Latest news with #Japan-ROK
Scoop
3 days ago
- Politics
- Scoop
Election Of Republic Of Korea President Lee Jae-Myung
JUNE 3, 2025 We congratulate President Lee Jae-myung on his election as the next president of the Republic of Korea (ROK). The United States and the Republic of Korea share an ironclad commitment to the Alliance grounded in our Mutual Defense Treaty, shared values, and deep economic ties. We are also modernizing the Alliance to meet the demands of today's strategic environment and address new economic challenges. We will also continue to deepen U.S.-Japan-ROK trilateral cooperation to bolster regional security, enhance economic resilience, and defend our shared democratic principles.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
South Korea's President Lee Jae-myung takes office
(Reuters) -South Korea has elected liberal Lee Jae-myung as president to lead the country through a tumultuous period that will require negotiating trade tariffs with the U.S. and mending the scars from his ousted predecessor's shock martial law declaration. Following are some reactions to his victory: MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE "We congratulate President Lee Jae-myung on his election as the next president of the Republic of Korea (ROK)." "The United States and the Republic of Korea share an ironclad commitment to the Alliance grounded in our Mutual Defence Treaty, shared values, and deep economic ties. We are also modernising the Alliance to meet the demands of today's strategic environment and address new economic challenges." "We will also continue to deepen U.S.-Japan-ROK trilateral cooperation to bolster regional security, enhance economic resilience, and defend our shared democratic principles." SHIGERU ISHIBA, PRIME MINISTER OF JAPAN "Japan and South Korea are important neighbours that should cooperate as partners on various international issues," "The importance of Japan-South Korea relations remains unchanged under the current strategic environment. The cooperation among Japan, South Korea and the United States is also important." Ishiba also told reporters that the two countries should hold a bilateral summit as soon as possible. ANTONIO COSTA, PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL "Looking forward to deepening our strategic partnership as key allies in the Indo-Pacific and beyond. We share a commitment to democracy, human rights and the rule of law, and we highly value South Korea's global role." (Writing by Saad Sayeed; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
Straits Times
7 days ago
- Business
- Straits Times
South Korea's President Lee Jae-myung takes office
South Korea's President Lee Jae-myung talks to attendees during the conclusion of his inauguration ceremony at the National Assembly in Seoul on June 4, 2025. ANTHONY WALLACE/Pool via REUTERS South Korea has elected liberal Lee Jae-myung as president to lead the country through a tumultuous period that will require negotiating trade tariffs with the U.S. and mending the scars from his ousted predecessor's shock martial law declaration. Following are some reactions to his victory: MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE "We congratulate President Lee Jae-myung on his election as the next president of the Republic of Korea (ROK)." "The United States and the Republic of Korea share an ironclad commitment to the Alliance grounded in our Mutual Defence Treaty, shared values, and deep economic ties. We are also modernising the Alliance to meet the demands of today's strategic environment and address new economic challenges." "We will also continue to deepen U.S.-Japan-ROK trilateral cooperation to bolster regional security, enhance economic resilience, and defend our shared democratic principles." SHIGERU ISHIBA, PRIME MINISTER OF JAPAN "Japan and South Korea are important neighbours that should cooperate as partners on various international issues," "The importance of Japan-South Korea relations remains unchanged under the current strategic environment. The cooperation among Japan, South Korea and the United States is also important." Ishiba also told reporters that the two countries should hold a bilateral summit as soon as possible. ANTONIO COSTA, PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL "Looking forward to deepening our strategic partnership as key allies in the Indo-Pacific and beyond. We share a commitment to democracy, human rights and the rule of law, and we highly value South Korea's global role." REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
New York Times
06-03-2025
- General
- New York Times
A Plea for Justice for Japan's So-Called Comfort Women
When Gil Won-ok, a Korean woman, died recently at the age of 96, the international community lost an outspoken warrior in the effort to make Japan accountable for its practice of sexual slavery during the early part of the 20th century. Ms. Gil was one of about 240 so-called comfort women from South Korea who had publicly spoken out about their abuse at the hands of the Japanese military from the 1930s through World War II, and her death left just a handful of survivors to continue the cause. But Mina Watanabe, a Japanese woman who was born years after the war ended, and who had no direct relationship to the practice or its victims, has continued to press for fuller acknowledgment and reparations from Japan. As director of the Women's Active Museum on War and Peace (WAM) in Tokyo, she and the museum focus on sexual violence against women in war and conflict situations — with extra attention focused on her homeland's history. Ms. Watanabe said she had been interested in women's rights since her school days in Tokyo. When some of the survivors of Japan's military sexual slavery system finally came forward in the 1990s, her encounters with them 'changed my life,' she said in an interview in Tokyo. She co-founded the museum in 2005 with donations from people in Japan and abroad, and has been campaigning internationally for the rights of survivors since. Activists for comfort women are often subjected to criticism or left isolated by their fellow Japanese. The interview was edited and condensed. Who are the women referred to as 'comfort women'? That refers to the victims who were put into the sexual slavery system for Japanese troops from the 1930s up to 1945 in the Asia-Pacific region. While 'sex slaves' is a more accurate term to express the essential nature of many different forms of sexual exploitation they were subjected to, we retain the term 'comfort women' because it has a historical significance, as it was the euphemism used by the Japanese military at the time. The Japanese government admits that girls and women suffered, but denies evidence that they were taken against their will during wartime. They have said that with the agreement reached at the Japan-ROK Foreign Ministers' Meeting in December 2015, the issue was 'resolved finally and irreversibly.' What are you still seeking? The issue is not how they were taken, but that they were held against their will and raped for months or years under military control. Without clear explanation, the government still denies that it was sexual slavery. What the survivors wanted was for the Japanese government to fully acknowledge what had happened to them and to pass their stories on to the next generation to prevent recurrence. It's not just about a bilateral agreement with South Korea. Although many survivors have passed away, we continue to work to make the government acknowledge the crimes its own military forces committed. I feel it is my responsibility as a woman in Japan. Has any progress been made? As for reparations, nothing has progressed. The government claims it has apologized, but what damage it has apologized for has never been clear. It is our regret and shame that the Japanese government does not accept the survivors' testimonies as evidence even now. The general perceptions of 'comfort women,' however, have changed dramatically in the world community. International law now explicitly recognizes wartime rape and sexual slavery as crimes against humanity. People have listened to the survivors' stories with compassion and respect them as human rights defenders. You have said that the legacy of Japan's treatment of comfort women influences the treatment of women in today's society in Japan. Could you give us some examples? It is still common that victims face difficulties in bringing perpetrators of sexual crimes to justice anywhere in the world. However, in Japan, I find a kind of 'tolerance' exists for sexual violence committed by military forces. There have been many rapes by U.S. troops in Okinawa, where U.S. bases in Japan are concentrated, but they often go unprosecuted. One well-known Japanese politician even suggested U.S. military officers utilize the sex industry. The idea that sexual violence by soldiers is inevitable must be deeply ingrained in Japan. (Asked to respond, the Pentagon said in a statement: The standard of behavior for U.S. Forces Japan is unwavering professionalism and zero tolerance for criminal behavior. U.S. personnel who commit criminal acts are held accountable under both Japanese and U.S. law, per the Status of Forces Agreement. Acts of sexual assault undermine the values of respect and dignity that are fundamental to service. These incidents overshadow the friendship and professionalism we exhibit daily. They do not reflect the positive actions of the overwhelming majority of U.S. service members who serve honorably in this country.) How did you become involved with the Women's Active Museum on War and Peace (WAM)? I got involved in the women's movement in the mid-1990's and met the late Yayori Matsui, a prominent journalist and leading activist in Japan. She proposed the Women's International War Crimes Tribunal on Japan's Military Sexual Slavery be held in 2000 in Tokyo, a people's tribunal to bring those responsible to justice based on evidence and the law. I was involved from the preparation period. After the judgment was delivered in 2001, however, Yayori passed away in 2002. Her last will was to establish a museum in Japan to pass on the testimonies and documents accumulated for the Women's Tribunal. To show the full picture of the 'comfort women' system in our limited exhibition space, we have held a dozen special exhibitions in these 20 years focusing on different countries and areas of the Asia-Pacific. What work have you been doing to improve the treatment of women in Japanese society? As one of our concerted efforts, WAM, together with activists and scholars from eight other countries, has submitted the application related to 'comfort women' to the UNESCO Memories of the World Register as a unique and rare documentary heritage to be preserved. The Japanese government has tried to prevent this and withheld its contribution to UNESCO once, but the pending procedure is to start again this year. There are people in Japan, too, who support our efforts to answer the call of these courageous survivors for justice and nonrepetition. That gives me hope.
See - Sada Elbalad
09-02-2025
- Politics
- See - Sada Elbalad
KCNA Commentary on ROK's Reckless Military Maneuvers
Rana Atef The military provocations being committed in a frantic way in the ROK from the first month of the new year serve as an occasion of highlighting once again what enemy it is facing and how dangerous it may pay dearly for a moment's carelessness. On January 3, when all countries of the world were still in the festive mood of the New Year, the puppet navy of the ROK simultaneously staged war drills with destroyers, escort ships and other warships and military planes involved in all waters of the East, West and South Seas. Then, infantry, artillery and engineer units simultaneously staged various kinds of war drills and the armored brigades joined them to rattle the whole land of the ROK. Amid the joint large-scale firing drills of the U.S. and the ROK to neutralize the long-range artillery force of the DPRK, the U.S.-Japan-ROK joint air drill was conducted in the sky over the Korean peninsula with the U.S. strategic bomber B-1B involved on Jan. 15 and, on the same day, the U.S. and ROK air forces staged the air live-shell firing drill. Then, the U.S. and ROK air forces staged the first Ssangmae joint air drill for several days this year, and a joint special war drill aimed at a sudden attack on the DPRK was conducted. The U.S. air force in the ROK ended the month of January with the training for preemptive attack on the DPRK by making sorties of fighters despite heavy snowfall. The war drills targeting the DPRK were staged almost every day till the last day of the first month of the new year. This predicts that the U.S. and the ROK would commit desperately their unprecedented military maneuvers against the DPRK this year, too. What should not be overlooked is that such war games are being staged in the lawless land where the political situation is confused and everything is in a mess due to such fierce scramble for power as a cockfight at coop Everyone will guess easily how the DPRK will accept the fact that the "nuclear consultative group" of the U.S. and the ROK puppets is still being held to stifle the DPRK with nukes and the war drills against it staged more intensively than ever before though diplomatic schedules were cancelled one after another due to the political chaos in the ROK. The U.S. and the ROK's irresponsible acts of escalating the regional tension that started from the outset of the year are still going on. Hostile and adventurous acts will only entail undesirable consequences.
