Japan News Online

Japan, S. Korea agree to open 4 new flight routes

Japan and South Korea agreed Saturday to allow their airlines to open four new routes between the two countries, including a service linking Hakodate in northern Japan and Seoul, Japanese officials said. The three other new routes will be between Asahikawa and Seoul, Sapporo and Busan, and Hiroshima and Busan, the officials said.

N. Korea may offer solution to abductions: Japan security report

North Korea may offer a solution to the current standoff with Japan over its abduction of Japanese citizens before Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi leaves office next September in a bid to help normalize relations between the two countries, according to a Japanese security report released Friday. Claiming the abduction issue has been settled, Pyongyang has been focusing on compensation by Japan for its wartime acts, including forcing Korean women to work as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers, said the 2006 report compiled by the Public Security Intelligence Agency on situations both in Japan and abroad.

Parliament blocks bill on U.S. arms deal, military offers price cuts

Taiwan's major arms deal with the United States returned to square one Friday as the opposition-controlled parliament adjourned the day's session, effectively blocking the bill from being put on the legislative agenda. The bill was approved without debate Tuesday in the Procedure Committee of the Legislative Yuan in a surprise move launched by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party caucus whip Lai Ching-te, who wanted it put to a vote before more opposition lawmakers were able to arrive for the afternoon meeting.