U.S. asks Japan to refrain from confrontation with Korea

It has been reported that the United States sent a warning message to Japan to prevent it from engaging in confrontation with Korea around the time the U.S.-North Korea summit talk is just around the corner.

The Asahi Shimbun cited a Japanese government official on Saturday, saying that Washington had delivered to Tokyo that it is not desirable to be at odds with Seoul at a critical time. The source of the news said that the Japanese government would not embark on any mediation process regarding the forced labor draft issues in the Treaty on Basic Relations between the Republic of Korea and Japan, according to the newspaper.

Meanwhile, the victims’ families and their lawyer team announced on Friday that the asset of Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation under seizure would be sold within this month, while filing against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries regarding a seizure on its asset registered in Korea on March 1. Japan has been considering taking responsive measure.

Politicians in Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party have argued for the summoning of the Japanese Ambassador to Korea as well as export limits on defense products to Korea. Furthermore, it has been rumored that some have maintained bans of hydrogen fluoride and other major materials crucial to semiconductor production.


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