March 16, 2023

*) South Korea premier arrives in Japan to open 'new chapter' South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has arrived in Japan looking to open a "new chapter" in relations, just hours after North Korea fired a long-range ballistic missile. Yoon's two-day trip comes after Seoul this month announced a plan to compensate Korean victims of Japan's wartime forced labour without any direct involvement by Tokyo. Reports suggest the visit could herald the restart of shuttle diplomacy, including Prime Minister Fumio Kishida possibly inviting Yoon to the G7 summit in Hiroshima in May, and then visiting Seoul. *) Pakistan court postpones police operation to arrest Imran Khan A Pakistani high court has ordered police to postpone an operation to arrest former Prime Minister Imran Khan. A lower court in Islamabad had issued a warrant against Khan for defying orders to present himself in court over charges that he unlawfully sold state gifts given to him by foreign dignitaries when he was prime minister. The court-ordered attempt to arrest Khan, which began on Tuesday, triggered clashes between his supporters and security forces in his Lahore neighbourhood, raising fears about Pakistan’s political stability *) IAEA says tonnes of uranium missing from Libya site beyond govt control UN nuclear watchdog inspectors have found that roughly 2.5 tonnes of natural uranium have gone missing from a Libyan site that is not under government control. In a statement, the International Atomic Energy Agency said it would carry out "further activities" to determine the circumstances of the uranium's removal from the site, which it did not name, and where it is now. The IAEA statement said: "The loss of knowledge about the present location of nuclear material may present a radiological risk, as well as nuclear security concerns". *) No signs of Ukraine withdrawing from Bakhmut - Russian official According to the Russian-installed leader of Ukraine's Donetsk region, the situation for Russian forces trying to capture the Ukrainian city of