The United States, Japan and the Philippines have staged joint naval drills to boost crisis readiness off a disputed South China Sea shoal as a Chinese military ship kept watch from a distance.

Stocks in auto export powerhouses Japan and South Korea both plunged Monday in anticipation of stiff new tariffs on Asian goods imported into the U.S. that are set to go into effect Wednesday.

BRUSSELS (Kyodo) -- The foreign ministers of Japan, the United States and South Korea on Thursday voiced "serious concerns" over North Korea's nuclear and missile programs as well as its growing military cooperation with Russia, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.

The launch of a museum dedicated to Yun Bong-gil, who was executed in 1932, has been postponed after protests by right-wing groups.

China's launches drills around Taiwan to "severely punish" the island's pro-independence leader, as the U.S. boosts its war footing in Japan to deter Chinese "aggression."