TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe headed Sunday for a four-day trip to Europe, hoping to discuss security issues and make progress on trade as regional tensions soar over accelerating North Korean threats. Abe’s trip, which will take him to Germany, France, Belgium and Italy, comes a few days after US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited Tokyo for talks on North Korean nuclear and missile threats. Japan has been on edge over North Korean launches since a mid-range ballistic missile flew without warning over the northern part of the country and into the western Pacific in 1998. “I want to exchange opinions openly with G7 leaders,” Abe told reporters at a Tokyo airport before his departure. “We hope to closely cooperate with the EU on issues the international community is facing such as the problems on North Korea and free trade,” he said.

Source: Manila Times March 19, 2017 06:33 UTC