The World South Korea’s Yoon calls for strong security cooperation with US, Japan

incoming missiles. In June, their defense ministers said they recognized efforts to activate such a data-sharing mechanism before the end of the year.

Worries about North Korea’s nuclear program has grown since the North openly threatened to use nuclear weapons in conflicts with its rivals and conducted about 100 missile tests since the start of last year. Many of the missiles tested were nuclear-capable weapons that place both South Korea and Japan within striking distance and could potentially reach the US mainland. South Korea and Japan together host about 80,000 US troops.

By Hyung-Jin Kim

The Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea—South Korea’s president called for deeper security cooperation with the US and Japan to address North Korean nuclear threats, saying Tuesday that his upcoming summit with the US and Japanese leaders at Camp David will “set a new milestone in trilateral cooperation.”

It will be the first time for the leaders of the three countries to gather entirely for a trilateral summit, rather than on the sidelines of international meetings. This suggests they are serious about boosting their ties in the face of North Korea’s advancing nuclear arsenal and China’s increasingly assertive foreign policy.

In their summit Friday at the US presidential retreat in Maryland, President Joe Biden, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida are expected to announce plans for expanded military cooperation on ballistic missile defenses and technology development, according to two senior Biden administration officials.

“The ROK (Republic of Korea)US-Japan summit to be held at Camp David in three days will set a new milestone in trilateral cooperation contributing to peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula and in the Indo-Pacific region,” Yoon said in a televised speech in Seoul on Tuesday.

Yoon’s speech marked the 78th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japan’s 35-year colonial rule in 1945. Past South Korean presidents commonly used Liberation

Day speeches to ask Japan to make fresh apologies over its colonial wrongdoing. But Yoon, a conservative who has pushed to resolve the historical grievance as a way to boost Seoul-Washington-Tokyo cooperation, didn’t do so and rather explained again why improved ties with Japan were needed.

Yoon said the seven rear bases provided to the US-led UN Command by Japan serve as “the greatest deterrent” that keeps North Korea from invading South Korea. He said a North Korean invasion would trigger an immediate, automatic intervention by the U.N. Command and that the bases in Japan have the necessary land, sea, and air capabilities.

“As partners that cooperate on security and the economy, Korea and Japan will be able to jointly contribute to peace and prosperity across the globe while collaborating and exchanging in a futureoriented manner,” Yoon said.

Yoon said the significance of Seoul-Washington-Tokyo security cooperation is growing on the Korean Peninsula and in the region.

“In order to fundamentally block North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats, the Republic of Korea, the United States and Japan must closely cooperate on reconnaissance assets and share North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missiles data in real time,” Yoon said.

When they met at the margins of a regional conference in Cambodia in November, Yoon, Biden and Kishida said they intended to share North Korea missile warning data in real time to improve each country’s ability to detect and assess the threat posed by

Former Malaysian PM Muhyiddin Yassin acquitted of 4 graft charges

By Eileen Ng

The Associated Press

KUALA LUMPUR, Malay - sia—Former Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin

Yassin was acquitted by the high court of four corruption charges on Tuesday, just days after his opposition bloc expanded its influence in local elections.

Muhyiddin, 76, said the high court ruled in favor of his application to overturn four charges of abusing his power to obtain 232.5 million ringgit ($50 million) in bribes for his Bersatu party. He was charged in March and still faces three charges of money laundering involving 200 million ringgit ($43 million).

“From the start, I have said that these are politically motivated charges. I have not done anything wrong ... and today it has been proven that these were false allegations,” he told reporters outside the courthouse. His lawyer, Hisyam Teh Poh Teik, said the court agreed with the de -

In response to North Korea’s torrid run of missile tests, the United States and South Korea have expanded their military drills and resuming some trilateral training involving Japan. That has infuriated North Korea, which views US-led military exercises on and near the Korean Peninsula as an invasion rehearsal. North Korean officials say US moves to bolster military cooperation with South Korea and Japan are pushing the North to reinforce its own military capability.

During his recent tour of munitions factories, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered officials to drastically increase production of missiles and build “an overwhelming military force” to “surely annihilate” its enemies, state media reported Monday.

South Korea, the US and Japan have held a trilateral leaders’ meeting a total of 12 times since they had their first such a summit in 1994, but all of them were held on the sidelines of international conferences, according to South Korea’s presidential office.

This week’s first stand-alone trilateral summit at Camp David comes as ties between Seoul and Tokyo have eased significantly in recent months. In March, Yoon took a major step toward resolving bilateral wrangling over colonial-era Korean forced laborers, despite vehement opposition at home by some victims and his liberal rivals. Yoon has argued Seoul and Tokyo share challenges like the intensifying US-China strategic rivalry and global supply chain problems as well as the North Korean nuclear program.

The Associated Press writer Aam er Madhani in Washington contributed to this report. party, further expanded its influence among the country’s majority Malays in an outcome that deepened Malaysia’s ethnic polarization. fense contention that the charges were defective legally and lacked details on how the offenses were committed. With the collapse of the four main charges, Teh said they were confident the other three money-laundering charges would not stand. The graft charges revolved around the award of contracts to selected ethnic Malay contractors allegedly in return for bribes, and approving an appeal by a business tycoon over the cancellation of his tax exemption.

Prosecutors said they would appeal the court’s decision.

Muhyiddin is the second former leader charged with crimes after exPrime Minister Najib Razak, who received multiple charges after losing a 2018 general election. Najib began a 12-year prison term last year after losing his final appeal in the first of several graft trials.

Muhyiddin’s legal victory came just days after fiercely contested state elections returned the status quo. But his Malay nationalist Perikatan Nasional (PN) bloc, which includes a conservative Islamic

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has rejected accusations that the charges against Muhyiddin were politically motivated and noted the investigations were carried out independently by the anti-graft agency.

After taking power in November,

Anwar ordered a review of government projects approved by past administrations including Muhyiddin’s government from March 2020 until August 2021. Anwar has said many of the projects were overpriced and awarded without tenders.

Two senior members of Muhyiddin’s Bersatu party were also charged with graft. The anti-graft agency also froze Bersatu’s party accounts.

Anwar and Muhyiddin fought for the premiership after November’s general election produced a hung parliament. Muhyiddin’s PN bloc received stronger-than-expected support from Malays, who account for two-thirds of Malaysia’s 33 million people. The king later appointed Anwar as prime minister after he formed a unity government with former rivals.

Agriculture as linchpin of PHL economic growth

AgricuLture continued to be a laggard among the major economic sectors, based on the National income Accounts (NiA) of the Philippines for the second quarter. According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, which publishes the NiA, Agriculture, forestry, fishing (AFF) grew by a measly 0.2 percent in April to June, lower than the 2.1 percent of industry and the 6 percent of Services. Minus forestry, agriculture and fisheries output even contracted by 1.3 percent during the period. (See, “Agri-fisheries output falls by 1.3 percent in Q2–PSA,” in the BusinessMirror, August 10, 2023).

The contraction in the value of agri-fisheries output during the period was driven by the fisheries subsector, which recorded a 14-percent decline. All other subsectors—crops, livestock and poultry—recorded increments in value at constant 2018 prices. Crop prices increased by an average of 1.2 percent, livestock by 0.7 percent and poultry by 1.5 percent. In terms of volume, the production of almost all marine species registered declines during the second quarter, based on PSA data. Of the marine species monitored by the PSA in the second quarter, only tiger prawn (sugpo) and roundscad (galunggong) posted increases of 0.9 percent and 30.1 percent, respectively. The output of tilapia and milkfish or bangus, which are some of the most popular fish species consumed by Filipinos, contracted by 4.6 percent and 19.1 percent, respectively. Also, the output of corn, sugarcane and popular vegetables like cabbage, eggplant, and mongo were lower, based on PSA data. Among the crops monitored, sugarcane recorded the steepest decline at 11.3 percent while corn—the second most important crop—contracted by 0.8 percent. The production of chicken eggs, the cheapest source of protein, fell by 2.1 percent, while hog output grew by only 1 percent.

Because of the dismal performance of agri-fisheries, AFF contributed a measly 0.01 percentage point to the country’s production of goods and services in the second quarter. This contribution, just like the 4.3 percent GDP posted during the period, disappointed not only experts and economists, but also government officials. (See, “Imee, economist see full-year growth still possible, but much work must be done,” in the BusinessMirror, August 11, 2023)

Unfortunately, agriculture has been a laggard among major economic sectors for years. The immediate reversal of this trend should be of paramount importance to economic managers if they want to temper spikes in food prices, which have been largely responsible for the jump in inflation rates in the second half of 2022. Certain food items like pork and onions almost became inaccessible to the poor, especially during the holidays.

The Marcos administration has set aside more funds for the agrifisheries sector next year, and programs that seek to increase productivity have been rolled out. Mechanisms such as the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund as well as the trust fund for the coconut sector are in place to assist farmers. The state has the necessary resources at its disposal to enable the agriculture sector to produce more food and contribute significantly to the country’s GDP.

Amid global headwinds and a growing protectionist stance by some food exporting countries, it would do well for the Marcos administration to boost agricultural production to strengthen the country’s food security. These programs in place can potentially make agriculture the linchpin of the country’s economic growth.

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