2003.10.13

S. Korean President Calls for Presidential Referendum [VOANews.com Headlines] The extremely unpopular South Korean president Roh will leave his fate to the people in an unprecedented referendum to be held, probably in mid-December.   2003.10.13

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Asia 'overcoming harsh times'. [BBC News | Asia-Pacific | World Edition] Asian economies are recovering after SARS and the Bali bombing, the World Economic Forum says.   2003.10.13

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Japan-DPRK Export Arrests (AP)   Small fry car dealers in southern Japan arrested in connection with exports to North Korea.   2003.10.13

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Kitty Hawk   The 86,000-ton USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier left port today after a five-month refurbishing at Yokosuka. Warplanes from the Kitty Hawk are to conduct night landing practice from Oct. 18 through Oct. 27 on Iwo Jima and the Atsugi Naval Air Facility.   2003.10.13

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Japan-Cosmetic Surgery (AP)   Another wire service story picking up on a "trend" in Japan. And again we have a case of the foreign media "discovering" something that has been routine and common for, say, 20 years -- in this case, Japanese women undergoing the knife to give themselves Western facial features. Actually this story has been done many times by foreign newspapers and magazines.   2003.10.13

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Japan-Election (Shukan Post)   A weekly magazine reveals what details of what is claims is an unreleased survey showing the DPJ will wrest power from the LDP in the upcoming election. We do note that support for the Koizumi Cabinet has dropped to 56% while the DPJ is seeing its highest numbers ever (which have never been very high).   2003.10.13

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Koizumi-Arrest (Mainichi) UPDATED More details on we first reported here yesterday -- an apparent attempted attack on Prime Minister Koizumi yesterday in Saitama. The arrested suspect is an uyoku member. 2003.10.13

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Ishihara alleges Fujii tried to blackmail him [The Japan Times] Land minister Nobuteru Ishihara charges that Japan Highway President Haruho Fujii tried to blackmail him by indicating knowledge of shady land deals involving influential politicians.   2003.10.13

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ASEAN Roundup. Donga South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will hold an exclusive bilateral meeting during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit on October 20-21 in Bangkok, Thailand, on the issue of launching negotiations for the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) before 2005, according to a report on October 12. [The Agonist]   2003.10.13

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