had sparked outrage in South Korea and prompted its government to lodge complaints with Washington just ahead of Bush's visit to Seoul next week for a summit with Lee, did not reflect a change in U.S. government policy but was merely a decision made at the level of technical experts.
Dennis Wilder, senior director for Asian affairs at the National Security Council, said Wednesday that U.S. policy on the territorial dispute "has been firm and consistent since 1952, and that is, we do not take a position on this territorial dispute, that we believe that South Korea and Japan need to work diplomatically to resolve this issue -- but it is their issue to resolve."
Wilder said that after Bush directed Rice to check into the matter, "it was decided...that the change in designation was not warranted at this time, and so that database is now being restored to where it was prior to this change in designation."
"We regret that this change in designation was perceived by South Koreans as some sort of change in our policy,' he added.
South Korea has adopted a more aggressive stance on the territorial dispute since Japan's education ministry earlier this month decided to include a claim to sovereignty over the islets for the first time in a teaching guideline for junior high schools, sparking a backlash in South Korea.
South Korea has recalled its ambassador from Tokyo for an indefinite period, while angry Koreans have mounted a series of anti-Japanese protests outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul.
On Thursday, President Lee was quoted by Yonhap News Agency as saying at a meeting at his office, "We already have effective control over Dokdo and if we make work diligently, we will gain acceptance from the international community."
South Korean Ambassador Lee Tae Sik told a press conference in Washington on Sunday that his government plans to work to get the United States to refer to the islets by their Korean name Dokdo rather than as the Liancourt Rocks, a name that was taken from a French whaling ship that first introduced the territory to Europe in the 19th century.
By LEE JONG-HEON
UPI Correspondent
Published: July 31, 2008
Seoul, South Korea — South Korea's diplomatic policymakers breathed a sigh of relief on Thursday as the United States reversed its recent decision to change the status of the islets at the center of a territorial dispute between Seoul and Tokyo.
Japan’s Ambassador to Washington Lee Tae-sik was "outraged" to learn earlier this week that the U.S. Board on Geographic Names had modified its classification of the Dokdo islets from a territory of South Korea to one with "undesignated sovereignty."
Lee and Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan had been accused of failing to prevent the United States from adopting a neutral reference to the islets, weakening South Korea's claim of sovereignty over the small island that is also claimed by Japan.
The U.S. shift in favor of Japan was widely seen here as a serious diplomatic setback for President Lee Myung-bak, who has pledged to build stronger ties with the United States.
Lee ordered a "thorough probe" into possible "negligence of duty" of Seoul's embassy in Washington and its ambassador in handling the case, the presidential office said, adding the ambassador and anybody would be held "responsible if necessary."
Opposition parties and even some ruling lawmakers called for the dismissal of the foreign minister too, who was already under fire for a series of blunders, including a fiasco at the recent ASEAN Regional Forum and a U.S. beef import deal.
But the presidential office on Thursday ruled out a dismissal of President Lee's foreign policy team, as the United States has reversed its week-long decision and reclassified the Dokdo islets as a territory of South Korea.
The reversal came after U.S. President George W. Bush directed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to look into the matter, according to Seoul's Foreign Ministry.
Earlier, embattled Ambassador Lee rushed to U.S. officials to call for the reversal of the decision and raised the issue with Bush when they met with U.S. and South Korean business leaders at the White House, the ministry said.
After Seoul’s desperate request, Bush's National Security Council informed Seoul's embassy in Washington of the U.S. decision to restore the status of the islets, it said.
President Lee's office immediately issued a statement to welcome the U.S. decision as “reflecting the restoration of the South Korea-U.S. alliance and mutual trust."
"The exceptionally swift action shows President Bush fully understands the sentiment of South Koreans, and is an outcome that reflected deep trust and friendship between the two leaders," the presidential spokesman said.
The Foreign Ministry also issued a similar statement hailing Bush's move, describing it as a result of the ministry's strenuous efforts to reverse the U.S. decision to change Dokdo's status.
In a sense of relief, Foreign Minister Yu invited U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Alexander Vershbow to his office to express his thanks for Washington's restoration of Dokdo's status.
The Dokdo issue is highly sensitive to South Koreans who still harbor deep-rooted bitterness against Japan for its 1910-45 colonial occupation.
South Koreans’ anger heightened earlier this month when Japan decided to officially describe the disputed islets as Japanese territory in educational handbooks.
In protest, South Korean Prime Minister Han Seung-soo visited the islands earlier this week as the highest-level official ever to travel there, and staged a military drill near the islets, drawing criticism from Tokyo.
Dokdo, a cluster of two main islets and dozens of attached rocks and reefs that lies about halfway between the Korean peninsula and Japan's largest island of Honshu, has long been a source of dispute between the two neighbors. Japan calls the islets Takeshima.
The deepening dispute has raised concerns that worsening ties between Seoul and Tokyo may undermine U.S.-led efforts to curb nuclear proliferation in Northeast Asia. Seoul and Tokyo are Washington’s key Asian allies and key partners to end North Korea’s nuclear weapons drive.
Foreign Ministry officials here expressed hope that the planned summit between Lee and Bush next week would bring about substantial results on forging a stronger alliance between the two countries, as the Dokdo dispute was resolved.
Bush plans to arrive in Seoul on Aug. 5 on a two-day visit ahead of attending the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Beijing. Government officials were concerned that Bush's visit may rekindle anti-U.S. sentiment in South Korea swept by a strong wave of protests against U.S. beef imports for the past two months.
The U.S. president was originally scheduled to visit Seoul in early July, but delayed it amid strong street protests here against the resumption of beef imports.
Just ahead of his first meeting with Bush in April, Lee agreed to resume U.S beef imports, which was widely considered here as a political concession to win stronger U.S. security commitments.
The beef deal has sparked strong protests, leading Lee's popularity to a record low. Lee was forced to make a public apology and reshuffle his Cabinet and presidential office, but these moves have failed to tame the public anger.
Government officials had been worried that next week's summit would be overshadowed by the territorial dispute between Seoul and Tokyo, but now they are hopeful that the two leaders will focus their second meeting on building a stronger alliance.
"We expect the summit to produce measures to make the bilateral alliance stronger," a government official said.
Jul 31 12:31 AM US/Eastern
TOKYO, July 31 (AP) - (Kyodo) — Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura expressed the view Thursday that the U.S. federal naming agency's move to restore a description that a pair of disputed islets belongs to South Korea does not represent a change in U.S. position over the issue.
"We think that we should not react excessively to what one U.S. government agency does," Machimura told a news conference. "We do not perceive that the change in the description on a website represents a change in the United States' position."
President George W. Bush said Wednesday he has ordered that recognition of South Korea's ownership of the Seoul-controlled rocky islets, which Japan also claims as its own, be reinstated in the database of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names.
The order came after the agency was found to have recently revised its description of the disputed territory as an area of "undesignated sovereignty," prompting the South Korean Embassy in Washington to lodge a protest.
Machimura said the Japanese government is not thinking about taking any actions in response to Bush's order.
He said the U.S. government has restored the previous description in the process of examining where the islets belong, citing remarks by Dennis Wilder, senior director for Asia on the U.S. National Security Council, who said that the United States does not take a position on this territorial dispute.
The board's website previously said the Liancourt Rocks, another name for the islets known as Dokdo in South Korea and Takeshima in Japan, were under South Korea's control.
On the order of the U.S. president, the board changed the description back to the previous one.
Jul 31 12:10 AM US/Eastern
WASHINGTON, July 30 (AP) - (Kyodo) — President George W. Bush will travel to South Korea, Thailand and China for eight days through Aug. 11, the White House said Wednesday in formally unveiling the itinerary.
Bush will leave Washington next Monday and arrive in Seoul the following day. He will hold talks with South Korean President Lee Myung Bak on Aug. 6.
Also Aug. 6, the president will travel on to Bangkok and meet with Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej. He will also hold talks with Myanmarese activists in the Thai capital the following day before departing for Beijing.
On Aug. 8, Bush will attend the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympic Games and meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao on Aug. 10.
No bilateral meetings with foreign dignitaries are scheduled.
In the Chinese capital, he will also watch some of the events involving U.S. athletes and visit a Christian church, according to the White House.
Date Posted: 2008-07-31
A U.S. government civilian working on Camp Foster is presumably headed for prison after pleading guilty to using stimulants and smoking marijuana.
James R. Biggins pleaded guilty in a Naha District Court, admitting to the drug crimes. The 34-year-old American had worked in the Installation Personnel Administrative Center before being arrested last month after a drug raid at his off-base home. The Naha District prosecutor charged Biggins had been busted after a Japanese drug dealer was taken into custody.
Prosecutors are demanding Biggins receive a two-year jail term, with Yuki Mizuno telling the court he was in possession of more than a quarter-ounce of marijuana when Japanese police arrested him. A subsequent urine test revealed he had amphetamines in his body. Biggins confessed to both.
Biggins’ attorney, noting there have been no previous criminal complaints, is seeking a suspended sentence. The court was expected to sentence Biggins yesterday.
Date Posted: 2008-07-31
The number of sex crimes committed in Okinawa during the first half of 2008 declined slightly, but crimes involving children under 12 have risen.
The Okinawa Prefecture Police report shows 41 sex crimes during January~June, down four cases from the same period a year ago. Nineteen of those cases, though, involved young children. “These are just numbers we have to report,” says a police official, “but we’re sure there are cases never reported. We just don’t know how many damaging sex crimes are not reported to police.”
Of the 19 cases involving youngsters under 12, police say two were committed against kids under age five. Teen sex crimes accounted for 14 cases, while 13 involved victims 20~29 years of age.
Okinawa Prefecture Police say sex crimes have been dropping over the past few years, down from a high of 144 cases in 2003 to 74 cases in 2006. There were 88 sex crimes committed and reported last year, and police say this year’s totals are slightly encouraging. They temper that belief, though, by emphasizing that because many people are embarrassed to report sex crimes, the true numbers may never be known.
Date Posted: 2008-07-31
The mayor of Ginowan City is in Hawaii, trying to find people who will listen and support his efforts to stop aircraft from flying from Futenma Marine Corps Air Station in his city.
Yoichi Iha arrived in Hawaii Sunday to deliver his message that “America is violating the law” by flying from Futenma, which he says violates U.S. law because flights are prohibited over schools and housing areas. Iha refers to a law that sets parameters for how close runways can be to populated areas. In Futenma’s case, says Iha, “The Futenma Air Station’s master plan says the runway must be 914.4 meters away” but says there are “800 houses and schools and 18 other facilities totaling 3,600 people” in the restricted zone.
The mayor accuses “Japanese and American governments have hidden these facts and operated this way since 1992. It’s against the law and both countries should take responsibility.” The problem Iha faces is that nobody in Hawaii wants to listen. Iha has visited the United States before, carrying the message America should reduce the military burden on Okinawa, but now, his thinking is different.
He wants Futenma Marine Corps Air Station gone, and has insisted key military leaders in Hawaii meet with him. They’ve refused, and the American Consul General in Okinawa, Kevin Maher, refuses to get into the middle, saying “we can’t control the off base building problems in Japan. That should be discussed between countries.”
The commander of U.S. Pacific Command, Admiral Timothy J. Keating, and the commander of U.S. Marine Forces Pacific, Lt. Gen. Keith J. Stalder, have both turned down requests from Iha for meetings. An Okinawa newspaper quotes the military as telling the Japanese government’s Okinawa liaison office that the meetings are impossible because of conflicting schedules. Iha’s next move is to try for meetings with congressional leaders.
“If nobody wants to meet with me,” Iha says, “I’m going to appeal this problem straight to the Pentagon and the Congress in Washington.” He says he’ll also lobby Japanese Diet members to support him, adding “I’m not going to give up over this problem.”
The Governor of Okinawa, meanwhile, is rejecting the Prefecture Assembly’s call for suspension of Futenma relocation plans. The opposition-controlled Assembly wants the project terminated, but Hirokazu Nakaima says he’ll continue supporting the Henoko plan. Northern Okinawa’s Henoko area and Camp Schwab, part of Nago City’s jurisdiction, is the site selected for a replacement airbase. Nakaima is saying he has a “tacit agreement” with the central government to move the V-shape runways a bit farther offshore, 80 meters farther into Oura Bay, to make the project acceptable to local government.
Nakaima’s comments have stirred political leaders of both parties, because the changes to the proposed airfield are not consistent with American military plans. The governor and his staff, along with the Okinawa Prefecture Council on Futenma Relocation, met July 18th with central government officials to discuss proposed changes. The meeting, attendees say, focused on how to develop a safe new airport using proposed modifications to construction plans.
“My understanding is that the two work teams will be able to advance discussions as the government tacitly agrees” to the Prefecture-promoted changes, says Nakaima. The U.S. has adamantly refused to consider changes to the agreement made to build the new airfield more than two years ago. At the American Consulate in Naha City, Consul General Kevin Maher calls construction at Henoko “a realistic option” and reminded reporters the “Futenma relocation will enable a reduction in Okinawa’s burden by moving 8,000 Marines to Guam while returning or reducing American military facilities here.”
Wed Jul 30, 11:03 PM ET
TOKYO (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy said it had replaced the captain of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier scheduled for a controversial berth in Japan after blaming him for a fire on board.
The United States has been trying to allay fears over the planned stationing of the George Washington in Japan, the only country to have suffered nuclear attacks.
Doubts about the ship's safety were renewed when a fire broke out on board in May, and the plan has sparked two demonstrations in recent weeks.
U.S. Naval Air Forces said in a statement it had fired commanding officer David C. Dykhoff and another officer over the incident and installed Captain J.R. Haley as the ship's new commander.
A U.S. investigation determined that the likely cause of the fire, which blazed for 12 hours and seriously injured one sailor, was due to unauthorized smoking that ignited oil stored inappropriately, the statement said.
The George Washington is currently undergoing $70 million dollars of repairs in San Diego, which has delayed its arrival in Japan by several weeks.
It is now scheduled to depart the United States on August 21 and arrive in Yokosuka, 45 km (28 miles) southwest of the heavily populated capital, in late September, the statement said.
Many Japanese are sensitive about the use of nuclear power by military forces. The Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki came under nuclear attack from the United States at the end of World War Two in August 1945.
(Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
Jul 30 09:54 PM US/Eastern
(AP) - WASHINGTON, July 30 (Kyodo) — President George W. Bush said Wednesday he has ordered that recognition of South Korea's ownership of a pair of rocky islets that Seoul controls but Japan also claims as its own be reinstated in a U.S. federal naming agency's database.
"I asked Condi Rice to review it, and the database will be restored where it was seven days ago," Bush said in a joint interview with reporters from South Korea, Thailand and China ahead of his departure next week on a tour of the three countries.
The order came after the U.S. Board on Geographic Names was found to have recently revised its description of the disputed territory to assume a more neutral position, prompting the South Korean Embassy in Washington to lodge a protest. Upon the order, the board changed it back to the previous one.
The board's website previously said the Liancourt Rocks, another name for the islets known as Dokdo in South Korea and Takeshima in Japan, were under South Korea's control, but it now names them an area of "undesignated sovereignty."
The name Liancourt Rocks was taken from a French whaling ship that first introduced the territory to Europe in the 19th century. The islets are located in what Japan calls the Sea of Japan and South Korea calls the East Sea.
South Korea has adopted a more aggressive stance on the territorial dispute since Japan's education ministry earlier this month decided to include a claim to sovereignty over the islets for the first time in a teaching guideline for junior high schools, sparking a backlash in South Korea.
South Korea has recalled its ambassador from Tokyo for an indefinite period, while angry Koreans have mounted a series of anti-Japanese protests outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul.
Also Wednesday, Dennis Wilder, senior director for Asia on the U.S. National Security Council, confirmed Bush's order and expressed hope that Japan and South Korea can resolve the row diplomatically.
"Let me be very clear that our policy on this territorial dispute has been firm and consistent since 1952, and that is we do not take a position on this territorial dispute," he said at a news briefing.
"It is their issue to resolve," he said.
Wed Jul 30, 9:38 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States has decided to restore the status of a group of tiny islands claimed by both South Korea and Japan as territory belonging to South Korea, President George W. Bush said.
Amid an escalating dispute over the islets between the two Asian neighbors, the US government's Board on Geographic Names (BGN) recently changed its classification of the islets from a territory of South Korea to "undesignated sovereignty."
Photo: A South Korean vessel near a group of islets claimed by both Seoul and Tokyo. The United States has decided to restore the status of the islands as territory belonging to South Korea, President George W. Bush said.
"As to the database, I asked (Secretary of State Condoleezza) Rice to review it and the database will be restored to where it was ... seven days ago," Bush told a group of Asian reporters at the White House.
He pointed out however that the dispute over the islets was a matter to be settled by Japan and South Korea.
South Korean Prime Minister Han Seung-Soo had earlier called the decision to change the status by the BGN as "very regrettable", and officials in Seoul said President Lee Myung-Bak -- who will welcome Bush to South Korea next week -- was "outraged".
Dennis Wilder, National Security Council Senior Director for Asian Affairs, told reporters that Seoul contacted Washington "at very high levels" and asked it to look into the change in classification of the group of rocky and treeless islets, called Dokdo in South Korea and Takeshima in Japan.
President Bush then directed Rice "to check into this and see exactly what did happen with this change of designation.
"It was decided after that review that the change in designation was not warranted at this time," Wilder said.
"We regret that this change in designation was perceived by South Koreans as some sort of change in our policy."
Wilder also made clear that US policy on the islets of dispute has been "firm and consistent" since 1952, saying, "We do not take a position on this territory of dispute; that we believe that South Korea and Japan need to work diplomatically to resolve this issue, that it is their issue to resolve."
Asked whether the spat over the islets and a row over US beef imports by South Korea would mar Bush's visit to Seoul, he said, "I very much doubt that it will overshadow."
Bush will visit South Korea and Thailand ahead of attending the opening ceremonies of the Summer Olympic Games on August 8.
By MARI YAMAGUCHI, Associated Press Writer
Wed Jul 30, 8:48 PM ET
TOKYO - The U.S. military is investigating an American soldier who had been accused of raping a woman on Japan's southern island of Okinawa before Japanese authorities dropped the case, an army official said Wednesday.
An army-appointed investigator began the military equivalent of a pretrial probe on Monday into the allegations against a 25-year-old specialist assigned to Kadena Air Base on Okinawa, Army spokeswoman Amanda Kraus said.
The soldier, who is accused of assaulting the woman in February in a hotel room, has been restricted to base but is not facing formal charges on any of the allegations, she said.
In May, Japanese prosecutors in Okinawa dismissed charges against the soldier after finding insufficient evidence of violence and intimidation in the case. Army investigators have pursued the case since.
The next step in the military legal process is a preliminary hearing by an independent officer, she said.
The army has 120 days to decide whether to formally press all or part of the charges and hold a court martial, or dismiss the case entirely, she said.
Offenses against Japanese females involving U.S. troops have sparked anger in Japan over the U.S. military and its 50,000-strong presence, most of them on the southern island, about 1,000 miles southwest of Tokyo.
In May, a U.S. court martial found a 38-year-old Marine, initially accused of raping a 14-year-old Japanese girl February in Okinawa, guilty of a lesser charge of abusive sexual conduct and sentenced him to four years in prison.
A U.S. military tribunal in Iwakuni, southwestern Japan, sentenced four Marines to prison for gang-assaulting a 20-year-old woman in the city of Hiroshima in October, in separate rulings earlier this year.
(This version CORRECTS Corrects to soldier restricted to base sted in custody)
July 31, 2008
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda is set to reshuffle his Cabinet in early August, top ruling coalition officials said.
Fukuda, who took office in late September last year, is expected to shake up his Cabinet possibly on Aug. 4, according to sources close to him.
Photo: Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda answers questions from reporters about a Cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday.
He will make a decision after being briefed by Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Masatoshi Wakabayashi and Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Akira Amari after they return home Thursday evening from World Trade Organization ministerial talks. Fukuda will then meet with Akihiro Ota, the leader of the Komeito party, to notify him of the decision.
"It's necessary to draw a clear line," Fukuda told reporters at his office when asked whether he intends to reshuffle his Cabinet.
An aide to Fukuda said he interprets the prime minister's remarks as meaning that he has made up his mind to shake up his Cabinet. "He will carry out a reshuffle. He's already completed coordinating opinions (among top ruling coalition politicians)," the aide said on condition of anonymity.
The focus of the reshuffle, along with the appointments of the top four officials of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), is whether the new government can convince the public that it can cope with the growing uncertainty over the economic situation amid rising oil and food prices.
Another focal point is whether the reshuffle can prop up the approval rating for his Cabinet amid observations that Fukuda will dissolve the powerful House of Representatives for a snap general election in the near future.
Top coalition officials believe that Fukuda will carry out a reshuffle on Aug. 4 as Fukuda is scheduled to attend memorial services for atomic bomb victims in Hiroshima on Aug. 6 and Nagasaki on Aug. 9.
However, a top LDP politician expressed concern that a hasty reshuffle could adversely affect the Fukuda administration. "If the reshuffle is carried out hastily and it doesn't produce positive results, I wonder what will happen to the administration."
(Mainichi Japan) July 31, 2008
July 31, 2008
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- South Korea welcomed Thursday a U.S. reversal of a recent decision on the name status of the islets at the center of a territorial dispute between Seoul and Tokyo.
The U.S. Board of Geographic Names recently altered the islands' listing from South Korean to "nondesignated sovereignty," a development that angered South Koreans ahead of next week's summit between U.S. President George W. Bush and President Lee Myung-bak.
"The swift action shows President Bush fully understands the sentiment of South Koreans, and is an outcome that reflected deep trust and friendship between the two leaders," presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan said in comments posted on the presidential Web site.
South Korea's Foreign Ministry also issued a similar statement welcoming the U.S. move.
The reversal came after Bush asked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to look into the matter, White House Asia adviser Dennis Wilder told reporters, who said Washington determined that the change "was not warranted at this time."
U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Alexander Vershbow reiterated that the U.S. position had not changed.
"We're happy that we've changed the Web site back to the way it was a week ago. ... We are sorry that this gave rise to lots of unhelpful speculation," he told reporters after a meeting with South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan.
The Japanese government reacted calmly to the U.S. reversal.
"There is no need for us to overreact to a decision made by just one organization in the United States," top Japanese government spokesman Nobutaka Machimura said.
The rocky outcroppings -- called Dokdo in Korean and Takeshima in Japanese -- have long been a source of discord between South Korea and its former colonial ruler Japan.
South Korea recalled its ambassador from Japan earlier this month to protest a recommendation that a government teaching manual refer to Tokyo's claims to the South Korean-controlled islets.
South Korean Prime Minister Han Seung-soo visited the islands earlier this week as the highest-level official ever to travel there, drawing criticism from Tokyo.
Many in Korea still harbor deep resentment toward Japan because of Tokyo's 1910-45 harsh colonial rule of the Korean peninsula.
In Tokyo, police seized a South Korean man Thursday after he cut his finger with a box cutter on a pedestrian walk near the Prime Minister's office to protest Japan's territorial claim over the islands, a police official said on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.
Related articles
* South Korea's prime minister visits islets at center of dispute with Japan
(Mainichi Japan) July 31, 2008
2008/7/31
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
New Komeito had been relatively quiet while the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and opposition Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan) sparred in the Diet.
But now, the junior coalition partner is making noise that could change the landscape of the political world. The party is demanding Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda either dissolve the Lower House at an early stage for a snap election or step down as the nation's leader.
"If Prime Minister Fukuda wants to dissolve the Lower House on his own, he should do it within this year," an influential New Komeito executive, who asked not to be identified, said Tuesday. "If he postpones the dissolution until next year, we will fight the election under the leadership of his successor."
An increasing number of LDP lawmakers have joined New Komeito's call.
But Fukuda, whose Cabinet still suffers from dismally low support ratings, has been against an early dissolution of the Lower House.
Pushed into a corner by lawmakers of the opposition bloc and now his own coalition, Fukuda apparently plans to reshuffle his Cabinet and the LDP leadership lineup in early August to hold onto his post.
This measure, however, might not be enough.
The focus of the expected reshuffle is whether Fukuda will make drastic changes, including appointing a new chief Cabinet secretary and an LDP secretary-general.
If the reshuffle is seen as only a stopgap measure, Fukuda will again face pressure from all sides.
New Komeito's push for an early election stems from another poll--the Tokyo metropolitan assembly election scheduled for late June or July next year.
Tokyo is the base for Soka Gakkai, a lay Buddhist organization that is the main support base for New Komeito. The party plans to fully mobilize Soka Gakkai members for the assembly election.
"We want to avoid a Lower House election in a three-month period around the metropolitan assembly election," a Soka Gakkai executive said.
A general election must be held in September next year at the latest when the four-year terms of current Lower House members expire. New Komeito would prefer the election be held before spring.
LDP lawmakers are siding with New Komeito because of the party's effective vote-gathering system.
In many parts of Japan, the LDP's support organizations have collapsed, and LDP candidates have increasingly relied on votes cast by Soka Gakkai members.
A top LDP executive expressed his view that the party could fight the next Lower House election under the leadership of Fukuda's successor.
"We should decide our party's face for the next Lower House election immediately before the election. It is not necessary to decide it now," he said.
But Fukuda is not without support in the LDP.
LDP Secretary-General Bunmei Ibuki and other officials are trying to contain the criticism against Fukuda.
The LDP leadership respects Fukuda's method of steadily putting priority on modest but important policies. Some say patience is needed.
"Fukuda is not known for his flashy performances. But if he produces results one by one, the support rate for his Cabinet will improve," an LDP executive said.
The LDP leadership predicts Fukuda will dissolve the Lower House after the Diet passes the budget for fiscal 2009 around March next year.
Whether Fukuda is still prime minister at that time could depend on how he handles the Cabinet reshuffle.
If he doesn't revamp his administration, his image as "a prime minister who cannot make decisions" will further strengthen.
And that could drive away more LDP lawmakers.
(IHT/Asahi: July 31,2008)
The Yomiuri Shimbun
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda indicated Wednesday he would decide on the schedule of a Cabinet reshuffle Thursday after two ministers return home from the World Trade Organization talks in Geneva.
Fukuda expressed his intention during a meeting with Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Bunmei Ibuki at the Prime Minister's Office on Wednesday afternoon.
The prime minister likely will reshuffle key LDP posts and the Cabinet soon--possibly in early August--after holding talks with New Komeito leader Akihiro Ota as early as Thursday, according to sources.
Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Akira Amari and Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Masatoshi Wakabayashi are scheduled to return home Thursday afternoon and report to Fukuda about the WTO talks later the same day.
During the meeting with Ibuki, Fukuda reportedly said, "I'll consult with the party on my decisions and ideas after receiving reports on results of the [WTO] talks [from the two ministers]."
Ibuki supported Fukuda's stance, the sources said.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura was present at the meeting.
"Two ministers who have been negotiating for more than a week without time to sleep will return home tomorrow, and I'll receive reports from them," Fukuda said to reporters at the Prime Minister's Office on Wednesday night. "It's necessary to rule on the matter while giving consideration to their hard work. I'll think [about a Cabinet reshuffle] while doing such things."
There is growing sentiment among ruling camp members that the reshuffle likely will take place Monday.
A senior LDP member said Wednesday, "In terms of the schedule, there's no other choice but Monday or Tuesday."
But some observers have suggested the reshuffle could be postponed to Aug. 18 or later--after the Bon midsummer holidays--if the selection process drags on, the sources said.
(Jul. 31, 2008)
The Yomiuri Shimbun
This is the final installment of a three-part series investigating how Naoki Akiyama--an executive director of the Japan-U.S. Center for Peace and Cultural Exchange currently under arrest on suspicion of evading taxes on funds provided by defense-related companies--became a powerful go-between for political, bureaucratic and business circles in Japanese and U.S. defense fields:
Naoki Akiyama often ordered his subordinates to ask companies to buy tickets for fund-raising parties hosted by Diet members that had interests in defense affairs.
In an office near a dormitory building for Diet members in the nation's political nerve center of Nagatacho, central Tokyo, the executive director of the Japan-U.S. Center for Peace and Cultural Exchange would consult a list of defense contractors and tell his workers how many tickets each company should buy.
A former employee of the center said, "Bundles of party tickets were frequently sent from lawmakers' offices, and we sent them to such companies." The center became akin to a fund-raising agent for lawmakers with interests in defense affairs.
Motonobu Miyazaki, 70, a former senior managing director of Yamada Corp., a trading firm specializing in defense equipment, also gave similar testimony when summoned as a sworn witness to the House of Councillors Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense on May 22.
"I've been asked by Akiyama to buy tickets for a party hosted by [former Defense Minister Fumio] Kyuma," he said at the time.
Akiyama, 58, also approached defense bureaucrats. He was freely able to enter the head office of the Defense Agency, today's Defense Ministry, and place invitation cards on division chiefs' desks, asking them to encourage their workers to attend the events.
The gatherings were informal meetings for senior officials of the agency and the Self-Defense Forces, as well as lawmakers with interests in defense affairs. Akiyama started organizing such meetings around 1995.
These gatherings, held under the name of Hinoki-kai, were held in central Tokyo hotels, among other locations.
A senior Defense Ministry official said, "Because Mr. Akiyama was backed by the Diet members, I couldn't turn down the invitation."
About the same time, defense bureaucrats had started relying on Akiyama.
Each May, Akiyama took lawmakers with interests in defense affairs on U.S. tours. Junior fast-track officials from the Defense Ministry joined the tours and produced two reports on the trips.
One of the two reports comprised memos of official remarks made during the tours. The other was a collection of information collected directly from the lawmakers relating to conversations with their U.S. counterparts and defense contractor executives.
"During unofficial talks, the U.S. side asked to purchase specific defense equipment in a surprisingly explicit manner. This was precious information in terms of predicting future defense policies," a senior ministry official said.
On July 25, the day following Akiyama's arrest by the special investigation squad of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office, Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba admitted that Akiyama had played such roles.
Ishiba had frequently participated in the U.S. tours while serving as the director of the center. At a press conference following a Cabinet meeting held on the day, he said, "The tours were opportunities for me to reconfirm the U.S. side's intentions."
But Ishiba added: "There was no system for conveying U.S. intentions to [Japanese] lawmakers. From now on, it's important that such information be conveyed through proper channels."
As to how Akiyama was able to attain such powerful influence, Shinichi Kiyotani, a military affairs journalist, said: "In Western countries, defense authorities gather information independently and aren't shy of using money and manpower for the purpose."
"But in Japan, the government's defense-related entities have fewer information channels, and thus defense officials tend to rely on people who appear to have such information," he added.
Masashi Nishihara, a former president of the National Defense Academy, said, "It's vital that a system be established by the Defense Ministry or neutral private entities, and not by individuals to allow information to be exchanged."
Vested interests were rife among defense interests in political, bureaucratic and business circles in Japan and the United States. Akiyama was able to build up his considerable influence by skillfully bridging between the different camps.
"Even if Akiyama leaves the stage, if the situation remains unchanged someone else--a second Akiyama--will doubtless emerge," a senior Defense Ministry official warned.
(Jul. 31, 2008)
By Jeremy Pelofsky
Wed Jul 30, 6:28 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday tried to ease its way out of a dispute between South Korea and Japan over a cluster of islands both countries claim, which had threatened to mar U.S. President George W. Bush's visit to Seoul next week.
A small government agency, the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, had changed its designation of the islands from South Korea to no longer belonging to any country, sparking outrage in Seoul at a perceived shift in U.S. policy.
Photo: South Korean navy vessels participate in a defense drill with its air force near Dokdo on the East Sea, July 30, 2008. The small cluster of islands is called Takeshima in Japanese.
The White House said that decision would be reversed after complaints by South Korea. Bush will visit Seoul August 5-6 amid lingering tensions from another dispute, the lifting of a five-year ban on U.S. beef imports into the country.
"We regret that this change in designation was perceived by South Koreans as some sort of change in our policy," Dennis Wilder, senior director for Asian affairs at the White House National Security Council, told reporters.
The islands are called Dokdo in Korean and Takeshima in Japanese.
After the United States was contacted by high-level South Korean government officials, Bush ordered U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to look into the matter, Wilder said.
"It was decided after that review that the change in designation was not warranted at this time, and so that database is now being restored to where it was prior to this change in designation," he said.
Wilder noted that U.S. policy remained that Washington was neutral and that Japan and South Korea needed to resolve the dispute diplomatically.
The question of sovereignty, long a sore point in relations, erupted again this month after schools in Japan were advised to refer to them as Japanese territory. It sparked angry protests outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul and the South Korean government made an official protest.
Japan and South Korea both claim historical rights to the cluster of rocks, which have little obvious economic value but are in the midst of fishing grounds and may sit above valuable deposits of natural gas hydrate.
(Editing by Eric Beech)
Jul 30 01:11 PM US/Eastern
TOKYO, July 31 (AP) - (Kyodo) — Main opposition Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker Yukio Edano on Wednesday expressed his willingness to file his candidacy for the party's September presidential election, in which DPJ leader Ichiro Ozawa is also expected to run.
"I would like to consult with my colleagues with a view to running in the presidential election," the former DPJ policy chief told Kyodo News.
Meanwhile, DPJ Vice President Katsuya Okada, regarded as another possible challenger to Ozawa, showed reluctance to run for election at the moment.
Citing that he resigned from the DPJ presidential post in 2005 to take responsibility for the party's setback in the House of Representatives election the same year, Okada said he thinks he should "restrain" himself until the next general election is held.
"At the moment, I do not feel particularly eager to run in the presidential election," Okada said at a press conference at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo.
"I think there are some people in our party that seem to have such eagerness, so I would like to have them go ahead," he added.
He also suggested that he is not confident of winning the general election if he becomes leader of the party, saying, "I'm not sure whether the environment has drastically changed since 2005."
Regarding DPJ President Ozawa, whose term is set to expire in September, Okada called him the "biggest contributor" to the party gaining high popularity among the public.
Ozawa is widely expected to run again in the Sept. 21 leadership race. Many party lawmakers have expressed support for Ozawa, who led the DPJ to a landslide victory in the House of Councillors election in July 2007.
"He has worked steadily as president" since the upper house election last summer, Okada said.
Jul 30 11:46 AM US/Eastern
SEOUL, July 31 (AP) - (Kyodo) — South Korea on Wednesday began defense drills at a group of islets in the Sea of Japan at the center of a territorial dispute with Japan.
The drills appear to be part of South Korea's intensifying efforts to assert its control of the islets, which are known as Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in South Korea.
The drill is being conducted under the scenario of the South Korean navy chasing away an unidentified ship approaching the territorial waters of the islets, according to reports.
Meanwhile, the South Korean premier's office on Wednesday dismissed Japan's criticism of Prime Minister Han Seung Soo's earlier visit to the islets, according to South Korea's Yonhap News Agency.
"Japan's remark is not even worth an official comment," Kim Wang Ki, a spokesman for the prime minister, was quoted as saying. "There cannot be a controversy over the prime minister visiting his country's territory."
Japan's top government spokesman on Tuesday criticized Han's visit as inappropriate.
While acknowledging differences over the sovereignty of the South Korean-held islets, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said, "The basic stance is for both sides to handle this in a calm manner in order to build a new age for Japan-South Korea relations, and I don't think such action to stir up the differences is very appropriate."
Ownership of Takeshima, which includes surrounding reefs and covers a total area of 210,000 square meters, has been the subject of a long- standing dispute between the two neighbors.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Washington’s ambassador to Tokyo urged Japan on Tuesday to continue its support missions for U.S.-led forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to embassy press officer David Marks.
Ambassador Thomas Schieffer’s call followed Japanese media reports that Japan would, by the end of the year, bring home its roughly 200 air force personnel, now airlifting supplies from Kuwait to Iraq.
Japan’s Kyodo News quoted unnamed sources as saying that the nation’s Air Self-Defense Forces mission will come to a close by the end of this year when the current U.N. resolution authorizing deployment of multinational forces there expires.
By FOSTER KLUG, Associated Press Writer
Wed Jul 30, 10:38 PM ET
WASHINGTON - The United States has decided to reverse a recent decision to change the national classification of islands at the center of a territorial dispute between Japan and South Korea, a U.S. official said Wednesday.
The initial decision by the U.S. Board of Geographic Names was to change the islands' listing from South Korean to "nondesignated sovereignty." It infuriated people in South Korea. The Seoul government recalled its ambassador to Tokyo early this month to protest Japan's inclusion in school textbooks of a Japanese claim to the Korean-controlled islands.
The reversal comes as President Bush prepares to visit South Korea, a key Asian ally, next month.
Dennis Wilder, a White House Asia adviser, told reporters that "a very high-level" South Korean government official contacted the Bush administration about the decision. Bush asked Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to look into the matter, Wilder said, and the United States determined that the change "was not warranted at this time."
"We regret that this change in designation was perceived by South Koreans as some sort of change in our policy," Wilder said. The United States has no position on the territorial dispute, he said, and believes the two countries should work diplomatically to resolve the question.
South Korea welcomed the move.
"The swift action shows President Bush fully understands the sentiment of South Koreans, and is an outcome that reflected deep trust and friendship between the two leaders," Lee Dong-kwan, a spokesman for President Lee Myung-bak, said in comments posted on the presidential Web site.
The State Department said the initial re-designation was done to "be in conformity with U.S. government efforts to standardize the filing of all features to which we do not recognize claims of sovereignty."
Michael Green, Bush's former Asia adviser, said that, had the administration not made the reversal, it was "going to be the lead story for President Bush's visit in Korea."
The tiny rocky outcroppings — just 56 acres in total land area — are in the Sea of Japan about halfway between the Korean peninsula and Japan. They are called Dokdo in Korean and Takeshima in Japanese and long have been a source of discord between Seoul and its former colonial ruler Tokyo.
Wed Jul 30, 9:28 AM ET
TOKYO (AFP) - The US Army in Japan is seriously considering court-martial proceedings against a serviceman accused of raping a Filipino woman, a military spokesman said Thursday.
The military has built up a case against Specialist Ronald Hopstock, 25, who is stationed at an air base on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa, the spokesman said.
"In this case, the army prosecutor has conducted an investigation," the spokesman told AFP. "He has concluded that there is enough evidence that a crime has been committed. He believes so."
But he said the final decision will not be made before a commander decides to recommend a court-martial or dismiss the charges in accordance with US military law.
Japanese prosecutors in May decided not to pursue the case against the serviceman, saying there was insufficient evidence.
But the case has triggered rallies in the Philippines, where riot police in March broke up a demonstration in front of the US embassy.
The woman told police in February that she was raped by a soldier.
The Filipina was injured and received medical treatment at a hospital after the alleged incident at an Okinawa hotel, according to local police.
The incident occurred only days after the alleged rape of a 14-year-old Japanese girl by a US Marine, which sparked outrage among local residents.
But in contrast to the high-profile case of the minor, the alleged rape of the Filipina has drawn less attention in Japan.
US troops are stationed in Japan under a security treaty with the country, which has been constitutionally pacifist since World War II.
More than half of the 40,000 troops are based in Okinawa, where there have often been tensions with local residents.
July 30, 2008
TOKYO (AP) -- Japan's military may cancel this year's naval exercise because of soaring energy prices, an official said Wednesday.
The Maritime Self-Defense Force's annual naval maneuvers, the largest navy drill that involves about 90 warships and 170 jets, has never been canceled since it started in 1954, even during the "oil shock" during the 1970s.
This year's drill was planned for November, although official dates have not been announced.
"In order to secure enough fuel for emergency relief activities, we've cut down on the scope of our exercises, but there is a limit," a Maritime Self-Defense Force official said on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.
"Now we are considering canceling the upcoming large-scale naval drill, which would consume large amounts of fuel."
In a bid to offset the impact of the huge run-up in oil prices on the economy, Japan's government on Tuesday announced it would provide 74.5 billion yen (US$690 million) in emergency aid to the ailing fishing industry, after Japanese fishermen staged their largest-ever national strike this month.
Oil prices have surged to new highs this year. Crude was US$122 a barrel on Wednesday after spiking to a record high of more than US$146 recently.
(Mainichi Japan) July 30, 2008
Date Posted: 2008-07-31
The U.S. Army has taken the first steps toward charging a soldier in connection with a February 18th incident that the woman called rape.
Sergeant Ronald Hopstock Jr., has been confined to Kadena Air Base since the winter incident, when his 22-year-old Filipina accuser claimed he raped her. Hopstock has repeatedly denied the charges, leading Japanese prosecutors to quit its investigation in mid-May and not file charges.
The woman, who worked at an Okinawa City club frequented by service members, says she left the club with Hopstock that evening, and wound up in a hotel room with him. She claims Hopstock attacked and raped her while she was sleeping.
The 25-year-old Hopstock has been questioned repeatedly by U.S. Army Japan officials, who now say they’re planning a preliminary hearing to decide if he should face courts martial. Hopstock, assigned to the 1st Battalion, 1st Air Defense Artillery Regiment at Kadena Air Base, has contended all activities with the Filipina girl were consensual.
An Army spokesperson says the decision will be made within 120 days whether bring rape or other charges against Hopstock.
Jul 30 04:40 AM US/Eastern
TOKYO, July 30 (AP) - (Kyodo) — Main opposition Democratic Party of Japan Vice President Katsuya Okada said Wednesday he currently does "not have a strong eagerness" to file his candidacy for the party's presidential election to be held in September.
Citing that he resigned from the DPJ presidential post in 2005 to take responsibility for the party's setback in the House of Representatives election the same year, Okada said he thinks he should "restrain" himself until the next general election is held.
"I, at the moment, do not have a strong eagerness over the presidential election," Okada said at a press conference at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo.
He also suggested that he is not confident in winning the general election by becoming the leader of the party, saying, "I'm not sure whether the environment has drastically changed (now) from 2005."
Regarding DPJ President Ichiro Ozawa, whose term is set to expire in September, Okada called him the "biggest contributor" to the party gaining high popularity among the public.
Ozawa is widely expected to run again in the September leadership race. Many party lawmakers have expressed support for Ozawa, who led the DPJ to a landslide victory in the House of Councillors election in July 2007.
"He has worked steadily also after the upper house election last summer," Okada said.
Jul 30 03:13 AM US/Eastern
TOKYO, July 30 (AP) - (Kyodo) — Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda will make a decision as early as Thursday about reshuffling his Cabinet after ministers who attended the World Trade Organization talks return home, Liberal Democratic Party Secretary General Bunmei Ibuki indicated Wednesday.
Speaking to reporters after his meeting with Fukuda in the afternoon, Ibuki said the prime minister told him that he will consult with the LDP about his decision and thoughts after he hears about the WTO negotiations.
The two ministers -- Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Masatoshi Wakabayashi and Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Akira Amari -- will return to Japan on Thursday afternoon and are scheduled to report to the prime minister about the negotiations.
There is a prevailing view within the ruling coalition of Fukuda's LDP and the New Komeito party that the prime minister will reshuffle his Cabinet on Monday as he is believed to be making final adjustments with the aim of implementing the reshuffle in August, according to political sources.
On when to convene an extraordinary session of the Diet, Fukuda is likely to make a decision after holding discussions with the ruling parties.
Fukuda has repeatedly said that he is working with a clean slate on the issue of whether to change the lineup of his Cabinet, many members of which he inherited in September from his predecessor Shinzo Abe.
by Jun Kwanwoo
Wed Jul 30, 2:10 AM ET
SEOUL (AFP) - South Korea staged a military drill near tiny islands claimed by both Seoul and Tokyo on Wednesday, just a day after the first-ever visit by a Korean prime minister, officials said.
The defence ministry confirmed the day-long exercises near a group of rocky and treeless islets, called Dokdo in South Korea and Takeshima in Japan, which are at the centre of an intensifying dispute between the countries.
The navy said the drill in the Sea of Japan (East Sea) included a 3,000-tonne destroyer, anti-submarine helicopters and the country's latest fighter jets.
Photo: Soldiers of South Korea's special warfare command perform a military drill in Muchangpo, on July 29. South Korea staged a military drill near tiny islands claimed by both Seoul and Tokyo on Wednesday, just a day after the first-ever visit by a Korean prime minister, officials said.
It said the annual event "aims to block 'imaginary forces' from entering the islets and drive them away." A small South Korean police contingent stays in the islets.
The drill was the first of two scheduled major exercises near the islands this year. The annual military manoeuvres had previously been held in a low-key manner but were made public this year.
South Korean Prime Minister Han Seung-Soo, accompanied by two cabinet ministers, visited the islets on Tuesday -- the highest-ranking Seoul official ever to do so. Japan criticised Han's trip.
"I don't think an action like this to highlight the differences in positions is very appropriate," said Japanese government spokesman Nobutaka Machimura.
Prime Minister Han's office on Wednesday dismissed the Japanese reaction.
"It is so natural that the prime minister should pay a visit to the territory of his own nation," Kim Wang-Ky, chief spokesman for Han, told AFP. "It is inappropriate to try to take issue about it."
The dispute erupted again earlier this month when Japan's new educational guidelines urged Japanese students to have a deeper understanding of their country's claim over the islands.
The US Board on Geographic Names has changed its classification of the islets from a territory of South Korea to one with "undesignated sovereignty."
Han called the US decision "very regrettable", and officials said Monday that President Lee Myung-Bak -- who will welcome US President George W. Bush to Seoul next week -- was "outraged".
Lee has ordered a probe to see if Seoul's embassy in Washington and its ambassador should be held responsible for any possible "negligence of duty" in handling the case, officials said.
Taking the dispute seriously, Seoul has already summoned its top envoy to Japan in protest.
The territorial row originates in Japan's 20th century imperial expansion and its colonisation of the Korean peninsula.
Japan claimed the islands in 1905 after winning a war with Russia. It went on to annex the entire Korean peninsula from 1910 until its defeat in 1945 at the end of World War II.
Seoul now plans to make them sufficiently habitable for civilians.
Jul 31 08:04 AM US/Eastern
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