Overview
- Japan’s Finance Ministry rejected a Politico report claiming Tokyo refused an EU plan to leverage frozen Russian assets for Ukraine, with senior official Atsushi Mimura seeking a retraction and the European Commission noting talks are ongoing.
- Democratic Party for the People leader Yuichiro Tamaki said his party will back the ¥18.3 trillion supplemental budget, citing agreement on scrapping the gasoline surtax this year and progress on raising the earnings threshold, making passage this session likely.
- Internal affairs minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said he will correct last year’s Lower House election expense filings after determining 11 labor-cost entries did not match actual work.
- South Korea’s Supreme Court dismissed Nippon Steel’s appeal in a wartime labor case, finalizing a ruling that the company must compensate plaintiffs.
- After the December 8 earthquake that registered a top intensity of upper 6, Kyodo tallied roughly 9,000 shelter stays as evacuations and winter-weather challenges continued.