Japan, N. Korea to hold talks in Beijing on abductions

December 20, 2005

Japan and North Korea will hold bilateral talks in Beijing on Saturday and Sunday, with the issue of Pyongyang's abduction of Japanese citizens high on the agenda, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said Wednesday. In the talks, Japan will demand the return of any abductees still in North Korea and ask Pyongyang to provide ''convincing accounts'' of what happened to all those abducted and to hand over to Japan agents or officials responsible for the abductions, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said in a press conference.

China to host bird flu confab in Jan.

December 20, 2005

China said Tuesday it will co-host with the European Commission and the World Bank in Beijing next month a meeting aimed at tackling avian influenza. The Jan. 17-18 meeting will aim to assess the amount of funds needed to deal with the disease and establish a way to manage such funds, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said at a regular press briefing.

Okinawa gov. reiterates opposition to Futemma relocation plan

December 20, 2005

Okinawa Gov. Keiichi Inamine restated his opposition Tuesday to the Japan-U.S. plan to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station in Ginowan to the coast of Camp Schwab in Nago, both of which are located in the southwestern prefecture. In a press conference held in Tokyo, Inamine said, ''The relocation plan of Futemma is totally unacceptable,'' repeating the opposition he has expressed on many occasions since Tokyo and Washington agreed on the relocation plan in an interim realignment program adopted in late October.

Court awards 800,000 yen to deceased S. Korean A-bomb sufferer

December 20, 2005

The Nagasaki District Court ordered the Nagasaki municipal government on Tuesday to pay about 800,000 yen to the family of a now-deceased atomic bomb sufferer from South Korea. Choi Gye Chol had filed a lawsuit against the Japanese government and the city of Nagasaki seeking some 9.6 million yen in solatium and allowances for ''hibakusha'' survivors for the past 24 years.