Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said yesterday he believes the acrimony between the US and some of its allies over Iraq is largely past, and that he's optimistic this week's summit of leading industrial nations will offer the world a display of unity.
Koizumi, who recently returned from a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, also said Pyongyang is aware of the importance of breaking a diplomatic impasse over its suspected development of nuclear weapons and "moving forward."
Speaking to a small group of foreign media, the Japanese leader said he believes Iraq and its transition to self-government will dominate the agenda at the Group of Eight summit in Sea Island, Georgia.
"France, Germany and Russia are not calling for the immediate withdrawal of US forces," he said, as an example of the improvement this year in the mood ahead of the annual summit, which begins tomorrow. "I consider this to be a great chance for the international community to demonstrate its cooperation and for the Iraqi people to stand up on their own two feet."
He was to leave this morning to attend the summit. It is the fourth for Koizumi, who was elected in a landslide victory in April 2001.
Koizumi -- whose outspoken, maverick approach to leadership is something of a rarity in consensus-conscious Japan -- continues to be one of the most popular leaders this nation has had in decades.
But as he heads to Georgia, he is under pressure amid a national pension scandal that has rocked his Cabinet.
Like many of this country's top politicians, Koizumi has acknow-ledged he failed to make all of the proper payments into the system. He has not been accused of any legal wrongdoing, however, or charged with any crimes.
He has also recently been under increasing fire from Japan's opposition for his staunch backing of US President George W. Bush's Iraq policy.
Despite deep concerns among the Japanese public, Koizumi has sent about 500 non-combatant soldiers to southern Iraq in this country's biggest military mission since World War II.
Koizumi said he stands by his support of Bush, but added that it is important to involve the UN as closely in the reconstruction process as is feasible.
"I have made that clear in many talks with American leaders," he said.
On North Korea, Koizumi said Kim indicated an understanding at their summit on May 22 that it is crucial for his impoverished nation to abandon its nuclear weapons program if it is to receive badly needed economic aid.
Koizumi and Russian President Vladimir Putin are the only G8 leaders who have met Kim, and his decision to hold a one-on-one with the North Korean leader is a step apart from Washington's policy of dealing with the North primarily through multilateral channels.
SUPPORT: Elon Musk’s backing for the far-right AfD is also an implicit rebuke of center-right Christian Democratic Union leader Friedrich Merz, who is leading polls German Chancellor Olaf Scholz took a swipe at Elon Musk over his political judgement, escalating a spat between the German government and the world’s richest person. Scholz, speaking to reporters in Berlin on Friday, was asked about a post Musk made on his X platform earlier the same day asserting that only the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party “can save Germany.” “We have freedom of speech, and that also applies to multi-billionaires,” Scholz said alongside Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal. “But freedom of speech also means that you can say things that are not right and do not contain
Pulled from the mud as an infant after the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 and reunited with his parents following an emotional court battle, the boy once known as “Baby 81” is now a 20-year-old dreaming of higher education. Jayarasa Abilash’s story symbolized that of the families torn apart by one of the worst natural calamities in modern history, but it also offered hope. More than 35,000 people in Sri Lanka were killed, with others missing. The two-month-old was washed away by the tsunami in eastern Sri Lanka and found some distance from home by rescuers. At the hospital, he was
Two US Navy pilots were shot down yesterday over the Red Sea in an apparent “friendly fire” incident, the US military said, marking the most serious incident to threaten troops in over a year of US targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels. Both pilots were recovered alive after ejecting from their stricken aircraft, with one sustaining minor injuries. However, the shootdown underlines just how dangerous the Red Sea corridor has become over the ongoing attacks on shipping by the Iranian-backed Houthis despite US and European military coalitions patrolling the area. The US military had conducted airstrikes targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels at the
MILITANTS TARGETED: The US said its forces had killed an IS leader in Deir Ezzor, as it increased its activities in the region following al-Assad’s overthrow Washington is scrapping a long-standing reward for the arrest of Syria’s new leader, a senior US diplomat said on Friday following “positive messages” from a first meeting that included a promise to fight terrorism. Barbara Leaf, Washington’s top diplomat for the Middle East, made the comments after her meeting with Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus — the first formal mission to Syria’s capital by US diplomats since the early days of Syria’s civil war. The lightning offensive that toppled former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad on Dec. 8 was led by the Muslim Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is rooted in al-Qaeda’s
RSS