Need to mend ties, Suga tells Moon
TOKYO/SEOUL • New Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga spoke to South Korean President Moon Jae-in for the first time yesterday, calling for both countries to repair their frayed ties and cooperate to counter any threat from North Korea.
Relations between the two US allies have deteriorated sharply over the past year over wartime history and trade, in particular the issue of Korean labourers forced to work at Japanese firms during Japan's colonial rule from 1910 to 1945.
Mr Moon said Japan and South Korea need to find the best solution over the wartime forced labour issue, said Mr Kang Min-seok, a spokesman for South Korea's presidential Blue House.
REUTERS
Joshua Wong held over further charges
HONG KONG • Hong Kong police have arrested prominent democracy activist Joshua Wong for participating in an unauthorised assembly last October and violating the city's anti-mask law, according to a post on his official Twitter account.
Wong's arrest yesterday adds to several unlawful assembly charges or suspected offences he and other activists are facing related to last year's pro-democracy protests, which prompted Beijing to impose a sweeping national security law on June 30 this year.
Hong Kong police confirmed that they arrested two men, aged 23 and 74, yesterday for illegal assembly on Oct 5 last year.
REUTERS
Swine fever hits six Philippine provinces
MANILA • The Philippines' Department of Agriculture has detected new African swine fever outbreaks in six provinces, raising the possibility that the domestic pork shortfall anticipated by the year end will be bigger than initially expected.
A fresh wave of hog infections has hit the world's 10th-largest pork consumer and seventh-biggest pork importer, where more than 300,000 pigs have been culled since last year, Agriculture Secretary William Dar said yesterday.
New outbreaks have been detected in the provinces of Albay, Quirino, Laguna, Quezon, Batangas and Cavite on the main island of Luzon, he told a briefing.
REUTERS
Cambodia jails seven opposition activists
PHNOM PENH • Seven Cambodian activists have been handed jail sentences for treason over comments posted online supporting exiled opposition figure Sam Rainsy, their lawyer has said.
Rainsy, who has been living in France since 2015 to avoid prison for convictions he says are politically motivated, has promised to return to Cambodia.
But an attempted homecoming last November was thwarted by Prime Minister Hun Sen, who labelled it a "coup attempt" and sent out arrest warrants to neighbouring countries.
Opposition activists accused of posting supportive messages last year about Rainsy's return were this week sentenced on "charges of treason" in eastern Tboung Khmum province, lawyer Sam Sokong said yesterday.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
