Roh completes two years in office
INDONESIA: South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, who completed two years in office on Friday, vowed that his government would continue to put a priority on cementing its alliances with the United States.
"The alliance between South Korea and the United States is more solid than ever and the government will manage it properly in the future," Roh said. "The alliance will become more balanced in 10 years."
Roh made the remarks during a speech at Korea's National Assembly to mark the second anniversary of his inauguration, according to a Korean Embassy statement.
But he reiterated that the government would pursue diplomacy on an equal footing with the U.S. and would ask officials in charge of foreign policy to be straightforward in negotiations with Washington. -- JP
;REUTERS;APS;CD; ANPAi..r.. ATW-CONGO-DEMOCRATIC-AMBUSH At least 8 UN soldiers killed in Congo-UN sources JP/12/ATW
Eight UN soldiers killed in Congo
CONGO: Militiamen killed at least eight United Nations peacekeepers in an attack on a patrol in eastern Congo on Friday, UN sources in the country said.
"There are at least eight dead and some still missing," one UN source told Reuters. A second UN source confirmed the death toll.
Kemal Saiki, a spokesman for the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, said the attack took place on Friday morning in the mineral-rich Ituri district, where the UN has deployed 4,800 peacekeepers.
"There have been casualties in the UN forces, including some fatalities," he said, but could not give further details.
The UN force in Ituri is made up of four contingents of 850 soldiers each from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Morocco and Nepal.
The district is one of Congo's worst troublespots, where ethnic militias have killed 50,000 civilians since 1999.
The former Zaire is struggling to recover from a wider five- year war that at one stage sucked in six neighboring countries and, according to an international aid agency, has killed nearly 4 million people. --Reuters
;AFP;APS; ANPAi..r.. ATW-Japan-quake Major quake in Tokyo would kill 13,000, cause 1.1 trln dlr damage JP/12/ATW
Quake in Tokyo would kill 13,000: Study
JAPAN: A major earthquake in Tokyo would kill 13,000 people, inflict US$1.1 trillion in damage and force millions into shelters, a government panel warned on Friday, urging tremor- prone Japan to be even better prepared.
If a quake measuring 7.3 on the Richter scale were to hit the Tokyo region around 6:00 p.m., it would also displace 4.6 million people, the panel said.
The report, parts of which were released to the media in December, said the disaster would cause 112 trillion yen ($1.1 trillion) worth of damage to buildings, infrastructure and lower economic production.
The panel said 4.6 million people would be forced to live in emergency shelters or be otherwise displaced.
"They are unimaginable figures," said Shigeru Ito, the chairman of the panel, who heads the government-backed Urban Disaster Research Institute.
"It is expected that not all of the displaced people would find places in shelters. Rather, about a half of them would only receive rations of food and water," he said.
Ito urged the government to encourage and support individual homeowners to take measures against major quakes and fires.
Japan, which lies at the crossing of four tectonic plates, endures about 20 percent of the world's powerful earthquakes, frequently jolting Tokyo and other major cities where buildings are made to be tremor resistant. --AFP
;AP;APS; ANPAi..r.. ATW-Nepal-democracy Nepal's king says he will restore democracy in three years JP/12/ATW
Nepal's king to restore democracy
NEPAL: Nepal's king has promised to restore democracy in three years, and insisted that he was upholding democratic principles despite his power grab earlier this month, a newspaper said on Friday.
In his first comments to the Nepalese media since he sacked the government and declared a state of emergency on Feb. 1, King Gyanendra also urged Maoist rebels to join peace talks and shrugged off the suspension of military aid by India and Britain, news reports said on Friday.
The king also suspended civil rights and hand-picked a monarchist Cabinet. Dozens of opposition politicians have been arrested or have gone underground, and the media has been strictly censored since the king's takeover.
Gyanendra has said he was forced to take action because of the failure of the former government to stop the communist insurgency and corruption among politicians. However, in a meeting with a dozen Nepalese editors on Thursday, he promised to restore democracy.
"You have given me something that is badly infested. Three years is the maximum we have asked for. If I can, I will definitely shorten that period," Gyanendra was quoted as saying by The Kathmandu Post. --AP