S. Korea Says Papers Prove War Crimes
SEOUL -- South Korean officials said documents declassified on Friday offer proof that the Japanese government remains legally responsible for crimes it committed during its 1910-1945 occupation of the Korean Peninsula, including forcing Korean women into sexual slavery.
The documents stem from secret talks between South Korea and Japan in 1951 and 1965, which led to the establishment of diplomatic ties and a Japanese payment of $800 million in compensation to South Korea.
In a statement, the South Korean prime minister's office said it would pursue efforts to force Japan to take responsibility for what it says were crimes against humanity committed before and during World War II.
"The illegal activities against humanity, including the issue of comfort women, committed by the Japanese government and army cannot be seen as resolved by the [1965] treaty," the statement said. Comfort women is a euphemism for the estimated 200,000 women, most of them Koreans, who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese occupation army.
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europe
· ROME -- A suspect in the failed July 21 London bombings who was arrested in Rome appealed an Italian court's extradition ruling, saying he feared "heightened tension" in Britain might affect proceedings against him, his attorney said.
Hamdi Issac was ordered extradited to Britain by a court in Rome this month. His attorney, Antonietta Sonnessa, filed an appeal with Italy's highest court, arguing that she had not received a British analysis of the contents of the bag Issac carried onto a subway. Her client maintains it contained a mixture of flour and a liquid hair product and was not meant to kill.
· HELSINKI -- Finland's Agriculture Ministry said it had found a possible outbreak of bird flu in seagulls in the northern town of Oulu, but said it was probably not the highly pathogenic strain that has caused deaths in Asia.
Asia
· HANOI -- Bird flu has killed three rare, catlike civets born in captivity at a national park in Vietnam, marking the first time the virus has been reported in the species, officials said.
"It's another good example of how dangerous this thing is," said Scott Roberton, technical adviser for the civet conservation program at the Cuc Phuong National Park, about 75 miles south of Hanoi, the capital.
