Singapore | Founding father Lee’s condition worsens

The condition of Singapore’s 91-year-old founding father, Lee Kuan Yew, has worsened as he remains at the hospital where he has been treated for nearly six weeks, the government said yesterday. Lee was admitted to Singapore General Hospital on Feb. 5 for severe pneumonia and was later put on life support. Lee’s “condition has worsened due to an infection. He is on antibiotics. The doctors are closely monitoring his condition,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement posted on its website. Singapore’s first prime minister, Lee ruled for 31 years until 1990, and has been credited with transforming the city-state from a sleepy tropical port to a wealthy, bustling financial hub with one of the highest average incomes in the world. Lee commands immense respect among Singaporeans, who this year will celebrate the country’s 50th independence anniversary.

South Korea  | Top diplomats of S. Korea, China and Japan to resume talks

The foreign ministers of South Korea, China and Japan will meet this week for their first trilateral talks in three years, Seoul officials said yesterday. The annual talks, which began in 2007, have been suspended since they were last held in April 2012 due to territorial and history disputes among the countries. Subsequently, there have been no meetings since then of the leaders of the three countries, who were also meeting annually in a trilateral forum. Japan colonized the Korean Peninsula and occupied parts of China, often brutally, before and during World War II. Tokyo’s ties with Seoul and Beijing have further soured in recent years over nationalistic events and remarks in Japan. Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that it expects Saturday’s meeting in Seoul to serve as a chance to restore trilateral cooperation systems. The agenda includes ways to strengthen ties among the countries and resume the three-way summit talks, ministry officials said.