NEWS BRIEF

[Anchor Lead]

The U.S. Department of Defense said there will be no changes to the joint training and exercise schedule with South Korea slated for March. Regarding a possible delay, speaking to Radio Free Asia, a Pentagon spokesperson reiterated no changes to the schedule as was discussed in the bilateral Security Consultative Meeting last month. The official said the alliance will continue to maintain joint defense readiness in the highest level to defend South Korea against enemy threats. The spokesperson added that combined training events are a bilateral decision, and any decisions will be a mutual agreement.
Japan’s Mainichi Shimbun newspaper has confirmed that the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) collected communication records of one of its employees, a Korean reporter based in Seoul. The paper said it asked the CIO about the matter citing its duty to protect its journalists and also concerns on press freedom. The CIO reportedly responded in a written statement that it inevitably had to request the information due to investigation purposes, but it did not provide more detail. This is the third incident reported of the CIO gathering private information of Korean reporters stationed in Seoul working for Japanese news outlets, following similar cases with Asahi and Tokyo Shimbun.