South Korean lawmaker Thae Yong-ho was once a high-ranking North Korean diplomat. In 2016, while he was Pyongyang’s deputy ambassador to the United Kingdom, he defected with his family to the South. Less than four years after his family arrived in Seoul, Thae won a local election and became a member of the National Assembly representing the city’s wealthy Gangnam district. As a member of the assembly, Thae has served on the Foreign Affairs and Unification committee, drawing on his unique expertise on North Korea to help form South Korean…
Category: Uncategorized
Lao villagers barred from fishing and crabbing in Chinese tourism concession
Local authorities in Laos have warned rural villagers not to venture into an area of land that has been designated for a Chinese tourist development, but the villagers told Radio Free Asia that they have been fishing in that area for generations. District-level officials issued notice on Feb. 16 to the villagers of Huai Siet, in the central province of Borikhamxay, that if they are found fishing or crabbing in the river within the tourist development area, they will be arrested and prosecuted. “I heard an official say that this…
Controversial Gold Mine Reopens in Thailand
Khao Chet Luk, Thailand — A controversial gold mine in Thailand restarted operations on Thursday, more than six years after the government forced it to close over health and environmental concerns. The Chatree complex, which straddles three rural provinces in the kingdom’s north, had been dogged by legal disputes and protests by villagers who said it poisoned crops and livestock. The Thai government, at that point a military junta, ordered the open-cut mine to halt operations in May 2016 in a rare win for environmental campaigners. The mine’s Australian owner,…
Two Cambodians Held on Rare Royal Insults Charge After Facebook Posts
Phnom Penh — Two Cambodian opposition figures have been charged under the country’s rarely used lese majeste law with insulting King Norodom Sihamoni for posts made on Facebook about a photograph of the king and Prime Minister Hun Sen. A judge at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court also charged Yim Sinorn and Hun Kosal with incitement to cause serious social unrest in the country, a court document showed. The men, once members of the now-dissolved opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), could face a jail term of up to five…
Study Shows Sharp Decline of Australian Shallow Reef Species
Sydney — An Australian study published Thursday found that up to 138 shallow-water reef species that have suffered sharp declines in the past 10 years now qualify as endangered or critically endangered. The Reef Life Survey found that larger fish have shown a greater decline than smaller varieties — most likely because of a combination of overfishing and climate change. Pollution and development are also factors. In what the survey’s authors say is a clear sign of global warming, population declines are disproportionately affecting marine species in cooler conditions off…
China, Cambodia kick off Golden Dragon 2023 joint drills
Military exercises between Cambodia and China got underway in central Cambodia on Thursday after the two nations staged their first-ever joint naval drills last Sunday, local media said. The Golden Dragon 2023 exercises officially kicked off with 257 Chinese and 583 Cambodian troops participating, the Khmer Times reported, citing Maj. Gen. Thong Solimo, spokesman for the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF). The exercise, which runs for two weeks, will focus on security operations during major events and humanitarian relief, it said. Meanwhile on March 19, a Chinese warship – the…
Report Finds 119,000 Hurt Worldwide by Riot-Control Weapons Since 2015
salem, oregon — More than 119,000 people have been injured by tear gas and other chemical irritants around the world since 2015 and about 2,000 suffered injuries from less lethal impact projectiles, according to a report released Wednesday. The study by Physicians for Human Rights and the International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations, in collaboration with the Omega Research Foundation, took 2½ years to research. It provides a rare, partial count of casualties, compiled from medical literature, from these devices used by police around the world, including in Colombia, Chile,…
Vietnam says it doesn’t know whereabouts of Chinese activist arrested last year
Vietnam told the United Nations that it has no information regarding the whereabouts of Chinese activist Dong Guangping, who was arrested in Hanoi in August 2022. “After the verification process, the authorities in Viet Nam have had no information regarding Dong Guangping in Viet Nam,” Hanoi said in a diplomatic note dated March 15. It was in response to a Dec. 15 letter from three U.N. special rapporteurs on human rights that raised questions about the Chinese activist’s situation. They said they were informed about the Vietnamese police’s arbitrary arrest…
Vietnamese police release flight attendants caught carrying illegal drugs from Paris
Vietnamese police have released four flight attendants detained for transporting cocaine and other illegal drugs in their luggage on a flight from Paris because of a lack of evidence, state media reported Wednesday. The female flight attendants said they agreed to transport the toothpaste tubes for an individual who approached them in Paris and paid them more than 10 million dong, or about U.S.$424, to take the tubes on the flight to Ho Chi Minh City. The women said they were unaware of the narcotics, and that they did not…
Hun Sen defends recent military promotions for his two eldest sons
Prime Minister Hun Sen defended the recent promotions of his two eldest sons to senior military posts, revealing that he secretly worked with the Minister of National Defense to elevate the pair ahead of general elections later this year. The eldest son, Hun Manet, has been tapped to be Hun Sen’s political successor. He is expected to resign from the military in the coming months to compete in the election, which is scheduled for July. The prime minister said he and Minister of National Defense Tea Banh agreed to promote…