IN BRIEF (Page 12)

China Daily | Updated: 2019-08-26 06:58

Republic Of Korea

Seoul military drills draw Tokyo protest

The Republic of Korea's military on Sunday began two days of drills around a tiny island also claimed by Japan, prompting a protest from Tokyo just days after Seoul decided to scrap an intelligence-sharing pact with its neighbor amid worsening relations. Tokyo and Seoul have long been at loggerheads over the sovereignty of the group of islets known as Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in the ROK. The military drills were scheduled to begin on Sunday, and will include naval, air, and army forces, a ROK official said. The Japanese Foreign Ministry called the drills unacceptable and said it had lodged a protest with the ROK calling for them to end.

Iran

Teheran blacklists US-based think tank

Iran has blacklisted US-based think tank the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, or FDD, and its chief Mark Dubowitz on accusations of being behind "economic terrorism" against the country. Iranian Foreign Ministry said in a statement issued late Saturday that it had "added the so-called FDD and its director to the sanctions list". "The American institution with the deceitful name" and Dubowitz were accused of being involved in "designing, imposing and intensifying the impacts of economic terrorism against Iran", it said.

Agencies

(China Daily 08/26/2019 page12)