South China Morning Post - East Asia

Quad group, made up of US, Japan, Australia and India, to meet in show of unity to China

Tue, 29 Sep 2020 14:00:49 GMT

Japan will host a meeting next week of the foreign ministers of four of the Indo-Pacific region’s biggest democracies, in the so-called Quad group seen as a counter to China’s influence in the region.The October 6 forum in Tokyo will bring together UN Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne and India’s Subrahmanyam Jaishankar to discuss issues including the coronavirus pandemic and the regional situation, Motegi…

Japan’s new defence minister Nobuo Kishi plans US trip, with Aegis on the agenda

Tue, 29 Sep 2020 11:30:01 GMT

Japan’s defence minister Nobuo Kishi has reiterated the importance of Tokyo’s alliance with Washington during the current “increasingly harsh national security environment”, saying that he will travel to the United States, potentially in October, for talks about the deployment of a ballistic missile defence shield.Kishi, appointed on September 16, has in his early exchanges with the media come across as an aggressive advocate of the controversial Aegis Ashore anti-missile system and other…

Mongolia joins China to become seventh member of Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement

Tue, 29 Sep 2020 08:20:10 GMT

Mongolia formally acceded to the Asia-Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA) on Tuesday, becoming the seventh member of the long-standing regional pact.The APTA, previously known as the Bangkok Agreement, represents Mongolia’s first regional trade agreement with developing countries.The agreement was founded in 1975 between Bangladesh, India, Laos, South and Sri Lanka, with China joining in 2011.“This is the first expansion of APTA since China’s accession in 2001. It is an important milestone in the…

As Chinese plan golden week travel, South Koreans celebrating Chuseok are urged to stay home

Tue, 29 Sep 2020 01:00:22 GMT

In a normal year, Lee Kyoung-sook would be looking forward to bringing four generations of her family together to celebrate Chuseok, one of South Korea’s biggest holidays.She would usually sit down for a feast with her husband, their octogenarian parents, their son and their grandchildren to mark the autumn harvest holiday. This year, though, the coronavirus pandemic means that when the five-day Chuseok period begins on Wednesday, Lee’s family reunion will be split into two smaller gatherings…

Taro Kono wants to end Japan’s reliance on boomer-era tech – but ditching the fax won’t ...

Mon, 28 Sep 2020 23:00:27 GMT

Veteran cabinet minister Taro Kono, newly tasked with slashing through Japan’s legendary red tape and doing away with bureaucratic and corporate inefficiencies, has wasted no time in declaring war on two of the country’s most anachronistic throwbacks: “hanko” personal seals and fax machines.But his crusade to modernise Japan away from workplace tech that would not look out of place in an office of the 1980s is likely to meet with resistance, observers say – not least from the country’s army of…

US arms control envoy presses South Korea on missile deployment to counter China

Mon, 28 Sep 2020 11:00:51 GMT

The US special envoy for arms control held talks with South Korean officials on Monday as Washington continued to press for the deployment of medium- and intermediate-range missiles in Asia to safeguard against China‘s arms build-up.The envoy, Marshall Billingslea, and Ham Sang-wook, South Korea’s deputy foreign minister for multilateral and global affairs, “exchanged views and discussed ways of bilateral cooperation in key issues related with arms control and nuclear non-proliferation”, the…

Japan Airlines ditches ‘ladies and gentlemen’ for gender-neutral greetings

Mon, 28 Sep 2020 11:00:16 GMT

Japan Airlines is ditching the phrase “ladies and gentlemen” and instead embracing gender neutral terms during in-flight and airport announcements from next month, the company said on Monday.From October 1, JAL “will abolish expressions that based on (two types of) sex and use gender-friendly expression” like “good morning” and “good evening,” a spokesperson for the airline said.In Japanese, the expression generally used for such announcements is already gender-neutral, but the decision applies…

Japanese struggling to cope urged to seek help after death of actress Yuko Takeuchi

Mon, 28 Sep 2020 08:30:04 GMT

Japan’s government on Monday urged people to seek help if they were struggling to cope, following the death at the weekend of a popular actress.The death of Miss Sherlock star Yuko Takeuchi, 40, shocked the nation and follows other recent cases of Japanese celebrities taking their lives, with figures showing a recent rise in suicides.Takeuchi was a household name in Japan and had given birth to her second child in January.Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato did not mention a particular case,…

Mogul behind K-pop band BTS is now a billionaire thanks to IPO

Mon, 28 Sep 2020 06:26:39 GMT

After blowing up the charts with Dynamite, the first English song from South Korean boy band BTS, Big Hit Entertainment Co. is having another moment.This time, it’s with an initial public offering that is giving the company a market value of about US$4 billion. The country’s largest listing in years took just hours for underwriters to find buyers for the available stock and priced on Monday at the top end of a marketed range.That is even after Covid-19 forced BTS to cancel its world tour, and…

Japan’s rejection of China olive branch on Senkaku-Diaoyu spat may be sign of tighter US ties

Sun, 27 Sep 2020 22:00:20 GMT

In the midst of current tensions between China and Japan in the East China Sea, a Chinese academic said Beijing wanted Tokyo to know it was intent on reducing its naval presence in the area earlier this year – an olive branch that was summarily snapped when right-wing forces in Japan hired fishing boats to go into the disputed waters, resulting in skirmishes between the two sides. Liu Qingbin, an associate professor at Yokohama National University in Japan, said that a few months before…

China stages solemn ceremony to welcome home remains of 117 soldiers killed in Korean war

Sun, 27 Sep 2020 09:54:01 GMT

China held a high-profile ceremony on Sunday to receive the remains of more than 100 soldiers killed in the Korean war, as Beijing continues to push its nationalist campaign amid deteriorating relations with the United States.A PLA Air Force Y-20 transport aircraft carrying the remains of 117 service personnel arrived at Shenyang Taoxian International Airport in the capital of northeast China’s Liaoning province about 11.20am after leaving Incheon International Airport in Seoul, South Korea…

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi may visit Japan in October, news report says

Sun, 27 Sep 2020 06:30:18 GMT

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi could travel to Tokyo as early as next month to meet his Japanese counterpart Toshimitsu Motegi and newly installed Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Japan’s state broadcaster NHK reported on Sunday.The face-to-face meeting would be Suga’s first with a senior Chinese official since he took office earlier this month, following the resignation of Shinzo Abe on medical grounds.China’s foreign ministry did not respond to requests for comment on Wang’s possible visit…

Japanese actress Yuko Takeuchi found dead after apparent suicide

Sun, 27 Sep 2020 03:26:59 GMT

Japanese actress Yuko Takeuchi was found dead at her home in Tokyo early Sunday after appearing to commit suicide, people close to the matter said.Takeuchi, 40, was found hanging by one of her family members and was later confirmed dead at hospital, they said. No suicide note has been found.She received a number of film awards in Japan including the Japanese Academy Award for best actress in a leading role for three years in a row from 2004, according to her official website.Takeuchi’s death…

North Korea accuses South of sea intrusions in search for dead official

Sun, 27 Sep 2020 02:51:10 GMT

North Korea accused South Korea of sending ships across the disputed sea boundary to find the body of a man recently killed by North Korean troops, warning on Sunday the alleged intrusion could escalate tensions.South Korea said earlier that North Korea sent a message including a rare apology by leader Kim Jong-un over the shooting death last week of a South Korean government official found on a floating object in North Korean waters. Officials in Seoul say the 47-year-old was likely attempting…

Seoul to ask North Korea to reinvestigate official’s killing, as public anger grows

Sat, 26 Sep 2020 04:18:40 GMT

South Korea’s presidential office said on Saturday it would ask North Korea to further investigate the fatal shooting of a South Korean fisheries official, as public and political outrage over the killing grew.After a National Security Council meeting last night, South Korea said it would call for a joint probe into the case with the North if needed, saying there were discrepancies in accounts of the incident from the two sides.South Korea’s military on Thursday said that the North’s soldiers…

Coronavirus latest: Japan calls for solidarity in Covid-19 fight as global deaths near 1 million

Sat, 26 Sep 2020 03:37:18 GMT

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Saturday called for world solidarity in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic and said he would work ensure the universal distribution of vaccines, as the World Health Organization said the global death toll looked set to reach 1 million by next week.“The novel coronavirus disease has pulled us into an unprecedented crisis, which in turn has brought the international community back to cooperation from its tendencies towards division and isolation,”…

Japan woman sues Catholic Church over alleged sex abuse, as #MeToo spreads in country

Sat, 26 Sep 2020 03:00:17 GMT

A woman has filed a suit against the Roman Catholic Church in Japan alleging that a priest raped her four decades ago, as the church’s unfolding worldwide sexual abuse crisis gradually reaches the country.The civil lawsuit, filed this week in Sendai District Court, seeks 56.1 million yen (US$534,000) in damages. It accuses a priest, who has not been charged or penalised, as well as a bishop who counselled the woman in recent years about the alleged abuse.In Japan, survivors of Catholic Church…

Japan’s new PM Yoshihide Suga willing to meet Kim Jong-un without conditions, he says in UN speech

Fri, 25 Sep 2020 23:42:41 GMT

Japan’s new prime minister, stepping from the shadows of his long-time supporting role, said on Saturday in his debut at the United Nations General Assembly that he is willing to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un without any conditions.The offer comes as Yoshihide Suga – only days into his tenure – tries to do what his predecessor and former boss, Shinzo Abe, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, could not: resolve the decades-old issue of North Korea’s abductions of Japanese citizens,…

Japan’s Suga, Indian PM Modi agree to bolster security, economic ties

Fri, 25 Sep 2020 12:06:10 GMT

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Friday agreed with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi to continue strengthening ties between their countries during their first phone call since Suga took office last week.Suga told Modi that he hopes to step up bilateral cooperation in security and economic areas and contribute to multilateral efforts for a “free and open Indo-Pacific,” including through a joint initiative with the US and Australia, according to Japan’s Foreign Ministry.The two…

Will North Korea’s killing of a South Korean civilian eclipse Moon’s dream of a united ...

Fri, 25 Sep 2020 10:37:47 GMT

South Korean President Moon Jae-in this week used a speech to the United Nations to call for international support to formally end the Korean war, and bring denuclearisation as well as “lasting peace” to the peninsula. But barely more than 24 hours later, his latest overture was in tatters after South Korean authorities said a missing fisheries official had been shot to death by soldiers from North Korea.The 47-year-old official was killed and then set alight in a “brutal act” at sea on Tuesday…