Pro-Pyongyang facilities enjoying preferential tax treatment
December 30, 2005Thirty municipalities reduce property tax rates on facilities belonging to the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan or exempt them from taxes completely, citing their public nature, a government survey showed Friday. Although diplomatic facilities in Japan are exempt from fixed property tax, there is a growing opinion in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party that the association is different from embassies.
Repatriated abductees identify 2 N. Korean agents
December 30, 2005Repatriated Japanese abductees Kaoru Hasuike and Yasushi Chimura have identified two North Korean agents as being responsible for their abductions, investigative sources said Friday. Their testimonies have prompted the Japanese police to launch an investigation in order to obtain arrest warrants for the two agents.
New Year's holiday exodus from Tokyo peaks, trains, planes packed
December 30, 2005The annual exodus from Tokyo for the New Year's holiday season peaked Friday, packing bullet trains and planes leaving the capital. Tokaido and Sanyo Shinkansen bullet trains bound for Fukuoka or Osaka from Tokyo were running at 80 to 150 percent capacity in their non-reserved seats, while Tohoku, Joetsu and Nagano Shinkansen trains to northern Japanese cities were running at more than 100 percent capacity.
Japan stays out of currency markets in 2005: MOF
December 30, 2005Japan's monetary authorities, which used 14.83 trillion yen through market intervention to arrest a sharp rise of the yen in 2004, did not intervene in currency markets in 2005 as the yen moved stably against the U.S. dollar, according to data made available by the Finance Ministry on Friday. The ministry said it conducted no currency market interventions from Nov. 29 to Dec. 28, stretching the intervention-free period to the 21st straight month.
N. Korea offers to crack down on illegal financial moves: sources
December 30, 2005North Korea has informed China it is willing to crack down on alleged illegal financial activities in the country, a move believed to be aimed at halting U.S. sanctions on a Macao-based bank suspected of laundering money for the North, diplomatic sources said Friday. North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan made the comment to Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei in a meeting in the northeastern Chinese city Shenyang last week, according to the sources.
Vietnam posts 8.4% GDP growth in 2005
December 30, 2005Vietnam achieved its target of high gross domestic product growth for 2005 as the economy grew 8.4 percent, the General Statistics Office said Friday. ''It is a relative high economic growth rate in the years since 1996 when the country scored growth of 9.3 percent,'' Le Manh Hung, general director of the office, said.