Japan ‘seriously concerned' after Iran stops cooperating with IAEA
'Japan attaches great importance to the activities of the IAEA in verifying Iran's nuclear program and expresses serious concern over this announcement,' the country's Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.
'The engagement of the IAEA is essential for resolving Iran's nuclear issue.'
Iranian authorities announced on Wednesday that they would no longer cooperate with the agency. Japan had been urging Iran to continue to cooperate with the IAEA and said all necessary diplomatic efforts to achieve this will go on, in cooperation with the international community and relevant organizations.
'Japan has consistently emphasized the importance of resolving Iran's nuclear issue through dialogue, based on the position that Iran's development of nuclear weapons must never be allowed, for the sake of maintaining the international nuclear non-proliferation regime,' the Foreign Ministry added.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
an hour ago
- Arab News
Japan looks to GCC countries for stability in Middle East
TOKYO: Japan's Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya met on Monday with the GCC's Secretary-General Dr. Jasem Al-Budaiwi to discuss the global oil industry and growing instability in the Middle East. Iwaya said the GCC countries are playing an increasingly important role amid regional and international turmoil, Japan's Foreign Ministry stated. Japan wants to deepen political and economic cooperation with the GCC to bring peace and stability to the region, including the conclusion of the Japan-GCC Economic Partnership Agreement negotiations. Al-Budaiwi said the regional bloc was also hoping for the completion of EPA talks, and further cooperation under the Japan-GCC Action Plan. Al-Budaiwi added that Tokyo was an important partner and extended an invitation for a meeting of the two parties' foreign ministers. The officials spoke candidly about issues in the Middle East, including the Israel and Iran conflict, attacks on the Gaza Strip and situation in Syria. Iwaya said Japan would continue its diplomatic efforts to ensure the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Iran is implemented and avenues for dialogue are reopened. Al-Budaiwi echoed this view and said the GCC nations remained committed to dialogue. The officials shared their concerns about acts that threaten shipping routes, and attacks on oil facilities. • This article also appears on Arab News Japan
Arab News
3 hours ago
- Arab News
South Korea's balloon crackdown hits anti-North Korea activists
POCHEON, South Korea: The equipment activist Lee Min-bok uses to send balloons laden with anti-Kim Jong Un leaflets across the border from South Korea unto the North has been gathering dust and cobwebs for months. When it became clear that center-left politician Lee Jae Myung was on track to win the June presidential election, Lee Min-bok was among several South Korea-based activists who stopped their missions, anticipating a crackdown by the new, pro-engagement administration. Lee Jae Myung, a former human rights lawyer, is pushing to ease tensions with Pyongyang and last month said activists should be 'severely punished' if they continue the balloon operations that anger North Korea. 'I've been doing it quietly and what's wrong with that? Provoking North Korea? No way,' 67-year-old Lee Min-bok said as he stood next to a rusting truck equipped with a hydrogen tank for filling balloons. 'But realistically, look how serious it is right now. Police are out there and if I move, everything will be reported.' For years, police have monitored Lee from the home next door — one plainclothes officer told Reuters they are there to protect him from potential North Korean threats — but instead of checking weather reports for ideal balloon launching conditions, Lee now spends his days writing online posts criticizing the South Korean government. Calls to activists The activists, many of whom are North Korean defectors like Lee, are used to being at the center of geopolitical tensions. An attempt by a previous liberal president to ban the balloon launches was struck down as unconstitutional. And last year, North Korea began launching waves of its own balloons into the South, some carrying garbage and excrement. Lee, who took office on June 4, has promised to improve relations with the nuclear-armed North, saying tensions with Pyongyang have had a real negative economic impact. He has urged diplomacy and dialogue and his administration has also suspended anti-North Korea loudspeaker broadcasts along the border. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, however, last year abandoned a goal of unification with the South and has shown little openness to diplomacy. After Lee ordered measures to stop leaflet launches, officials and police discussed plans including deploying police to border regions to preempt launches, and punishing the activists by using regulations such as aviation safety laws, according to the Unification Ministry that handles inter-Korea affairs. Several groups in the South regularly send balloons to the North carrying leaflets, bibles, food, money, and various media. In the past year, police have investigated about 72 cases of anti-North leaflet activities and sent 13 to prosecutors, another police official said. They are still looking into 23 cases, the official added. Police are also investigating six Americans who attempted to deliver around 1,300 plastic bottles filled with rice, dollar notes and Bibles to North Korea. 'Fear is spreading. The mood is bloody intense,' said another North Korean defector-turned-activist who had secretly flown balloons once or twice a month for more than a decade. The activist said he had paused the launches this spring when polls showed Lee was likely to win the election. 'I get calls from the government recently that apparently want to check in, to see whether I am going to send the balloons or not,' said the Seoul-based activist, who declined to be named for fear of reprisals. Choi Sung-yong, leader of the Abductees' Family Union who works to bring home South Koreans abducted by North Korea, said his group had decided to suspend the balloon launches after receiving calls from new government officials. Chung Dong-young, the Unification Minister nominee, said last month he rang Choi and thanked him for reconsidering the balloon launches which Chung described 'a catalyst to confrontation and hostilities' between the two Koreas. 'Right balance' North Korean officials have labeled leaflet activists in South Korea 'human scum' and in 2020 demolished an inter-Korean liaison office during a spat over leaflets. In 2022, they claimed the balloons could carry the coronavirus. The Lee administration's moves have been welcomed by some residents who have said the launches put them at risk. 'I feel much more comfortable and hopeful… People couldn't sleep,' said Park Hae-yeon, 65, a farmer in Paju whose family runs a restaurant near the border. 'Now I am hearing leaflets not being distributed, I see a sign of hope.' James Heenan, who represents the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Seoul, told Reuters that leaflet operations are a matter of free expression that need to be balanced with legitimate national security concerns. 'We hope the right balance will be struck,' he said, noting that previous punishments were overly harsh.
Arab News
3 hours ago
- Arab News
South Korea court to hold July 9 hearing on former leader Yoon's detention warrant
SEOUL: A Seoul court plans to hold a hearing on Wednesday to review a request by special prosecutors to detain former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, a court official said on Monday. The special counsel team investigating Yoon's martial law declaration in December has filed a request to the Seoul Central District Court to detain Yoon on allegations of abuse of power and obstruction of justice. Yoon has been accused of mobilizing presidential guards to stop authorities from arresting him in January. He eventually was taken into custody but released from jail after 52 days on technical grounds. The special prosecution that kicked off its investigation after new leader Lee Jae Myung was elected in June has been looking into additional charges against Yoon, who is already on trial for insurrection related to his short-lived martial law. The detention warrant request was made on the grounds of the risk of him being a flight risk and concerns that he might interfere with witnesses linked to his case, local media reported, citing a special prosecutors' request. Yoon's lawyers have rejected the allegations against him.
