- TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan beefed
up air defense patrols on Saturday and urged peace on the Korean peninsula
after a sea battle between neighboring North and South Korea that killed
four South Korean sailors.
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- "That's trouble," Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro
Koizumi was quoted by Chief Cabinet spokesman Yasuo Fukuda as saying after
being notified of the clash.
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- Defense Agency chief (defense minister) Gen Nakatani
ordered additional air patrols as part of steps to improve surveillance
of the Sea of Japan and the Korean peninsula after the naval battle, Kyodo
news agency quoted agency officials as saying.
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- South Korea said North Korean ships intruded across their
disputed sea border and fired on its boats, killing four and wounding 19
South Korean sailors. One South Korean sailor was missing.
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- Japan's Defense Operations Bureau received information
from its South Korean counterpart via a hot line set up to deal with terrorism
during the World Cup soccer finals that conclude on Sunday in the Japanese
city of Yokohama.
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- South Korean President Kim Dae-jung is due in Tokyo on
Sunday for the Brazil-Germany final of the World Cup, co-hosted by South
Korea and Japan, and is scheduled to hold talks with Koizumi early in the
week with North Korea now certain to top the agenda.
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- "We, the Japanese government, regret the deaths
and injuries sustained by the South Koreans following the shootout with
the North Koreans," said a spokesman for the prime minister's office.
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- "We consider peace on the Korean peninsula extremely
important not only for our nation but also the international community
at large," he said.
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- "Therefore we would like to monitor the situation
closely while all the while keeping in close contact with the South Korean
government."
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- Attempts by Japan and North Korea to normalize ties have
made little progress since relations deteriorated sharply after Pyongyang
launched a three-stage missile over Japan's main island of Honshu in August
1998.
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- Japan's plan to salvage a suspected North Korean spy
ship that sank late last year may cause Pyongyang to postpone talks between
Japanese and North Korean Red Cross officials, diplomatic sources said
this week.
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- In April, Japanese and North Korean Red Cross officials
met for the first time in more than two years in Beijing to discuss the
vexed issue of Japanese nationals who Tokyo believes were kidnapped by
North Korea. They had agreed to meet again in June.
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- The two sides began normalization talks in 1991, but
the North broke off negotiations when Japan raised the kidnapping issue.
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- Like the 1988 Seoul Olympics, the World Cup has highlighted
contrasts between the Koreas. While the South and its winning soccer team
basked in the limelight, the North staged a festival to honor its communist
leadership and its refugee crisis made global headlines.
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