Somebody is either lying or something was lost in translation:
Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs Hayashi Yoshimasa greets President Joe Biden at Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo, May 22, 2022. (Juan Torres/U.S. Air Force)
Sen. Mike Lee on the Senate floor Wednesday criticized Japan’s handling of the conviction and imprisonment of Lt. Ridge Alkonis, who’s serving three years for a May 2021 car crash that killed two Japanese citizens. During his speech, Lee accused Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi of backtracking on a deal for the sailor’s release to U.S. custody.
Lee said he met in August with Hayashi in Tokyo, where the foreign minister made an “unequivocal commitment” to transfer Alkonis. However, a “junior member of the Japanese embassy” contacted Lee’s staff and denied Hayashi ever made the commitment, the senator said.
Lee’s remarks were “contrary to the facts and cannot be accepted,” and the ministry lodged an official complaint through the U.S. government over the matter, a ministry spokesperson told Stars and Stripes by email Friday.
You can read more at the link, but I continue to think that all the public pressure being put on Japan will make it less likely they will release him early.
Shaman ritual Shamans perform a ritual praying for a bountiful fishing season and the safety of fishermen in the southern resort island of Jeju on March 5, 2023. (Yonhap)
I figured some fund like this would be set up to resolve the forced labor issue. I like the scholarship fund idea though instead of just paying the victim’s families cash because it shows that the Japanese are investing in Korea’s future:
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol (L) shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during their summit at a hotel in Phnom Penh on Nov. 13, 2022. (Yonhap)
South Korea and Japan have tentatively agreed to create a “future youth fund” to sponsor scholarships for students, as part of a deal on settling the issue of compensation for Korean victims of Japan’s wartime forced labor, sources said Sunday.
The fund will be jointly formed by the Federation of Korean Industries, South Korea’s big business lobby, and the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren), according to the government sources.
The South Korean foreign ministry is expected to announce the details Monday along with the details of a broader agreement reached between the two countries to settle the issue of compensation for Korean victims of forced labor during World War II, the sources said.
You can read more at the link, but expect the Korean left to go bonkers in their criticism due to President Yoon trying to settle this issue and improve relations with Japan.
Moon Chung-in the academic behind many of former President Moon Jae-in’s North Korea appeasement policies steps down from the think tank he has been leading due to embezzlement charges:
Moon Chung-in, the chairman of Sejong Institute, speaks during the East Asia Wisemen’s Roundtable held in central Seoul on October 2021. [NEWS1]
Moon Chung-in, chairman of the national policy think tank Sejong Institute under the Foreign Ministry, said he will step down from his position, after the recent audit by the ministry to inspect the institute on the case of alleged embezzlement of some 1 billion won ($757,000) every year.
Moon served as the special advisor for unification, diplomacy and national security affairs for President Moon Jae-in.
Moon expressed his intent to no longer serve his role at the institute on Monday, according to the Sejong Institute on Tuesday. It will soon open a board meeting to vote on Moon’s resignation. A source from the think tank said his resignation may be linked to the recent budget audit.
You can read more at the link, but critics are saying that Moon Chung-in is being targeted with the audit so the Yoon administration can have him replaced. Both things can be true, may he was targeted and maybe he was aware of the embezzlement going on.
Families of crowd crush victims demand president’s apology Family members of the victims of the Oct. 29, 2022, crowd crush in Seoul’s Itaewon district march toward the presidential office in Yongsan, Seoul, on March 2, 2023, demanding President Yoon Suk Yeol’s apology over the government’s mishandling of the tragic incident. (Yonhap)
Prosecutors said they did not have enough evidence to prove that these companies hired Kim Keon-hee’s company to organize these art exhibitions because her husband was heading the Seoul District Prosecutors Office at the time:
Prosecutors have cleared first lady Kim Keon Hee of graft suspicions involving three art exhibitions hosted by her former cultural content company, officials said Thursday.
Kim had been under graft suspicions that about a dozen conglomerates sponsored three art exhibitions organized by her former company, Covana Contents, allegedly because President Yoon Suk Yeol was serving in a high-level prosecution position at that time.
Yoon was heading the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office while one of the art exhibitions on Swiss sculpture Alberto Giacometti was held in 2018.
Entry into South Korea has gotten a little bit easier for Chinese travelers:
The South Korean government on Wednesday lifted the post-entry PCR test requirement for travelers from China.
Health authorities had initially disclosed that quarantine measures for arrivals from China will be eased further amid a decline in the infection rate among arrivals from that country.
The latest move comes after the government had required travelers from China to take a PCR test for COVID-19 upon arrival and suspended short-term visa issuance as of January 2, following a resurgence of the pandemic in the neighboring country.
![Moon Chung-in, the chairman of Sejong Institute, speaks during the East Asia Wisemen's Roundtable held in central Seoul on October 2021. [NEWS1]](https://i0.wp.com/koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2023/02/28/4a54d4f7-fcd1-4ddc-b56f-a1578dc63e96.jpg?resize=558%2C372&ssl=1)
