January 24, Thursday, 2019 (2:00 p.m.) Read by Ms. Yuka Matsumoto and Ms. Hiroko Kitadai.

  1. South Korea did not take a stance on Japan’s call for talks on the wartime labor issue at a meeting of the two countries’ foreign ministers.
  2. The Japanese prime minister says he hopes to hold telephone talks with the U.S. president before a second U.S.-North Korea summit planned for next month.
  3. Pope Francis has expressed his desire to visit Japan this November. It will be his first trip to Japan as head of the Catholic Church.