SEOUL: South Korea gave a guarded response yesterday to a Japanese deal to ease sanctions against North Korea, stressing the need to maintain a united front against Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons programme.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Thursday that Tokyo would relax sanctions if North Korea delivers on a pledge to reinvestigate the cases of Japanese people kidnapped to train spies.
The breakthrough follows days of talks between both sides in Sweden.
South Korea’s foreign ministry said Seoul appreciated the emotional pull for Tokyo of the long-standing and highly-charged kidnapping issue. “The government, from a humanitarian standpoint, understands Japan’s stance concerning the issue of Japanese abductees.”
Fire claims eight Filipinas locked in building
MANILA: Eight women died in the Philippine capital yesterday as a fire engulfed a building in which they had been locked in by their employer, police said.
Eight other women climbed to the roof of the two-storey building and jumped off, said police officer Cris Gabutin.
“They said the gate was locked. It was dark and they could not find a way out. It was a lucky thing they were able to get out to the roof and jump.”
The women were from rural areas who had been brought to Manila to work in a warehouse storing electronic products and computer disks. They were sleeping in a building next to the warehouse when the fire started after midnight.
Police arrested the owner of the building, charging him with human trafficking, negligence resulting in homicide and operating a business without a licence. It is a common practice in the Philippines for low-paid employees to sleep in their place of work. Employers typically do not provide enough safety for their staff, and some are known to lock them in to stop them from stealing or socialising. Agencies
