Kyodo news summary -6-
PYONGYANG - North Korea’s No. 2 leader said Wednesday that whether the country will carry out further nuclear tests following one earlier in the week would depend on how the United States treats the country.
In a meeting with Kyodo News, Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, said North Korea also considers U.S. policy toward the country the main factor for determining whether to return to the stalled six-party talks on its nuclear programs.
———- 83% happy with Abe’s China trip, opposition to Yasukuni visits rises
TOKYO - An opinion poll by Kyodo News has found that 83.2 percent of respondents hold a favorable view of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s recent trip to China and South Korea, while the total of those opposing a prime ministerial visit to the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine has risen to 56.6 percent, up 5.3 percentage points from immediately after the launch of the Abe administration in late September.
The telephone survey, conducted Tuesday and Wednesday on 1,035 randomly selected people, showed support for Abe’s Cabinet stood at 62.7 percent, down from 65 percent in the previous survey on Sept. 26-27. Disapproval moved up to 19.5 percent from 16.2 percent.
———- U.S. forces unload missiles for Patriot interceptors in Okinawa
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NAHA, Japan - U.S. forces on Wednesday unloaded cargo believed to contain missiles for a U.S.-led missile defense system from a freighter that arrived in Okinawa on Monday and started transferring it to the U.S. Air Force’s Kadena Ammunition Storage Area in the same prefecture.
U.S. soldiers and other workers were able to unload the cargo after the local police cleared the route that civic groups were blocking in protest at the deployment of the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 interceptor system.
———- Japan on alert, decides on additional sanctions against N. Korea
TOKYO - Japan decided Wednesday to slap additional economic sanctions on North Korea, including a total ban on North Korean ships’ entry into Japanese ports, with the nation remaining on high alert over speculation that Pyongyang may conduct a second nuclear test.
The measures, also including limiting imports from North Korea, were worked out in a meeting of Cabinet ministers concerned and are to be made formal through a meeting of the Security Council of Japan later Wednesday and a full Cabinet meeting on Friday, government sources said.
———- Chinese Communist Party meeting ends stressing social harmony
BEIJING - An important meeting of the Chinese Communist Party concluded in Beijing on Wednesday with Chinese President Hu Jintao highlighting social harmony, state media reported.
Hu, who is also the party’s general secretary, said while economic development was the key task, the country should put more emphasis on issues such as narrowing the wealth gap and creating more jobs.
———- Police says more terror attacks in S. Philippines
MANILA - Big cities and densely populated areas in the southern Philippines braced Wednesday for more terror attacks after a series of bomb explosions believed to be handiwork of al-Qaida-linked militants rocked the region, killing at least six people and wounding 29 others, police said.
Police and military in the jittery southern region of Mindanao Island, home to a decades-old Muslim insurgency, have been placed in full-alert as several towns will hold various festivities expected to attract huge crowds in the next few days, security officials said.
———- Japan says no radioactive material found in air
TOKYO - Midair dust collected by Japanese Self-Defense Forces aircraft following North Korea’s claimed underground nuclear test Monday contained no radioactive materials, a government liaison conference dealing with radioactive issues said Wednesday.
The Japan Meteorological Agency said seismic activities monitored in northeastern North Korea on Monday bore many differences to a natural earthquake that occurred in the country four years ago.
———- H.K. chief shifts governance focus away from politics
HONG KONG - Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Donald Tsang on Wednesday delivered to the Legislative Council his second governance blueprint, which focuses on economic development, family welfare, education and pollution without much emphasis on development of democracy in the territory.
Tsang pledged funding to support preschool education, to assist in goods design and to support elite athletes, as well as financial initiatives for car owners to replace their old, polluting vehicles and car registration tax rebates for environmentally friendly models.
———- Sri Lanka gov’t, Tamil Tigers to talk peace in late Oct.
COLOMBO - Norway announced Wednesday that the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers have agreed to meet in Switzerland from Oct. 28 to 29 and asked Oslo to make the ”necessary arrangements.”