Japan leader says South Korea canceling intel deal damages trust
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says South Korea’s decision to scrap a deal to share military intelligence is damaging mutual trust.
Abe was speaking to reporters on Aug. 23, a day after Seoul announced the decision.
He says, “We will continue to closely coordinate with the U.S. to ensure regional peace and prosperity, as well as Japan’s security.”
He says he will continue to urge South Korea “to keep promises” made in the past.
South Korea said it made the decision because Tokyo downgraded South Korea’s preferential trade status, which it said changed the security cooperation between the countries.
South Korea accuses Japan of weaponizing trade to punish it over a separate dispute linked to Japan’s brutal colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945. AP
Putin orders ‘symmetric’ measures after U.S. missile test
President Vladimir Putin has ordered the Russian military to find a quid pro quo response after the test of a new U.S. missile banned under a now-defunct arms treaty.
In the Aug. 18 test, a modified ground-launched version of a Navy Tomahawk cruise missile accurately struck its target more than 310 miles away. The test came after the U.S. and Russia withdrew from the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
The U.S. has explained its withdrawal from the treaty by Russian violations, a claim Moscow has denied. Speaking Friday, Putin charged that the U.S. wanted to “untie its hands to deploy the previously banned missiles in different parts of the world.”
He ordered the Defense Ministry and other agencies to “take the necessary measures to prepare a symmetrical answer.” AP
U.S. lawmakers to look into cancelled Alaska missile project
Alaska’s members of Congress have said they plan to look into a Pentagon decision to cancel a project to improve Alaska-based missiles, a report said.
The Pentagon canceled a Boeing contract last week because of unspecified missile design flaws, The Anchorage Daily News reported Aug. 22.
Congress authorized the Pentagon to add 20 updated interceptor missiles to its fleet of 44. Most are at Fort Greely, southeast of Fairbanks.
The ground-based missiles are designed to strike down incoming threats. North Korea, China and Russia are taking steps to advance their missile capabilities.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, said in a statement she was disappointed the contract was canceled before the additional interceptors were placed in Alaska.
“It is my understanding that construction of Missile Field Four at Fort Greely will continue, and once the next-generation interceptors are built, I will work to ensure that those will be placed in Alaska to serve as our nation’s first line of defense,” she said.
Sen. Dan Sullivan, also a Republican and a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee said in a statement he is “deeply concerned” about the decision.
“I plan to dig deep into the assumptions made and details of the decision-making undertaken that led to what I hope is not this short-sighted decision,” Sullivan said.
Republican Rep. Don Young issued a statement calling the decision to cancel the program troubling.
“When it comes to our national defense posture, Alaska is an important strategic location for keeping Americans safe,” he said. “Our national defense cannot wait for a new kill vehicle program to be developed.” AP