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By MARI YAMAGUCHI
Oct 28, 2008
TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese court on Tuesday convicted a naval officer of leaking classified U.S.-developed missile technology data, sentencing him to a suspended prison term.
The Yokohama District Court sentenced Sumitaka Matsuuchi, a 35-year-old lieutenant commander in the Maritime Self-Defense Force, to 2 1/2 years in prison, court spokeswoman Yoshie Ueki said. The sentence was suspended, and Matsuuchi was placed on four years of probation.
Matsuuchi was found guilty of leaking the data to an instructor at a Japanese naval academy in western Japan in 2002, in violation of a Japan-U.S. security pact.
The data involved technology for the Aegis radar systems used on Japanese and U.S. warships carrying missile interceptors.
Matsuuchi was arrested last year in a scandal that embarrassed Japanese defense officials at a time when Tokyo and Washington have been accelerating their joint missile defense system to counter North Korea's missile and atomic tests.
"We admit that our handling of the classified information was inappropriate, and that there was a lack of awareness about confidentiality among navy officials," Navy chief Adm. Keiji Akahoshi said Tuesday as he offered an apology over the case.
He said the case, among a recent spate of military scandals in Japan, had possibly cast a shadow on the Japan-U.S. alliance.
The Defense Ministry most recently came under fire this month over the death of a sailor in an unofficial farewell ritual after he decided to drop out of an elite navy training program. The 25-year-old petty officer died of internal injuries in September after being knocked unconscious in a 15-round kick boxing-style fight.
By Michael Heath
Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il is probably in hospital, though he is well enough to make decisions, Agence France-Presse reported, citing Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso.
"His condition isn't good," Aso told a parliamentary committee on foreign policy today, citing Japanese intelligence reports, according to AFP. "But we don't think that he's in a state where he's incapable of making any decisions at all."
Kim's health became the subject of speculation after he failed to attend 60th anniversary celebrations of North Korea's founding Sept. 9. U.S. and South Korean intelligence officials, who declined to be identified, said he may have suffered a stroke. North Korean officials deny the leader is sick.
North Korea's state-run Korea Central News Agency reported on Oct. 4 that Kim attended a university soccer match, without publishing pictures or specifying when the game took place. It said on Oct. 11 that Kim toured a military base known as "KPA Unit 821," without saying when the visit took place or where the camp is located.
To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Heath in Sydney at mheath1@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: October 28, 2008 01:38 EDT
Oct 28 12:29 AM US/Eastern
YOKOHAMA, Oct. 28 (AP) - (Kyodo) — The Yokohama District Court found a Maritime Self-Defense Force officer guilty over the handling of intelligence linked to the U.S.-developed Aegis defense system within the force in 2002.
But Lt. Cmdr. Sumitaka Matsuuchi, 35, avoided going to jail as his prison term of two years and six months has been suspended for four years, according to the ruling.
Mon Oct 27, 4:21 PM
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Senior US and Japanese diplomats will meet here to discuss the cases of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea during the Cold War to train spies, the State Department said Monday.
Christopher Hill, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, will meet in Washington on Tuesday with Akitaka Saiki, the Japanese foreign ministry's director general for Asian and Oceanian affairs, spokesman Sean McCormack said.
Hill is "going to talk about the abduction issue and reiterate our support to the Japanese government and the Japanese people for seeing that issue resolved," McCormack told reporters.
Japan was upset with a US decision earlier this month to remove North Korea from a terrorism blacklist before the question of abductions was resolved.
On October 11 the United States struck North Korea from a list of countries which allegedly support terrorism after Pyongyang agreed to steps to verify its nuclear disarmament and pledged to resume disabling its atomic plants.
Japan has refused to give fuel to impoverished Pyongyang as promised under a six-nation disarmament deal until North Korea does more to account for Japanese nationals kidnapped by the communist state in the 1970s and 1980s to train its spies.
Hill and his Japanese counterpart will also probably discuss the issue of fuel oil deliveries to Japan under the deal involving the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States.
"I'm sure they'll talk about -- touch on heavy fuel oil, making sure that the six parties in some way, shape or form meet their obligations," McCormack added.
McCormack said last week that the United States and its negotiating partners have a "high degree of confidence" they will meet their obligations to supply fuel oil to North Korea.
He suggested there was time to resolve the problem when he said Russia was next in line to deliver the oil. He declined to comment on reports that the US would ask countries outside the negotiations to ship oil to Pyongyang.
Under the February 2007 deal, North Korea was to receive one million tons of fuel oil or equivalent energy aid from the other five countries in return for disabling its plutonium-producing plants.
McCormack expected Hill and Saiki to discuss efforts for them and their counterparts to meet to obtain six-country approval of the verification steps that Hill negotiated during a visit to North Korea earlier this month.
But he had no idea when China, which chairs the six-party talks, will announce such a meeting.
Daily Yomiuri Online Click
- ANALYSIS / Govt hopes to dodge criticism over fiscal policy
(Daily Yomiuri Online) (From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Oct. 27, 2008)
The government and ruling parties are tying to avoid criticism that they are trying to shelve the issue of fiscal reconstruction by pledging to raise the consumption tax rate as part of a basic policy to draw up a schedule for tax system reform, government sources said. continued ...
- Man kept radioactive materials in warehouse
(Daily Yomiuri Online) (From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Oct. 27, 2008)
A man was found to have kept a massive amount of radioactive synthetic resins in a warehouse in Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo, according to the Education, Science and Technology Ministry. continued ...
- SIA to help pension policy holders find missing data
(Daily Yomiuri Online) (From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Oct. 27, 2008)
The Social Insurance Agency plans to enclose information to help pension policy holders concerned clarify the periods in which their pension premium payments cannot be confirmed in regular pension notices it plans to mail to all 70 million pension policy holders from next fiscal year, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. continued ...
- LDP split over dissolution / No clue yet on when prime minister will call general election
(Daily Yomiuri Online) (From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Oct. 27, 2008)
Liberal Democratic Party members are split over whether Prime Minister Taro Aso intends to postpone the timing of the dissolution of the House of Representatives for a general election. continued ...
- INSIGHTS INTO THE WORLD / War in Georgia was message from Moscow
(Daily Yomiuri Online) (From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Oct. 27, 2008)
Masayuki Yamauchi / Special to The Yomiuri Shimbun
In August, Georgia inadvisedly provoked a war with Russia, a development so serious it had the potential to spark a new Cold War, which would have seen the United States and Russia face off against each other in the Caucasus region. continued ...
- Consumption tax hike only solution to situation
(Daily Yomiuri Online) (From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Oct. 27, 2008)
Prime Minister Taro Aso has instructed the ruling coalition parties to formulate a basic policy for overhauling the tax system over the medium term, with an eye to raising the consumption tax rate in the future. continued ...
The Asahi Shimbun Click
- Fortunes flag as yen hits high note
(The Asahi Shimbun) (IHT/Asahi: October 27,2008)
The surging yen, which reached the 90-yen to the U.S. dollar mark in overseas trading on Friday, is hitting foreign students and Japanese companies targeting foreign investors and tourists. continued ...
- Money no worry for Aso family
(The Asahi Shimbun) (IHT/Asahi: October 27,2008)
Prime Minister Taro Aso is the richest man to lead the nation since a 1989 law requiring Cabinet members to disclose family assets, documents released by the government on Friday show. continued ...
- EDITORIAL: 30 years of Japan-China relations
(The Asahi Shimbun) (IHT/Asahi: October 27,2008)
On October 23, 1978, the Japan-China Peace and Friendship Treaty came into effect. In those days, Japan was the country on the rise. In China, the chaos of the Cultural Revolution was only two years in the past. There was a wide economic gap between the two nations. It has been 30 years since then. The economic relationship between the two countries has changed dramatically. continued ...
- EDITORIAL: Consumption tax debate needed
(The Asahi Shimbun) (IHT/Asahi: October 27,2008)
How can it be possible for this nation's debt-ridden government to keep financing its social security spending, which is growing rapidly due to the aging and shrinking of the population? The nation's floundering economy definitely needs policy measures to fire up its stalled growth engine, but the government must avoid piling on new debt to pay for them. continued ...
The Japan Times Click
- Aso vows to cure economic woes
(The Japan Times) Monday, Oct. 27, 2008
By KAZUAKI NAGATA, Staff writer
Self-described "manga" enthusiast Prime Minister Taro Aso returned to Tokyo's Akihabara district Sunday to deliver a speech concentrating on the economy. continued ...
- U.S. wanted SDF medical staff in Afghanistan
(The Japan Times) Monday, Oct. 27, 2008
WASHINGTON (Kyodo) The United States pressed Japan in July to contemplate dispatching Self-Defense Force medical personnel to Afghanistan, sources familiar with Japan-U.S. relations said Sunday. continued ...
- GSDF officer dies during visit to Iwojima
(The Japan Times) Monday, Oct. 27, 2008
The Associated Press
A Ground Self-Defense Force major collapsed while visiting a wartime tunnel on Iwojima and later died, the first death on the island since World War II, officials said. continued ...
- LATEST OP-ED STORIES: Noisy assaults on living
(The Japan Times) Monday, Oct. 27, 2008
By KIROKU HANAI
A bitter schism was created in the city of Yokosuka between those supporting and those opposing the stationing of the aircraft carrier USS George Washington at the U.S. naval base there. Calm was restored, however, when the ship actually entered port Sept. 25. continued ...
Kyodo
Oct 27 05:42 AM US/Eastern
(AP) - BETSUKAI, Japan, Oct. 27 (Kyodo) — Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force held its largest-scale homeland defense drill in nearly a quarter century Monday in Hokkaido, mobilizing some 3,000 personnel and using some 2,000 holes dug in a hilly site to hide personnel, tanks and control posts.
The drill took place in the Yausubetsu Maneuver Area on the nation's northernmost main island at a time Japan is closely watching the Russian military, which has been active around Japan and elsewhere, as well as the continued buildup of the Chinese military in recent years.
Participating GSDF personnel engaged in operations such as moving tanks, hiding them in holes, and communicating to each other between holes on the mock battlefield where they are trying to hide from "the enemy."
GSDF Chief of Staff Gen. Ryoichi Oriki said the drill is fundamental to the Japanese defense-oriented policy and aimed at making GSDF personnel aware its importance. It was the first time since 1984 for the GSDF to hold the drill of its kind, according to the GSDF.
Oriki said he hopes the drill will help the GSDF brace for possible future operations outside Japan following the 2004-2006 dispatch to Iraq.
A recent change in the GSDF policy on drills is also behind the drill, GSDF spokesman Col. Kimihiko Kishikawa said.
"We did not hold such a traditional drill for a long time as we were faced with many new tasks such as international cooperation and operations against possible guerrilla commando attacks in the near past," Kishikawa said.
"We tended to focus too much on new kinds of drills trying to deal with those matters," Kishikawa said.
But the GSDF realized that expertise in the traditional hole-digging exercises for defensive purposes can be applied to various kinds of future overseas activities, Kishikawa said, denying the force assumes any particular country as a potential enemy in the drill.
Oct 26 05:22 PM US/Eastern
TOKYO, Oct. 27 (AP) - (Kyodo) — Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso has sounded out close aides of the two U.S. presidential candidates about the possibility of arranging a bilateral meeting with the winner of the U.S. presidential election on the sidelines of an emergency summit of the Group of 20 economies on Nov. 15 in Washington, government sources said Sunday.
It would be rare for a Japanese prime minister to meet a new U.S. leader prior to inauguration. Aso plans to attend the emergency G-20 summit meeting aimed at alleviating the global financial crisis. The summit will take place after the Nov. 4 U.S. presidential election.
Aso is aiming to demonstrate his strength in diplomacy by confirming bilateral cooperation on the financial crisis and reaffirming the Japan-U.S. alliance in the hope of enhancing his political influence in the government and the ruling coalition, the sources said.
According to the sources, Aso has informally requested a meeting with Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and his Republican rival John McCain through the Japanese Embassy in the United States.
It is still unclear whether Aso will be able to meet the next U.S. leader as planned on the sidelines of the G-20 summit due to uncertainty about the schedule, the sources said, adding the presidential candidates may not be willing to hold such an early bilateral meeting with the Japanese leader prior to the inauguration ceremony in January.
Even if the request to hold talks in November is not realized, Aso would like to secure a promise from the U.S. side to set an early date for bilateral summit talks, they added.
Aso will likely make special arrangements for a meeting with Obama and could consider stopping over in Chicago, Illinois, Obama's home state, when flying to or from Washington, the sources said.
Obama may not be very familiar with U.S.-Japan relations, according to a senior Foreign Ministry official.
Making arrangements with McCain's side is expected to go smoothly as his aides include officials versed in bilateral ties such as Michael Green, former senior director at the National Security Council for Asian Affairs, the sources said.
Meanwhile, Japan and the United States are now in the process of making arrangements for the first bilateral summit between Aso and outgoing U.S. President George W. Bush, either on the sidelines of the G-20 meeting in Washington or at the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum to be convened in Lima on Nov. 22-23, the sources said.
The G-20 members are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United States and the European Union.
APEC consists of Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.
By MARI YAMAGUCHI
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