Japan’s recent amendment to its atomic energy law is rekindling fears about its formidable nuclear and missile technologies that experts say could quickly turn it into an atomic weapons power. Its parliament on Wednesday passed the revision to the Atomic Energy Basic Act including “national security” among its goals. The revision was the first in 34 years.“The safe use of atomic power is aimed at contributing to the protection of the people’s life, health and property, environmental conservation

Japan has rewritten the basic law on atomic energy to include “national security” among its goals, fueling concerns over the possibility of using nuclear power for military purposes.The first amendment in 34 years of the Atomic Energy Basic Act, a regulatory and institutional roadmap for its nuclear activities, invited criticism from Japan’s anti-nuclear scientists and civic activists. “The safe use of atomic power is aimed at contributing to the protection of the people’s lives, health and prop

Human rights groups claim up to 200,000 North Koreans are held in political prison camps and penitentiaries across the country facing malnutrition, harsh labor, torture and executions.Most prisoners were confined not for dissent but for political misdemeanors such as singing South Korean songs or joining a reading club, former detainees and activists say. According to Amnesty International, 150,000 to 200,000 are incarcerated in six sprawling gulag-style prisons ― Camp No. 12 in Hoeryeong, No. 1

The Korean government said on Monday it will look into whether a new national park under construction in northeastern China includes symbols that falsely represent the history between the two countries. The Chinese province of Jilin on April 20 began work to transform a fortress built by the ancient Korean kingdom of Goguryeo into a large-scale national park by October. Among some 20 envisioned facilities is a set of bronze statues that show a king of Balhae, which succeeded Goguryeo in 698, rec

South Korean and U.S. officials discussed Monday how to deal with China’s detention of four South Korean activists for North Korean human rights, the Foreign Ministry said.Robert King, U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights issues, met with Seoul’s top nuclear envoy Lim Sung-nam and Kim Soo-kwon, the ministry’s director-general of Korea peace regime.The government and civic activists are campaigning for the freedom of Kim Young-hwan and three other activists who have been in Chinese cu

The Korean government on Sunday remained unwavering despite Tokyo’s ongoing protest against a memorial in Seoul dedicated to women who were forced into sex slavery during Japanese colonial rule. Japan has officially claimed that the “peace statue” in front of its embassy in Seoul breaches the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, an international treaty that outlines a framework for diplomacy, a report submitted to the Diet showed Saturday.The bronze statue was erected in December to mark t