Kyodo News Digest: May 9, 2022

The following is the latest list of selected news summaries by Kyodo News.

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G-7 commits to Russian oil import ban or phaseout amid Ukraine war

WASHINGTON – Leaders of the Group of Seven industrialized nations on Sunday committed to ban or phase out Russian oil imports, in the latest step to pressure Moscow into ending its war in Ukraine.

Japan, a resource-poor country that has been importing Russian crude to diversify its supply, had been reluctant to prohibit Russian oil imports. But Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told the virtual meeting of G-7 leaders that his country will take measures to ban them “in principle.”

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Japan to slowly phase out Russian oil, keep interests in projects

TOKYO – Japan will slowly phase out oil imports from Russia while maintaining its interests in oil and gas projects in the Russian Far East, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Monday.

Kishida made the remarks as the nation balances the need to alleviate cost of living pressures while reducing its reliance on Russia in response to its war in Ukraine.

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Voting under way in Philippines to elect new president

MANILA – Voters in the Philippines went to polling stations across the country Monday to elect a new president, vice president, 12 senators, 316 congress members and over 17,000 local officials.

Recent pre-election surveys showed former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the son and namesake of the late Philippine dictator, holding a wide lead over opposition candidate and Vice President Leni Robredo, a human rights lawyer.

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Japan special envoy leaves for Seoul to attend Yoon’s inauguration

TOKYO – Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi left Monday for South Korea to attend the inauguration ceremony of President-elect Yoon Suk Yeol, with attention focused on whether his visit as a special envoy of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida can help improve soured bilateral ties.

Arrangements are being made for Hayashi to hold talks with Yoon and incoming South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin separately during his two-day trip for the ceremony in Seoul on Tuesday, he told reporters in Tokyo before departure.

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Elon Musk warns Japan will cease to exist if birthrate continues decline

TOKYO – Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk has warned that Japan will perish if it does not reverse its declining birthrate, responding to a tweet of a Kyodo News article that said the country’s population saw its largest drop on record in 2021.

“At the risk of stating the obvious, unless something changes to cause the birth rate to exceed the death rate, Japan will eventually cease to exist. This would be a great loss for the world,” Musk, who recently acquired Twitter Inc., said in a post on his account on Sunday.

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BOJ members see need to persist with easing as inflation nears 2%

TOKYO – Bank of Japan board members said inflation will likely accelerate and stay around 2 percent for the time being due to higher commodity prices, but monetary easing should be maintained as the rise will be temporary, minutes of a March policy meeting showed Monday.

Some Policy Board members saw the need to explore better ways to communicate its view on underlying price trends, pointing to the difficulty ahead for the BOJ in justifying its decision to keep rates at an ultralow level when companies are facing higher raw material costs and price hikes are threatening to hurt consumer sentiment.

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Outgoing S. Korea Pres. Moon hopes inter-Korea peace talks continue

SEOUL – South Korea’s outgoing President Moon Jae In expressed hope on his last day in office Monday that efforts to achieve peace and denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula will continue.

“We raised hopes for a new era of peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula by turning a war crisis atmosphere into a phase of conversation and diplomacy,” Moon said in a speech looking back on the achievements of his five-year term.

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FOCUS: Speculation of larger ruling bloc as small opposition plots survival

TOKYO – A small Japanese opposition party appears to be going all out for its survival beyond a key election this summer, raising the possibility that it could become a dynamo for change in the country’s political landscape.

The Democratic Party for the People’s recent cozying up to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s Liberal Democratic Party has fueled speculation among political circles that it wants to join the ruling coalition, which also involves junior partner Komeito.