SEOUL: South Korea yesterday criticised an “unhelpful” visit to North Korea by a senior aide to Japan’s prime minister, saying it weakened the united front needed to deal with Pyongyang. Isao Iijima arrived in Pyongyang on Tuesday on a visit that clearly surprised both Seoul and Washington. Yesterday he met the ceremonial head of state Kim Yong-Nam. South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Tai-Young said it was “important” that the US and its two close allies continue to work in tandem. “In that sense, we think that the visit by Iijima to North Korea is unhelpful,” Cho said.
Myanmar president to visit US
WASHINGTON: The White House said it will welcome Myanmar’s leader on a landmark visit on Monday in a symbolic reward by President Barack Obama to encourage reforms in the longtime pariah state. President Thein Sein, a former general who surprised even many critics by ushering in democratic changes, will be the first leader from the country formerly known as Burma to visit Washington since 1966. The White House said that Obama would ask Thein Sein how the United States can help in the “many remaining challenges to efforts to develop democracy, address communal and ethnic tensions and bring economic opportunity”.
Indonesia holds two terror suspects
Solo: Indonesian police yesterday arrested two men with alleged links to a terror network targeted in recent raids and seized bomb-making material, machetes and swords. The elite counter-terrorism squad arrested two men in Solo, a city in Central Java province, local police chief Asjimain, who goes by one name, said. “We found a 25kg container of potassium chlorate buried in the backyard of one of the men’s houses,” he said, adding that police had also seized 15 weapons, including machetes and swords. Potassium chlorate can be used as a bomb-making ingredient.
Protest against Chinese chemical plant
BEIJING: Nearly 1,000 people took to the streets of the Chinese city of Kunming yesterday in a renewed protest against a proposed chemical plant, media reports said, with Internet users voicing support. The gathering outside the Yunnan provincial government office followed a similar demonstration earlier this month, and is the latest example of growing environmental concerns in China, which its new leaders have promised to address. The Kunming factory will produce paraxylene (PX), a toxic petrochemical used to make fabrics. Protesters held banners reading slogans including “Kunming mothers seeking health for their babies” and “PX get out”, photos posted on major news portal qq.com showed.
Agencies
