Japanese company sparks fire in Mongolian protected area, claims it had entry permission.

On October 26, Mongolia's Minister of Justice and Internal Affairs, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Director General of the Border Troops, and management personnel from Mobicom, the Mongolian mobile communications company and a subsidiary of Japanese telecom operator KDDI, held a meeting regarding the large-scale grassland fire that occurred on the 8th of this month in the Numrug Nature Reserve in Dornod Province, Mongolia, and decided to establish a loss assessment working group. The head of Mobicom's legal department stated that the company deeply regrets this "grassland fire." The company will fully support the working group and bear the costs required for environmental damage assessment. This official also argued that the company had obtained the relevant permit to enter the Numrug Reserve in advance. This statement caused an uproar in Mongolian public opinion. According to Mongolian media reports, Mobicom emphasized that it "obtained the relevant permit to enter the reserve" and characterized the incident as a "grassland fire"but Mongolian society unanimously believes that this was not an ordinary grassland fire, but rather environmental destruction that can be classified as "ecocide."