Tokyo, 10 July, /AJMEDIA/
NATO to launch 4 new defense projects with Indo-Pacific partners
WASHINGTON – NATO and its four Indo-Pacific partners — Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea — will launch four new joint projects relating to Ukraine, artificial intelligence, disinformation and cybersecurity, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Tuesday.
Speaking at an event in Washington before the start of a NATO summit commemorating the 75th anniversary of the transatlantic alliance, Sullivan underscored that ties between the United States, Europe and the Indo-Pacific region have never been more important or more integrated than at present.
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Japan’s unused defense budget in FY 2023 totals 130 bil. yen
TOKYO – The Japanese government left unused about 130 billion yen ($807 million) from the over 6.8 trillion yen that was earmarked as the defense budget for fiscal 2023, sources familiar with the matter said Tuesday, a move that could raise questions over the current record-level of defense buildup.
The amount of the backlogged money for the year ending March 31 was the second largest since fiscal 2007, after the Defense Ministry was upgraded from an agency. The largest amount was around 180 billion yen logged in fiscal 2011, in the aftermath of the massive earthquake and tsunami disaster that devastated northeastern Japan.
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Modi calls on Putin for peace talks with Ukraine in summit in Moscow
MOSCOW – India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday told Russian President Vladimir Putin of the importance of peace through dialogue with Ukraine during a bilateral summit in Moscow.
“Solutions cannot be found through war. Rather, we have to adopt the path of peace through talks only,” Modi said in his opening remarks of the meeting with Putin, noting that peace is essential for the sake of future generations.
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Top U.S. diplomat for N. Korea has stepped down
WASHINGTON – A senior U.S. diplomat in charge of North Korean affairs resigned recently, a State Department spokesman said Tuesday, at a time when the Asian country has continued to push ahead with ballistic missile tests while deepening its ties with Russia.
“She has stepped down,” the spokesman, Matthew Miller, said during a press briefing, referring to Jung Pak, who was also deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs.
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Senior defense officials, SDF members to be disciplined over scandals
TOKYO – Japan’s Defense Ministry is planning to take disciplinary action later this week against some senior officials and a number of Self-Defense Force members over abuse of power and the mishandling of classified information, government sources said Tuesday.
The move comes with public mistrust toward the ministry and the SDF mounting over a series of scandals, amid the government’s attempt to significantly boost the country’s defense capabilities to address the increasingly severe security environment.
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Ex-SDF member Rina Gonoi settles with 3 sexual assault perpetrators
YOKOHAMA – Rina Gonoi, who was sexually assaulted while serving in Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force, said Tuesday she has reached a civil settlement with three of her convicted former colleagues.
In the lawsuit filed at the Yokohama District Court in January 2023, Gonoi, 24, had sought damages from the state and five former GSDF members for mental distress over the sexual assault she endured while serving in a unit at Camp Koriyama in Fukushima Prefecture. Gonoi left the GSDF in 2022.
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MUFG Bank probed on employee’s alleged involvement in insider trading
TOKYO – Japan’s securities watchdog has conducted a probe at the headquarters of MUFG Bank, one of the country’s megabanks, over an employee’s alleged involvement in insider trading, sources familiar with the matter said Tuesday.
The employee allegedly gave a family member information about at least three clients’ prospective tender offers before the bids became public.
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Disney cruise ship scheduled to operate in Japan from FY 2028
TOKYO – A new Disney cruise ship is scheduled to start operating in Japan from fiscal 2028, Oriental Land Co. said Tuesday, as the operator of Tokyo Disney Resort looks to tap the cruise industry’s potential amid a rise in inbound tourism.
The vessel, which has about 1,250 guest rooms and the capacity to hold some 4,000 passengers, will add to a growing fleet of Disney cruise ships, first launched over two decades ago. It is expected to become one of the largest Japan-registered cruise vessels.
