KONFRONTASI - An American sailor serving aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan has been arrested by Japanese police over sexual assault charges, according to the US Navy.
The US Navy waited until Monday to make the arrest in the Japanese capital Tokyo public, two days after it actually took place on Saturday.
TOKYO- “My personal history reflected the transformation of past authoritarian Asia to Democratic Asia, I was jailed in the Sukamiskin prison in Bandung by General Soeharto for 1,5 years in student movement 1977/78 just for writing a manuscript demanding a democratic and good governance for Indonesia. It was a difficult and long struggle by Indonesian democratic forces.
KONFRONTASI-Japanese F-15 fighters on Tuesday held drills with U.S. B1-B bombers, F-35 stealth aircraft and F-18 multirole combat jets above the East China Sea, south of the Korean peninsula, Japan’s Air Self Defence Force (ASDF) said.
The exercise was the largest in a series aimed at pressuring North Korea following its ballistic missile tests. The latest launch, on Nov. 29, featured a new missile type the North said could hit targets in the United States, such as Washington D.C.
KONFRONTASI-Japan said on Monday it will help the Philippines rebuild conflict-torn southern Marawi city as well as other infrastructure in a deepening of ties to counter China’s regional influence.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made the pledges in a joint statement with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte following talks in Tokyo.
Duterte on Oct 23 announced the end of five months of military operations in Marawi held by Islamic State rebels in a conflict that destroyed much of the city’s center and displaced some 300,000 people.
KONFRONTASI - North Korea has threatened to use nuclear weapons against neighboring Japan and “sink” the island country.
“Japan is no longer needed to exist near us. The four islands of the archipelago should be sunken into the sea by the nuclear bomb of Juche,” North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on Thursday, citing a statement by the Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee.
Juche refers to Pyongyang’s ideology of “self-reliance.”
KONFRONTASI-Japan has reportedly requested a new, advanced missile system from the United States to counter what Tokyo perceive to be a growing North Korean threat.
Reuters cited three unnamed sources on Wednesday as acknowledging that Tokyo had requested a land-based version of the Aegis ballistic missile defense (BMD) system from the US.
According to the news agency, US officials have not met the demand so far due to objections raised by the US Missile Defense Agency.
KONFRONTASI - Marine forces from Japan and the United States are conducting joint military exercises in the East China Sea amid an escalation of tensions in the region.
Japan’s Sankei Shimbun newspaper and Kyodo news agency reported on Friday that the two sides launched the military drills earlier this week. The maneuvers involve Japanese destroyers and a US Navy carrier strike group.
KONFRONTASI-Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday stopped at several memorials in Hawaii, one day before he will visit the site of the 1941 bombing of Pearl Harbor during a trip intended to show a strong alliance between his country and the United States.
Abe made no public remarks and stood in silence before a wreath of flowers at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, a memorial to people who died while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces.
KONFRONTASI - The US military has welcomed Japan’s interest in boosting its maritime activities in the disputed South China Sea.
The US Navy said in a statement on Thursday it seeks to enhance cooperative efforts with Japan to contribute to the region’s security.
"The United States welcomes Japan's interest in expanding its maritime activities in the South China Sea. We continue to explore ways to enhance US-Japan cooperative efforts to contribute to the security and stability of the region," the US Navy said.
KONFRONTASI - China, Japan and South Korea have denounced North Korea’s latest missile test, calling on Pyongyang to refrain from “provocative” actions that could deteriorate the situation on the already-tense Korean Peninsula.
Foreign ministers of the three countries made the remarks at the end of an annual trilateral meeting held in the Japanese capital, Tokyo, on Wednesday, hours after Pyongyang successfully test-fired a ballistic missile, believed to be a KN-11.