Kyodo news summary -3-

0 Comments | Asian Political News, June 4, 2007

TOKYO, June 3 Kyodo

---------- Japan, China, S. Korea agree on need for N. Korea to honor nuke accord

JEJU, South Korea - The foreign ministers of Japan, China and South Korea agreed Sunday on the need for North Korea to implement at an early date the initial steps toward its denuclearization it agreed in February, a Japanese official said.

At the trilateral meeting on Jeju Island in South Korea, the ministers also agreed that their countries need to reinforce cooperation in measures against climate change and development of energy technology.

---------- Japan, China foreign ministers meet on Jeju amid nuke standoff

JEJU, South Korea - Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso met with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on South Korea's Jeju Island on Sunday on the sidelines of a trilateral meeting with their South Korean counterpart.

Aso and Yang are expected to reaffirm expediting talks on a dispute over gas exploration rights in the East China Sea so as to compile a joint development plan by this fall.

---------- Gunmen posing as police kill 2 Red Cross workers in Sri Lanka

COLOMBO - Two Red Cross workers were killed in Sri Lanka shortly after they were seized Friday by gunmen claiming to be plainclothes police, the charity said Sunday.

The two local employees of the Sri Lanka Red Cross were from the minority Tamil community and they were taken away from the main railway station at Colombo Fort on Friday evening, a spokesman for the Red Cross said.

---------- Japan denies entry to Chinese pro-democracy activist Wei

NARITA, Japan - Wei Jingsheng, a U.S.-based Chinese democracy movement activist who was planning to attend an event in Tokyo marking the 18th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square demonstrations on Sunday, was denied entry on Saturday at Narita International Airport on arrival from New York because of a lack of an entry visa.

Organizers of the event said Wei, 57, was refused entry despite previous assurances from Japanese immigration authorities, while a Japanese immigration official at the airport said that in principle a Chinese national would require a visa if the person wishes to attend an assembly.

---------- 1 dead after gunman opens fire during E. Timor election campaign

DILI - One person was killed Sunday during a political campaign rally in Viqueque, about 80 kilometers east of the East Timor capital Dili.

A witness told Kyodo News by telephone that a gunman appeared among a gathering of the CNRT, a new party headed by East Timor's former President Xanana Gusmao. He fired five bullets into the crowd.

---------- Reformist leaders continue to lead Malaysia's Islamic party

KOTA BARU, Malaysia - The reformist faction in Malaysia's fundamentalist Islamic party ousted most conservative clerics in the party elections Sunday.

The Pan-Islamic Party, PAS, Malaysia's biggest opposition group, decided to retain its reformist leaders as it prepares for a showdown with the ruling United Malays National Organization in the general election that some expect to be called as early as next month.

---------- Aso, Song agree on sea zone talks in June, discuss N. Korea refugees

JEJU, South Korea - Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso and his South Korean counterpart Song Min Soon agreed Sunday that officials from the two countries will hold talks on June 17-18 in Seoul aimed at demarcating their exclusive economic zones in the sea that lies between them to prevent future maritime conflicts, a Japanese official said.

The two ministers, meeting on South Korea's Jeju Island, also touched on the latest incident involving four people who entered Japanese waters on a boat Saturday. The four are believed to be refugees from North Korea wishing to go to South Korea.