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Post by Admin on Aug 25, 2019 23:29:54 GMT
Police have launched a probe after a video and photos of a South Korean man allegedly threatening and beating a Japanese woman went viral on social media, they said Saturday. "We have found the victim and the suspect in the alleged assault case, which occurred the previous day and contacted them," an official at Seoul Mapo Police Station said. "We will call them in later in the day and investigate the details of the incident." In the video that went viral online, the man threateningly follows the woman, hurling insults. The video accompanied multiple photos of the man allegedly beating the woman. The woman reportedly said the man began threatening her near the university district of Hongdae in western Seoul when she ignored him as he followed her.
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Post by Admin on Aug 26, 2019 7:01:42 GMT
South Korea Sunday began two days of war games to practise defending disputed islands off its east coast against an unlikely attack from Japan, further stoking tensions between the Asian neighbours. The annual drills come just days after Seoul terminated a military intelligence-sharing pact with Tokyo, with the countries at loggerheads over Japan's use of forced labour during World War II. The two-day exercise will involve warships and aircraft, the South Korean navy said in a text message without providing more detail. The drill -- re-named "East Sea territory defence training" -- will solidify the military's resolve to defend the Dokdo islands and the area surrounding the Sea of Japan, the navy said. While a Japanese attack is deemed highly unlikely, South Korea first staged the drills in 1986 and has conducted them twice a year -- usually in June and December. The delayed exercise comes as tensions with neighbouring Japan continue. Seoul has controlled the rocky islets in the Sea of Japan since 1945 when Tokyo's 35-year colonial rule over the Korean peninsula ended.
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Post by Admin on Aug 27, 2019 18:38:36 GMT
The removal of South Korea from a Japanese whitelist of preferred trading partners took effect on Wednesday local time, a step that has elicited a strong backlash from Seoul. The action represents the second round of trade restrictions Japan put into force against South Korea. Hiroshige Seko, Japan's minister of economy, trade and industry, downplayed the effect this move will have on bilateral ties when he spoke with reporters Tuesday following a cabinet meeting. "This is for the purpose of executing export oversight in an appropriate manner, and any impact on Japan-South Korean relations is not part of the consideration," Seko said. The removal, which was approved by Japan's cabinet on Aug. 2, comes shortly after Seoul decided Thursday to stop sharing intelligence with Tokyo under the General Security of Military Information Agreement.
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Post by Admin on Aug 28, 2019 21:12:01 GMT
How did the Japan-South Korea dispute get this far? The latest dispute began last year when the High Court of the Republic of Korea (ROK), the formal name for South Korea, ordered Japanese companies to pay compensation to South Koreans forced into labour during World War II. The two countries disagree over whether a 1965 treaty that normalised relations completely resolved the issue. South Korea responded with anger, protests and boycotts of Japanese goods. On August 12, it created a list of countries that do not abide by internationally accepted export controls and made Japan the first country on it. And 10 days later, South Korea said it would terminate an intelligence-sharing agreement when it expires in November. "The more fundamental and critical factor behind [the dispute] is distorted mutual trust between the two countries," Yoshikazu Kato, adjunct associate professor at the University of Hong Kong's Asia Global Institute, told Al Jazeera. "This is the most important factor to understand the current tensions between Japan and ROK." In July, Japan imposed restrictions on the export to South Korea of three chemicals crucial to the manufacture of semiconductors, one of South Korea's biggest export industries.
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