SKorea, Japan to discuss first-ever military pact

Japan, S. Korea set defense pact talks
SEOUL, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- South Korea and Japan will begin talks on pacts for closer cooperation between their Military forces, their Defense Ministers said. The agreement was announced Monday after a meeting between Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa and his South Korean counterpart Kim Kwan Jin in Seoul, a Kyodo News story appearing in Japan Times said. The two officials met amid tensions on the Korean Peninsula that escalated after November's shelling by North Korea of a South Korean is...

2ND LD: Japan, S. Korea agree to discuss pacts to boost defense cooperation+
cooperation+ (AP) - Seoul, Jan. 10 (Kyodo)—(EDS: UPDATING WITH REMARKS) Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa and his South Korean counterpart Kim Kwan Jin agreed Monday to begin discussions toward signing pacts to boost cooperation between the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and the South Korean Military. Their meeting in Seoul came as the two countries are looking for specific ways to enhance defense cooperation following incidents such as North Korea's fatal artillery attack on South...

Japan-Korea Defense Cooperation
If you look at the region in very abstract terms, close defense cooperation between South Korea and Japan seems like a no-brainer. In practice, however, the relationship between the two countries is actually quite chilly, as detailed in Chico Harlan’s article about efforts to increase defense and intelligence cooperation between Tokyo and Seoul. The difficulties are attributed largely to the fact that Koreans, especially older ones, feel “intense bitterness over the 35-year Japanese...

SKorea, Japan to discuss first-ever military pact
South Korean and Japanese defense chiefs will start Military talks on accords to share intelligence and provide each other with fuel and medical support. A Defense Ministry official said Monday that the accords, if signed, will be the countries' first Military treaty since Tokyo's colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula ended in 1945. The official says the accords won't be signed during Monday's one-day talks. It was unclear when the signing could happen. The official spoke on condition of anonymi...

South Korea, Japan upgrade ties in face of North Korea threat
By Jeremy Laurence Seoul | Mon Jan 10, 2011 5:31am EST Seoul (Reuters) - South Korea and one-time colonial ruler Japan put decades of bitterness behind them on Monday by agreeing to expand Military cooperation in the face of North Korean hostility. Their defense chiefs agreed in Seoul to upgrade their relationship, concerned at the threat posed by Pyongyang's Nuclear Weapons ambitions and its Military posturing, underscored by a deadly attack on a southern island in November and the sinking i...

South Korea
"The ministers agreed that a series of provocative acts by North Korea, including its artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island and disclosure of a Uranium Enrichment facility, severely hamper peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia and agreed to closely cooperate on the issue," the defense ministry said in a Press Release. Japan's 35-year colonial rule in the Korean Peninsula ended in 1945 with the collapse of the Tokyo empire. But issues like the enslavement of Korean wom...

S. Korea, Japanese ministers meet
SEOUL, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- South Korea's Defense Minister met with his visiting Japanese counterpart Monday for talks that officials said were aimed at closer Military ties. The talks between South Korea's Kim Kwan-jin and Japan's Toshimi Kitazawa came amid what are considered rising threats from North Korea. The North's actions have included its shelling of a South Korean island in November and expansion of its Nuclear Weapons program. South Korea's Yonhap New Agency quoted officials as saying the...

Gates In China To Bolster Military Ties
(NewsCore) - US Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived in China on Sunday hoping to bolster uneasy Military relations with Beijing, but voiced concern over the Asian power's latest high-tech weaponry. The trip to China by Gates, his first since 2007, comes just 10 days ahead of a state visit to Washington by Chinese President Hu Jintao, and both sides are keen to show progress in defense ties. Beijing suspended Military relations with the United States a year ago over Washington's sale of billio...

Redstate: Outspoken Sheriff Accused Of Dismissing Loughner Death Threats
Jared Loughner has been making death threats by phone to many people in Pima County including staff of Pima Community College, radio personalities and local Bloggers. When Pima County Sheriff's Office was informed, his deputies assured the Victims that he was being well managed by the Mental Health system. It was also suggested that further pressing of charges would be unnecessary and probably cause more problems than it solved as Jared Loughner has a family member that works for Pima County. Th...

North Korea proposes unconditional talks
SEOUL, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- North Korea opened the door wider for talks with South Korea, saying it is prepared to unconditionally restart the stalled inter-Korean negotiations. "We do not want to see the present South Korean authorities pass the five-year term of their office idly without North-South dialogue," North Korea's Committee for Peaceful Reunification of Korea said in a written statement to the official government media outlet Korean Central News Agency. Pyongyang suggested the talks take...

North Korea offers talks but South repeats dialogue conditions
Seoul | Mon Jan 10, 2011 8:12am EST Seoul (Reuters) - North Korea sent Monday an official notice to the South calling for dialogue but the South said it was nothing new and the North had to take responsibility for two attacks last year before talks could be held. Tension on the Korean Peninsula surged last year to the highest level since the 1950-53 Korean War after the sinking of a South Korean Navy ship and a deadly exchange of artillery fire on the disputed maritime border between the Kore...

North Korea renews offer of unconditional talks in move to ease tensions
THE North Korean government has repeated an offer for unconditional talks with South Korea to ease tensions on the divided peninsula days after South Korea dismissed earlier calls by the North for negotiations. Meanwhile, North Korea's official Twitter account appears to have been hacked yesterday, which is believed to be the birthday of leader Kim Jong-il's youngest son and heir-apparent, Kim Jong-un. Four messages critical of the Kim dynastry remained ADVERTISEMENT posted in the account for...

Gates in China to shore up uneasy military ties
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates launched a series of meetings with top Chinese generals Monday in a bid to shore up rocky Military ties with Beijing, amid US concern over China's advanced weaponry. The trip to China by Gates, his first since 2007, comes just days ahead of a crucial visit to Washington by Chinese President Hu Jintao, and both sides are keen to show some progress in defence ties. The Pentagon chief sat down early Monday with China's defence minister, General Liang Guanglie, Chin...

Japan, S. Korea defense ministers hold talks to boost defense ties+
SEOUL, Jan. 10 (AP) - (Kyodo)—Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa met his South Korean counterpart Kim Kwan Jin in Seoul on Monday for talks aimed at strengthening bilateral defense ties in the wake of growing tensions on the Korean Peninsula. Their meeting comes as the two neighboring countries are looking to explore specific ways to enhance defense cooperation following incidents such as North Korea's fatal artillery attack on South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island in November. Kitazawa...

US, China try to play down rivalry
Chinese and US defence chiefs are trying to play down a growing Military rivalry between the two countries, saying both sides want to bolster security ties to defuse tensions. US Defence Secretary Robert Gates and his Chinese counterpart, General Liang Guanglie, struck a positive tone after two hours of talks in Beijing on Monday, saying they both wanted to build a Military dialogue. But there was no major breakthrough ahead of a visit to the United States next week by Chinese President Hu Jinta...

Gates in China to bolster uneasy military ties
Beijing suspended Military relations with the United States a year ago over Washington's sale of billions of dollars of arms to rival Taiwan. En route to Beijing, Gates said China's apparent progress on its first stealth fighter jet at a faster-than-expected pace, and the potential threat posed to the US Military by its anti-ship missile, underlined the importance of building a dialogue with the Chinese military. "They clearly have the potential to put some of our capabilities at risk. And we ha...

Off base festivities, from Jan. 6
GRAND SUMO TOURNAMENT — JANUARY BASHO (Tokyo): Jan.9-23; Grand Champion Hakuho challenges his consecutive Winning Streak again; Ryogoku Kokugikan; one-minute walk from JR Ryogoku Station on Sobu-Line; 03-5237-9310; www.sumo.or.jp/eng/index.html. OME DARUMA ICHI (western Tokyo): Jan. 12, 1:30-7 p.m.; annual sale of Daruma dolls along Ome Kaido Street, outside Ome Station, JR me Line, 0428-20-0011. KANCHU MISOGI (GAMAN TAIKAI) (Tokyo): Jan. 15, 10 a.m.; an annual event at Kanda Myojin; five-...

Festivities
SANKEIEN GARDEN – BONSAI EXHIBITION (Kanagawa prefecture): Jan. 9-23, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; see bonsai of pines, plums, maples in the outer garden of this Japanese-style garden; 500 yen; 10-minute bus ride from JR Negishi Station; www.sankeien.or.jp; 045-621-0634/5. GRAND SUMO TOURNAMENT — JANUARY BASHO (Tokyo): Jan.9-23; Grand Champion Hakuho challenges his consecutive Winning Streak again; Ryogoku Kokugikan; one-minute walk from JR Ryogoku Station on Sobu-Line; 03-5237-9310; www.sumo.or.j...

35 Miles Of Capesize Vessels Leaving Shipyards In 2011 Guarantee Low Baltic Dry For A Long Time
for the first time since 2009. And as Bloomberg reports, with at least 200 capesize ships, stretching at 35 miles end to end, expected to be completed by the world's shipyards, which represents an 18% expansion in the world's shipping fleet, the excess supply will once glut the modest demand rise which is expected to come at just 7%. The winners: Raw Material companies which have massive pricing power in an environment in which shipping costs are plunging, as well as the shipping companies which...

Palin e-mails Beck claiming to hate violence, war
By Michael J.W. Stickings Politico: Sarah Palin reached out to Glenn Beck over the weekend, and Beck read some of their email exchange on his Radio Show this morning. "Sarah, as you know, peace is always the answer. I know you are felling the same heat, if not much more on this," Beck wrote. Beck expressed concern about Palin's safety, and urged her to hire the same Los Angeles-based security firm that he uses. The rhet...

Jared Loughner Is a Tragedy, Not a Nut Job or the Embodiment of Evil
I'm haunted by last week's episode of ABC's "Grey's Anatomy," in which a disturbed young man opens fire on dozens of people on a college campus. Several doctors are put to the ultimate test when they realize the man they are trying desperately to save is the shooter. Back in the waiting room, relatives of the many Victims are comforting one another – except for a tearful woman sitting alone in a corner. Dr. Jackson Avery walked out of the operating room rather than help save the perpetrato...

Arizona gunman in court as Obama leads mourning
The man accused of trying to assassinate a congresswoman in an Arizona Shooting Spree that left six dead appeared in court but said nothing to shed light on his motive. President Barack Obama led the American nation in a somber minute of silence to honor the 20 people gunned down in Tucson -- where he will attend a memorial service on Wednesday, the White House announced. Flags were at half-staff at the Capitol in Washington, where hundreds of aides and lawmakers crammed the storied steps of Con...

Could North Korea bring South Korea and Japan together?
If signed, two proposed Military cooperation agreements to deal with North Korea would be the first such agreements between the two nations since Japan’s occupation of Korea in the early 20th century....

End Game
The Tucson Murders: "Disturbed 22-year-old loner Jared Lee Loughner was held without bail Monday after being charged with murder and (Read more...) ...

Jared Loughner Charged
Jan.  10, 2011  Jared Lee Loughner Charged with 5 Counts of Murder, Attempted Murder and murder involving a member of Congress.  He indicated he understood the charges in court and his lawyer spoke to him offering her guidance.  The same lawyer Judy Clarke who has defended another mass murderer the Unabomer Ted Kaczinski has seen insanity defenses before. Loughner has said nothing about why he did the murders and what drove him to trying to assassinate a US congresswoman in...