Japan, the US and South Korea are negotiating an agreement on sharing real-time data on North Korean missile launches, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said yesterday.
There has been no agreement yet, but “I understand that defense authorities are vigorously proceeding to set up an arrangement,” Matsuno said.
“The security environment surrounding Japan and South Korea is becoming more severe and more complex, and coordination between the two countries, as well as trilaterally with the United States, has become increasingly important,” he said.
Photo: Reuters
Japan and South Korea have been separately linked to data from US radar systems, but not directly to each other due to difficult relations strained by disputes over history, most recently over South Korean court rulings in 2018 ordering Japanese companies to compensate South Korean workers for abuses including forced labor during World War II.
Leaders of the three countries in November last year agreed to speed up information sharing on North Korean missile launches.
Japan’s Yomiuri newspaper reported earlier yesterday that Tokyo and Seoul are nearing an agreement on connecting their radars via a US system to share real-time North Korean missile warning information, which would help strengthen Japanese missile defense capabilities.
The Yomiuri said that the three countries are expected to reach an agreement early next month on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual defense ministers’ conference in Singapore.
Japanese and South Korean defense ministers would hold bilateral talks during the conference, the newspaper said.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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