Japan-Korea spat threatens to upend global technology chain

The military in South Korea has said the projectile was a submarine-launched ballistic missile. It comes as intelligence chiefs from the US, South Korea and Japan meet in Seoul.

North Korea has confirmed that it tested a new type of submarine-launched ballistic missile on Tuesday, making it the fifth in a round of missile tests by the country since September.

Mount Aso volcano spews a giant column of ash thousands of metres into the sky, after the late-morning eruption in southwest Japan. The active volcano ejected hot gas and ash as high as 3,500 metres (11,500 feet), and sent stones tumbling down its grassy slopes.

A Netflix-funded anime academy in Tokyo trains the next generation of cartoon artists as global demand for the genre soars. Japan is facing a shortage of skilled animators, in part because most face years toiling in low-paying jobs to learn the ropes, meaning much of the painstaking frame-by-frame drawing work is outsourced overseas.

A US envoy said North Korea's recent weapon tests were "concerning and counterproductive." Last week, the isolated nation carried out tests of a new type of ballistic missile launched from submarines.

Japan is holding a parliamentary election, which is the first big test for the new prime minister. A poor showing for the ruling party could threaten a return to the country's history of revolving-door premiership.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's Liberal Demorats are expected to retain enough seats to keep power, but the new administration will need to get the economy back on track while navigating regional security challenges.

India's Narendra Modi has spoken in Glasgow on Monday and Japan's new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was en route. But President Xi Jinping of China, the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, skipped attendance.

In a UN Security Council draft resolution, Beijing and Moscow have called for the lifting of trade sanctions on Pyongyang "with the intent of enhancing the livelihood of the civilian population."

Nearly 70 years after the conflict ended in stalemate, Seoul is pushing hard for a declaration that will formally end the Korean War. But Washington is reluctant to reward the regime in Pyongyang.

With four months to go until election day, the two top candidates for the presidency are already at the center of allegations of corruption and abuse of power, with debate over policy relegated to the background.

In 2015, Shiori Ito was a young journalist who went to meet a would-be mentor for drinks, only for the night to end in him raping her. She won a civil case against him in 2019, but only after years of fighting a judicial system that seemed determined to look the other way. Ito's memoir "Black Box" is the story of one young woman's quest for justice in a country where talking about sexual assault, and even sex education, is still very much taboo. She joined us for Perspective and told us that things are gradually moving in the right direction, but that she still receives "threatening emails every day" for speaking out.