Month: February 2024

Exclusive: Kim Jong Un is now ‘Great Comrade,’ no longer ‘Great Leader’

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North Korea’s supreme leader Kim Jong Un has received a new title, “Great Comrade,” signaling that the leadership wants to emphasize his achievements over his predecessors, father Kim Jong Il and grandfather Kim Il Sung, residents told Radio Free Asia. The shift from “Great Leader” to “Great Comrade” occurred sometime this month, as the country circulated a five-point oath – shared exclusively with RFA Korean – that must be sworn by all North Koreans to pledge their loyalty. The oath, sent to all organizations and institutions in the country, is…

China bolsters defence of overseas EV sales against US, EU counterpunches

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Also this week ahead of the “two sessions” annual parliamentary meetings, the China National Democratic Construction Association – a minor political party – said it planned to approach the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference advisory body about the EV issue, according to Chinese news agency Cailianshe. As US, EU anxiety grows, will overcapacity curb exports of China’s ‘new three’? The party proposed seeking mutual recognition for EV “standards” with the European Union, bolstering the intellectual property rights of Chinese firms overseas and improving trade-linked logistics. The European Commission launched its…

China Targets Overseas Social Media Influencers in Its Latest Transnational Repression Scheme

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“Currently, the [Chinese] Ministry of Public Safety is tracking and investigating my 1.6 million followers. Once they have identified them, they will notify local police and summon those individuals for further actions.” Li Ying posted this warning in Chinese on his account on the popular social media site X (formerly Twitter) on February 25.  Li’s account, @whyyoutouzhele, primarily shares first-hand social media content blocked and censored in mainland China. Li’s X account became popular amid the White Paper Protests in late 2022 across China and has been one of the…

Arakan Army says it will investigate and try captured junta soldiers

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Myanmar military personnel captured by the Arakan Army as part of its campaign against the junta will be investigated and tried — and could be sentenced to death for war crimes, sources told RFA this week.  Thousands of POWs are being held by the Arakan Army, or AA, which alongside the National Democratic Alliance Army and the Ta’ang National Liberation Army – which together call themselves the “Three Brotherhood Alliance” – has made significant gains in recent months against Myanmar’s military government. Prisoners of war are being questioned for any…

Lao house church reopens after being attacked

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A small house church in southern Laos that was attacked by residents and village authorities earlier this month is  opening its doors under the protection of authorities, several churchgoers told Radio Free Asia. On Feb. 4, a mob of residents and village authorities tore down the house where Chrsitians in Kaleum Vangke village in Savannakhet province’s Xonboury district had gathered for worship. The attackers also burned Bibles.  Many churches and Christians in Laos have been assaulted despite a national law protecting the free exercise of faith. But now Ministry of…

India halts farmers’ march with smoke bombs and drones

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The last time Indian farmers marched on New Delhi, they forced Prime Minister Narendra Modi into a rare policy climbdown. So earlier this month Juzhar Singh climbed on his tractor to join thousands of fellow farmers streaming south towards the capital to try to do it again. But while in 2020 and 2021 farmers from northern India’s agricultural belt were able to camp out in New Delhi for nearly a year, this time they have been stopped at a state border more than 200km away by barricades and police armed…

Scientists in Canada Passed Secrets to China, Investigations Find

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Two scientists who worked at Canada’s top microbiology lab passed on secret scientific information to China, and one of them was a “realistic and credible threat to Canada’s economic security,” documents from the national intelligence agency and a security investigation show. The hundreds of pages of reports about the two researchers, Xiangguo Qiu and Keding Cheng, who were married and born in China, were released to the House of Commons late Wednesday after a national security review by a special parliamentary committee and a panel of three retired senior judges.…

Report: Freedom continued to erode in 2023

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Freedom once again declined globally last year, according to a report by Freedom House released on Thursday, marking almost two decades of consecutive erosions recorded by the organization that has for the past 51 years graded the world on its freedoms. The leading cause of the global drop was flawed elections and armed conflict, it said. The annual report gives each country – and many disputed territories – a score from 1 to 100 using 25 specific indicators based on the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and then declares…

Scientist fed classified information to China, says Canada intelligence report

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A leading research scientist at Canada’s highest-security laboratory provided confidential scientific information to Chinese institutions, met secretly with officials and posed “a realistic and credible threat to Canada’s economic security” according to newly released intelligence reports. The dismissal of Xiangguo Qiu and her husband, Keding Cheng has been shrouded in mystery ever since the couple were escorted from Winnipeg’s National Microbiology Laboratory in 2019 and formally fired two years later. Intelligence assessments released late on Wednesday afternoon alleged that Qiu’s “close and clandestine relationships” with Chinese institutions which showed a…

South Korean Trainee Doctors Continue Strike, Risking Prosecution

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Thousands of striking South Korean trainee doctors have defied an ultimatum to go back to work as they continue to protest a government plan to increase medical school enrollments. The walkouts have already caused the delay or cancellation of hundreds of surgeries and medical treatments, slowing the function of hospitals in the country, according to South Korea’s Ministry of Health and Welfare. The medical interns and residents had until Thursday to end their walkout, but the deadline passed without a resolution. The striking doctors began their walkout almost two weeks…