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Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – The United States on Monday stressed national “solidarity with our South Korean and Japanese allies and noted that these consultations demonstrate the strength of our shared commitment to advancing regional security and stability.”

In a post-meeting statement National Security Council Deputy Spokesman Ben Chang noted the interaction “as part of the historic Trilateral meetings between our three countries,” represented by U.S. National Security Advisor Tom Donilon, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan Seiji Maehara, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Republic of Korea Kim Sung-hwan.

Citing the North Korean provocations, Chang said, Donilon emphasized the “timeliness” of the meetings, expressing “the President’s support and personal interest in this Trilateral process.”

The explosive situation in the region was created with Pyongyang’s fatal artillery strike on South Korea’s Yeonpyeong island near the disputed western maritime border, killing two South Korean soldiers and two civilians.

“Consistent with our efforts to strengthen these core alliances over the course of the last two years, Mr. Donilon underscored U.S. solidarity with our South Korean and Japanese allies and noted that these consultations demonstrate the strength of our shared commitment to advancing regional security and stability,” the statement said.

Chang summed up the meeting with a stern warning to North Korea: “The three officials pledged to remain fully coordinated in sending a clear message to North Korea – that if it chooses the path of denuclearization, the road to reintegration into the international community will be open, but if it chooses further provocations and threats, it will further isolate itself.”

Earlier, Japanese Minister Maehara and Korean Minister Sung-hwan met with the U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, for a ministerial trilateral.

Clinton noted that the role of China in the region cannot be denied but the trio rejected Chinese call to return to the six-party talks with North Korea.

In a joint statement, the three leaders “reaffirmed that resumption of the Six-Party Talks will require the DPRK to make sincere efforts to improve relations with the ROK as well as taking concrete steps to demonstrate a genuine commitment to complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization.”

Moreover, President Barack Obama on Sunday night had called China’s President Hu Jintao to discuss global hot spots giving a headache to Americans including North Korea.

During the call, the two presidents discussed the North Korean shelling of a South Korean island on Nov. 23 and the pursuit of a uranium enrichment program by the North.

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Manila, Metro Manila, Philippines (AHN) – President Benigno Aquino III returned to the Philippines Monday, bringing with him at least $2.85 billion in investments from Japan. Another $2.6 billion in other investments in businesses that are in preparatory stages will likely follow.

The investments are the fruit of Aquino’s meeting with officials of three large Japanese firms -Marubeni, Toshiba and Itochu–whom the president met while attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Yokohama.

Itochu plans to invest $122 million to develop 11,000 hectares of sugar plantation and build a bio-ethanol plant in Isabela. The planned venture has the potential for employing 18,000 workers in two years and benefitting 15,000 farmers, Aquino said.

Toshiba will invest $133 million to expand the production in the Philippines of its electronic products.

Marubeni will build three coal-fired power plants in Sual, Calaca and Pagbilao, which cost $2.6 billion. To signify the company’s seriousness in its plans, Marubeni had already inked a letter of intent with Philippine government representatives, the president disclosed.

Among projects still in the blueprint stage are the expansion of two commuter train lines and the construction of a liquefied natural gas facility.

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By Bill Tarrant

Yokoham, Japan – International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn said on Saturday that Ireland can manage its fiscal affairs well, and the Fund has had no request for aid.

“I have not been in contact with Ireland,” he told reporters on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit in Yokohama, Japan. “So far I have not had a request, and I think Ireland can manage well…”

He said the IMF would be willing to help Ireland if needed in the future, but “until now it’s business as usual”.

Ireland is in talks about tapping emergency funds from the European Financial Stability Facility, euro zone sources told Reuters on Friday, but Ireland said it had not formally applied for any European Union aid.

Strauss-Kahn said he, too, was unaware of talks about an EU bailout for Ireland.

Irish borrowing costs shot to record highs this week because of concern about the country’s ability to reduce a public debt burden swollen by bank bailouts, and worries that private bond holders could be forced to shoulder part of the costs of any bailout by taking “haircuts” on their holdings.

Government officials in Dublin have denied repeatedly that they plan to tap EU funds, and an Irish finance ministry spokesman said after the Reuters story was published that there were “no talks on an application for emergency funding from the European Union.”

Eurozone sources told Reuters that aid discussions were under way, however. One official said it was “very likely” that Ireland would get financial assistance from the EU facility set up after Greece obtained a 110 billion euro bailout in May.

“Talks are ongoing and European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) money will be used; there will be no haircuts or restructuring or anything of the kind,” one eurozone source said. A second source confirmed the talks.

Pressure on Irish bonds eased on Friday after France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Britain, issued a statement confirming that holders of existing euro debt would not take a hit if the EU proceeded with plans to introduce a mechanism letting countries restructure their debt.

That sent waves of relief through markets fearing that the eurozone could be headed toward another debt crisis following the one with Greece earlier this year.

Strauss-Kahn said Ireland’s difficulties were much different from Greece’s, however.

“The Irish situation is mostly linked to the problem of the banks, especially one big bank, not only one, but mostly one big bank. It’s not the same thing as the Greece problem, which was at the same time a fiscal problem but also a competitiveness problem.”

He said the Irish government has “taken a lot of measures to get back on track on the fiscal side”.

The spread between the Irish 10-year bond yield and the German benchmark, which rocketed to a high of nearly 7 percentage points on Thursday, narrowed to around 5.8 percentage points on Friday.

But borrowing costs for Ireland remain sky-high and pressure on Ireland’s fragile banks may have forced the government to enter aid discussions, even though it is fully funded until mid-2011 and does not face the same liquidity crisis that confronted Greece earlier this year.

The EU, in turn, may be keen to calm investors with an Irish bailout to prevent contagion to other indebted countries such as Portugal and Spain. – Reuters

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New Delhi, India (AHN) – United States President Barack Obama, on the second day of his three-day visit to India, has appreciated New Delhi for its developments and vowed his nation’s support in the world’s largest democracy’s quest for a permanent United Nations Security Council seat.

In a landmark address at the Indian Parliament on Monday, Obama said that India had been an “indispensable” U.S. partner and the relationship between them would one of this century’s defining partnerships.

Obama told dignitaries, “As two global leaders, the United States and India can partner for global security – especially as India serves on the Security Council over the next two years. Indeed the just and sustainable international order that America seeks includes a U.N. that is efficient, effective, credible and legitimate.”

Despite Obama’s timeline, analysts do not expect India to get permanent seat so soon.

Pakistan quickly responded to Obama’s comments and said that Washington should not be swayed by “power politics”. Abdul Basit, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said that Obama’s comments added complexity in the process of council reforms. “Pakistan hopes that the US will take a moral view and not base itself on any temporary expediency or exigencies of power politics,” he added.

The United States, China, Russia, France and Britain are the permanent five members of the Security Council presently. India, Japan, Brazil and Germany are keen on joining the group.

However, Obama said big authorities mean big responsibilities too and highlighted Myanmar’s human right abuse cases on which India had failed to do enough to condemn it.

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