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South Korea Intends To Resolve Its Forced Labor Feud With Japan

South Korea

(CTN NEWS) – SEOUL –  On Monday, South Korea announced a plan to repay Koreans compelled to work during Tokyo’s colonial control without requiring Japanese businesses to contribute to the reparations.

This was a move towards repairing relations with its longtime foe Japan.

To better counter North Korea’s nuclear threats, conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol has been pushing to heal strained ties with Japan and strengthen security cooperation among Seoul, Tokyo, and Washington.

This is reflected in the plan. Quickly praising it as “a revolutionary new chapter” of cooperation between two of the United States’ closest allies, President Joseph Biden said.

Former forced workers and others who support them immediately voiced their opposition to the South Korean scheme, which depends on funds raised domestically.

South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin speaks during a briefing announcing a plan to resolve a dispute over compensating people forced to work under Japan’s 1910-1945 occupation of Korea at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul, South Korea Monday, March 6, 2023. (Kim Hong-Ji/Pool Photo via AP)

They want the Japanese firms to pay them directly and the Japanese government to issue a new apology.

Grievances stemming from Japan’s brutal rule over the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945.

When hundreds of thousands of Koreans were mobilized as forced laborers for Japanese companies or sex slaves at Tokyo’s military-run brothels during World War II, long complicated relations between Seoul and Tokyo.

The survivors are in their 90s, and many forced laborers have passed away.

Only three of the 15 victims, all in their 90s, are still living after South Korean courts in 2018 ordered two Japanese businesses, Nippon Steel and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, to pay them compensation.

The victims will receive compensation through a regional state-run foundation financed by private donations, South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin stated during a live-streamed press conference.

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks on disputes over forced laborers at parliament in Tokyo Monday, March 6, 2023. (Kyodo News via AP)

He expressed South Korea’s wish that Japanese businesses would also voluntarily contribute to the foundation.

“If we relate it to a glass of water, I believe the glass is filled with water more than halfway. Based on Japan’s earnest response, we anticipate that the glass will continue to fill going forward,” Park added.

Yoon described the South Korean action later on Monday as “a commitment to progress towards future-oriented Korea-Japan relations.”

According to Yoon’s office, he stated that both governments must work to aid in the beginning of a new era in their ties.

South Korean officials did not mention the firms that would fund the foundation.

The funds, however, would come from South Korean businesses that benefited from a 1965 treaty between Seoul and Tokyo that normalized their relations, according to Shim Kyu-sun, chairperson of the Foundation for Victims of Forced Mobilization by Imperial Japan, which would be in charge of handling the reparations.

A member of civic group shouts slogan during a rally against the South Korean government’s announcement of a plan over the issue of compensation for forced labors, in front of the Foreign Ministry in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, March 6, 2023. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Hundreds of millions of dollars accompanied the 1965 agreement in loans and economic assistance from Tokyo to Seoul.

Which were used in construction projects by significant South Korean businesses, including POSCO, today a key player in the world of steel.

In response to a formal request, POSCO stated on Monday that it would seriously consider donating to the foundation.

In 2019, Japan imposed export restrictions on chemicals essential to South Korea’s semiconductor industry in retaliation for the South Korean court’s ruling for compensation from Japanese corporations.

Japan maintains that all wartime reparations issues were resolved under the 1965 treaty.

Yoon’s liberal predecessor Moon Jae-in was in charge of South Korea then.

South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin, center, leaves after a briefing announcing a plan on Monday to resolve a dispute over compensating people forced to work under Japan’s 1910-1945 occupation of Korea, at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul, South Korea Monday, March 6, 2023. (Kim Hong-Ji/Pool Photo via AP)

He accused Japan of weaponizing trade and threatened to sever a military intelligence-sharing pact with Tokyo, a key element of their three-way security cooperation with Washington.

These disputes hindered American efforts to deepen ties with its two most important Asian allies in the face of conflict with China and North Korea.

“Our countries are stronger —, and the world is safer and more affluent — when we stand together,” Biden said in his statement, adding that he looks forward to continuing to strengthen the trilateral connections.

Concerns about tension Particularly since North Korea last year embraced an escalating nuclear posture and test-launched a barrage of missiles, some of which were nuclear-capable and put both countries within striking distance, Seoul-Tokyo relations have improved in both nations.

On Monday, the United States sent a nuclear-capable B-52 bomber to the Korean Peninsula for a combined exercise with South Korean jets.

The B-52’s deployment, according to South Korea’s Defense Ministry, proved the partners’ “decisive, overwhelming capacities” to thwart North Korean aggression.

South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin, right, leaves after a briefing announcing a plan on Monday to resolve a dispute over compensating people forced to work under Japan’s 1910-1945 occupation of Korea, at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul, South Korea Monday, March 6, 2023. (Kim Hong-Ji/Pool Photo via AP)

According to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, the restoration of trade relations is a separate problem from Japan’s prior expressions of remorse and apologies for its crimes during colonial times.

Yoshimasa Hayashi, Japan’s foreign minister, told reporters that while his country “appreciates” the South Korean government’s move to mend fences, it does not necessitate financial support from Japanese businesses.

Foreign Minister Park responded that he doesn’t anticipate Japan’s government to obstruct “voluntary donations” made by its civil sector when asked about South Korea’s inability to ensure that Japanese corporations contribute to the compensation of forced laborers.

The preparations for discussions to repair its commercial relations were simultaneously revealed later on Monday by the trade ministries of South Korea and Japan.

According to South Korea’s Trade Ministry, the country has stopped its World Trade Organization dispute procedures on the Japanese trade restraints.

Former forced laborers, those who supported them, and MPs from the liberal opposition attacked the government plan, branding it a diplomatic capitulation.

At the foreign ministry in Seoul, about 20 to 30 protesters gathered, honking their horns and yelling, “We denounce (the Yoon government)” and “Withdraw (the announcement).”

According to Lim Jae-sung, a lawyer for some plaintiffs, the South Korean plan is “absolutely a triumph for Japan, which maintains it cannot spend 1 yen” on forced laborers.

He stated that to secure the restitution; lawyers will continue with actions targeted at selling the Japanese corporations’ assets in South Korea.

The Democratic Party, the biggest liberal opposition party, demanded that Yoon immediately halt what it called “a humiliating diplomacy” towards Japan and abandon its proposal.

The likelihood of resolving the conflicts was called into question by the opposition to the government’s declaration.

Because the foundation didn’t have the approval of the Korean women who were forced to work as sex slaves during World War II, the Democratic Party led by Moon disbanded it when it was in power.

Because “there is no magic solution that can satisfy everyone,” according to Bong Young-shik, a specialist at Seoul’s Yonsei Institute for North Korean Studies.

Yoon has probably decided to move forward with measures to ease the disputes with Japan to strengthen the alliance with the United States.

Yoon, according to him, was probably under pressure to strengthen defences against North Korea’s escalating missile threats.

A third-party repayment of forced laborers was the only practical alternative, according to Choi Eun-mi, a Japan expert at South Korea’s Asan Institute for Policy Studies, because there are “basic” differences with Japan regarding the 2018 court judgments.

One could argue that the government moved quickly to find a resolution, but Choi pointed out that the plaintiffs would have suffered the most if this point hadn’t settled the matter.

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Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding, But Still Accounting 48% Search Revenue

Google

Google is so closely associated with its key product that its name is a verb that signifies “search.” However, Google’s dominance in that sector is dwindling.

According to eMarketer, Google will lose control of the US search industry for the first time in decades next year.

Google will remain the dominant search player, accounting for 48% of American search advertising revenue. And, remarkably, Google is still increasing its sales in the field, despite being the dominating player in search since the early days of the George W. Bush administration. However, Amazon is growing at a quicker rate.

google

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding

Amazon will hold over a quarter of US search ad dollars next year, rising to 27% by 2026, while Google will fall even more, according to eMarketer.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the forecast.

Lest you think you’ll have to switch to Bing or Yahoo, this isn’t the end of Google or anything really near.

Google is the fourth-most valued public firm in the world. Its market worth is $2.1 trillion, trailing just Apple, Microsoft, and the AI chip darling Nvidia. It also maintains its dominance in other industries, such as display advertisements, where it dominates alongside Facebook’s parent firm Meta, and video ads on YouTube.

To put those “other” firms in context, each is worth more than Delta Air Lines’ total market value. So, yeah, Google is not going anywhere.

Nonetheless, Google faces numerous dangers to its operations, particularly from antitrust regulators.

On Monday, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that Google must open up its Google Play Store to competitors, dealing a significant blow to the firm in its long-running battle with Fortnite creator Epic Games. Google announced that it would appeal the verdict.

In August, a federal judge ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly on search. That verdict could lead to the dissolution of the company’s search operation. Another antitrust lawsuit filed last month accuses Google of abusing its dominance in the online advertising business.

Meanwhile, European regulators have compelled Google to follow tough new standards, which have resulted in multiple $1 billion-plus fines.

google

Pixa Bay

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding

On top of that, the marketplace is becoming more difficult on its own.

TikTok, the fastest-growing social network, is expanding into the search market. And Amazon has accomplished something few other digital titans have done to date: it has established a habit.

When you want to buy anything, you usually go to Amazon, not Google. Amazon then buys adverts to push companies’ products to the top of your search results, increasing sales and earning Amazon a greater portion of the revenue. According to eMarketer, it is expected to generate $27.8 billion in search revenue in the United States next year, trailing only Google’s $62.9 billion total.

And then there’s AI, the technology that (supposedly) will change everything.

Why search in stilted language for “kendall jenner why bad bunny breakup” or “police moving violation driver rights no stop sign” when you can just ask OpenAI’s ChatGPT, “What’s going on with Kendall Jenner and Bad Bunny?” in “I need help fighting a moving violation involving a stop sign that wasn’t visible.” Google is working on exactly this technology with its Gemini product, but its success is far from guaranteed, especially with Apple collaborating with OpenAI and other businesses rapidly joining the market.

A Google spokeswoman referred to a blog post from last week in which the company unveiled ads in its AI overviews (the AI-generated text that appears at the top of search results). It’s Google’s way of expressing its ability to profit on a changing marketplace while retaining its business, even as its consumers steadily transition to ask-and-answer AI and away from search.

google

Google has long used a single catchphrase to defend itself against opponents who claim it is a monopoly abusing its power: competition is only a click away. Until recently, that seemed comically obtuse. Really? We are going to switch to Bing? Or Duck Duck Go? Give me a break.

But today, it feels more like reality.

Google is in no danger of disappearing. However, every highly dominating company faces some type of reckoning over time. GE, a Dow mainstay for more than a century, was broken up last year and is now a shell of its previous dominance. Sears declared bankruptcy in 2022 and is virtually out of business. US Steel, long the foundation of American manufacturing, is attempting to sell itself to a Japanese corporation.

Could we remember Google in the same way that we remember Yahoo or Ask Jeeves in decades? These next few years could be significant.

SOURCE | CNN

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2024 | Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case

trump

Washington — Trump Media,  The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will not hear an appeal from social media platform X about a search warrant acquired by prosecutors in the election meddling case against former President Donald Trump.

The justices did not explain their rationale, and there were no recorded dissents.

The firm, which was known as Twitter before being purchased by billionaire Elon Musk, claims a nondisclosure order that prevented it from informing Trump about the warrant obtained by special counsel Jack Smith’s team violated its First Amendment rights.

The business also claims Trump should have had an opportunity to exercise executive privilege. If not reined in, the government may employ similar tactics to intercept additional privileged communications, their lawyers contended.

trump

Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case

Two neutral electronic privacy groups also joined in, urging the high court to hear the case on First Amendment grounds.

Prosecutors, however, claim that the corporation never shown that Trump utilized the account for official purposes, therefore executive privilege is not a problem. A lower court also determined that informing Trump could have compromised the current probe.

trump

Trump utilized his Twitter account in the weeks preceding up to his supporters’ attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, to spread false assertions about the election, which prosecutors claim were intended to create doubt in the democratic process.

The indictment describes how Trump used his Twitter account to encourage his followers to travel to Washington on Jan. 6, pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to reject the certification, and falsely claiming that the Capitol crowd, which battered police officers and destroyed glass, was peaceful.

musk trump

Supreme Court Won’t Hear Appeal From Elon Musk’s X Platform Over Warrant In Trump Case

That case is now moving forward following the Supreme Court’s verdict in July, which granted Trump full immunity from criminal prosecution as a former president.

The warrant arrived at Twitter amid quick changes implemented by Musk, who bought the company in 2022 and has since cut off most of its workforce, including those dedicated to combating disinformation and hate speech.

He also welcomed back a vast list of previously banned users, including Trump, and endorsed him for the 2024 presidential election.

SOURCE | AP

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The Supreme Court Turns Down Biden’s Government Appeal in a Texas Emergency Abortion Matter.

Supreme Court

(VOR News) – A ruling that prohibits emergency abortions that contravene the Supreme Court law in the state of Texas, which has one of the most stringent abortion restrictions in the country, has been upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States. The United States Supreme Court upheld this decision.

The justices did not provide any specifics regarding the underlying reasons for their decision to uphold an order from a lower court that declared hospitals cannot be legally obligated to administer abortions if doing so would violate the law in the state of Texas.

Institutions are not required to perform abortions, as stipulated in the decree. The common populace did not investigate any opposing viewpoints. The decision was made just weeks before a presidential election that brought abortion to the forefront of the political agenda.

This decision follows the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that ended abortion nationwide.

In response to a request from the administration of Vice President Joe Biden to overturn the lower court’s decision, the justices expressed their disapproval.

The government contends that hospitals are obligated to perform abortions in compliance with federal legislation when the health or life of an expectant patient is in an exceedingly precarious condition.

This is the case in regions where the procedure is prohibited. The difficulty hospitals in Texas and other states are experiencing in determining whether or not routine care could be in violation of stringent state laws that prohibit abortion has resulted in an increase in the number of complaints concerning pregnant women who are experiencing medical distress being turned away from emergency rooms.

The administration cited the Supreme Court’s ruling in a case that bore a striking resemblance to the one that was presented to it in Idaho at the beginning of the year. The justices took a limited decision in that case to allow the continuation of emergency abortions without interruption while a lawsuit was still being heard.

In contrast, Texas has been a vocal proponent of the injunction’s continued enforcement. Texas has argued that its circumstances are distinct from those of Idaho, as the state does have an exemption for situations that pose a significant hazard to the health of an expectant patient.

According to the state, the discrepancy is the result of this exemption. The state of Idaho had a provision that safeguarded a woman’s life when the issue was first broached; however, it did not include protection for her health.

Certified medical practitioners are not obligated to wait until a woman’s life is in imminent peril before they are legally permitted to perform an abortion, as determined by the state supreme court.

The state of Texas highlighted this to the Supreme Court.

Nevertheless, medical professionals have criticized the Texas statute as being perilously ambiguous, and a medical board has declined to provide a list of all the disorders that are eligible for an exception. Furthermore, the statute has been criticized for its hazardous ambiguity.

For an extended period, termination of pregnancies has been a standard procedure in medical treatment for individuals who have been experiencing significant issues. It is implemented in this manner to prevent catastrophic outcomes, such as sepsis, organ failure, and other severe scenarios.

Nevertheless, medical professionals and hospitals in Texas and other states with strict abortion laws have noted that it is uncertain whether or not these terminations could be in violation of abortion prohibitions that include the possibility of a prison sentence. This is the case in regions where abortion prohibitions are exceedingly restrictive.

Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which resulted in restrictions on the rights of women to have abortions in several Republican-ruled states, the Texas case was revisited in 2022.

As per the orders that were disclosed by the administration of Vice President Joe Biden, hospitals are still required to provide abortions in cases that are classified as dire emergency.

As stipulated in a piece of health care legislation, the majority of hospitals are obligated to provide medical assistance to patients who are experiencing medical distress. This is in accordance with the law.

The state of Texas maintained that hospitals should not be obligated to provide abortions throughout the litigation, as doing so would violate the state’s constitutional prohibition on abortions. In its January judgment, the 5th United States Circuit Court of Appeals concurred with the state and acknowledged that the administration had exceeded its authority.

SOURCE: AP

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