Category Archives: Asia Pacific

Kim Jong-un buries mentor amid North Korea Covid crisis

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State media photos show Kim carrying Hyon Chol-hae’s coffin and throwing earth into his grave as country battles ‘fever’ cases amid Covid outbreak

Kim Jong-un attended the funeral for a top North Korean official, state media reported on Monday, helping carry his coffin, as the country maintained the much-disputed claim that its coronavirus outbreak is subsiding.

The official Korean Central News Agency said Kim attended the funeral on Sunday of Hyon Chol-hae, a Korean People’s Army marshal who reportedly played a key role in grooming him as the country’s next leader before Kim’s father, Kim Jong-il, died in late 2011.

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New Zealand will push Anthony Albanese on ‘501’ deportation policy, Jacinda Ardern says

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Prime minister said it was helpful that new Australian leader had already acknowledged issues causing friction

New Zealand will continue to push the conversation on Australia’s “problematic” deportation policy with the incoming government under Labor leader Anthony Albanese, prime minister Jacinda Ardern has said.

“There is obviously a really strong relationship, regardless of leader, regardless of party,” Ardern said at a post-cabinet briefing on Monday. “The very nature of New Zealand and Australia’s relationship is strong and enduring.”

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New Zealand woman held in Villawood detention centre found dead, detainees say

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Activists say woman’s death is an example of people with serious mental health problems being detained without adequate care

Advocates and detainees say a woman’s body was found at Villawood detention centre on Sunday morning.

The New Zealand woman was found dead about 10.45am, shortly after a room search had been conducted by Serco officers. She is believed to have killed herself.

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Shanghai reopens some public transport after months-long Covid lockdown

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Partial restart comes as curbs tightened in other areas, highlighting difficulties of resuming life under China’s strict zero-Covid policy

Shanghai has reopened a small part of the world’s longest subway system after some lines had been closed for almost two months, as the city paves the way for a more complete lifting of its Covid-19 lockdown next week.

With most residents not allowed to leave their homes and restrictions tightening in parts of China’s most populous city, commuters early on Sunday needed strong reasons to travel.

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Biden and South Korean president mull expanding joint military exercises

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US president willing to meet Kim Jong-un, while Seoul says deployment of US ‘strategic assets’ was discussed

Joe Biden and his South Korean counterpart, Yoon Suk-yeol, have said they are considering expanding joint military exercises in response to the “threat” posed by North Korea, a move that is expected to enrage the regime as speculation builds that it could conduct a nuclear test.

Speaking in Seoul on the second day of his visit to South Korea, Biden said he was willing to meet North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, but only if he was “sincere and serious” about dismantling his nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

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UN human rights commissioner criticised over planned Xinjiang visit

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Exclusive: Politicians accuse China of organising a ‘Potemkin-style tour’ for Michelle Bachelet

A group of 40 politicians from 18 countries have told the UN high commissioner for human rights that she risks causing lasting damage to the credibility of her office if she goes ahead with a visit to China’s Xinjiang region next week.

Michelle Bachelet is scheduled to visit Kashgar and Ürümqi in Xinjiang during her trip, which starts on Monday. Human rights organisations say China has forced an estimated 1 million or more people into internment camps and prisons in the region. The US and a number of other western countries have described China’s treatment of the Uyghur minority living there as genocidal, a charge Beijing calls the “lie of the century”.

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Biden security agents sent home from Seoul after reported drunken assault

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Unnamed team member reportedly got into dispute with South Korean citizen outside hotel where Biden is expected to stay

Joe Biden’s visit to South Korea and Japan has got off to a bad start with two Secret Service agents set to be sent home after one was accused of drunkenly assaulting a South Korean the day before the president arrived in Seoul, officials said.

Earlier reports said a member of his advance security detail was arrested for allegedly assaulting a South Korean citizen in Seoul.

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Ancient forest found at bottom of huge sinkhole in China

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Scientists believe site in Guangxi with trees up to 40 metres tall may contain undiscovered species

An ancient forest has been found at the bottom of a giant sinkhole in China, with trees up to 40 metres (130ft) tall.

Scientists believe it could contain undiscovered plant and animal species.

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‘Sleepwalking through extinction’: China urged to end delays to Cop15 summit

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Covid lockdowns in host country frustrate scientists as no date in sight for key UN conservation conference after two years of delays


China has been urged to name a date for a key UN nature summit this year, amid growing frustration with Beijing and concerns among experts that we are “sleepwalking through this cataclysmic climate extinction”.

After two years of delays, governments had been scheduled to meet in Kunming, China, for Cop15 in late April to negotiate this decade’s targets to halt and reverse the rampant destruction of ecosystems and wildlife crucial to human civilisation. It had been hoped the summit would be a “Paris moment” for biodiversity, with China holding the presidency for a major UN environmental agreement for the first time.

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North Korea’s Covid caseload passes 2 million amid global concern about regime’s pandemic plan

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Experts believe North Korean authorities are underreporting deaths to prove that their response has been effective

Experts have questioned North Korea’s claim that it is achieving “good results” in its battle against a Covid-19 outbreak, as the number of people with symptoms of the virus surpassed 2 million.

The regime reported 263,370 new fever cases on Friday and two deaths, taking the total caseload to 2.24 million, including 65 deaths, according to state news agency KCNA.

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Cabinet committee blocked plan to double Australia’s support to Pacific, election-eve leak reveals

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‘Extraordinary’ revelation about national security decision shows the government is ‘falling apart’, Labor says

The Morrison government has been hit by an election-eve leak that cabinet’s national security committee blocked a proposal by the foreign affairs minister, Marise Payne, to double Australia’s support to the Pacific.

Labor said the “extraordinary” pre-election leak, first reported by the Australian newspaper, showed the government was “falling apart”, while Scott Morrison insisted the committee was “extremely tight”.

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Japanese university told to compensate 13 women after exam discrimination

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Juntendo University medical school made it harder for females to pass entrance exams

A medical school in Tokyo that made it harder for female students to pass entrance exams has been ordered to pay compensation to 13 women for gender discrimination.

Juntendo University said in 2018 that it had raised the bar for women in the exams to “narrow the gap with male students”, as a scandal over medical school admissions uncovered improper practices at several institutions.

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‘Huge spike’ in global conflict caused record number of displacements in 2021

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Those fleeing combat were internally displaced 14.4m times, with biggest toll in sub-Saharan Africa, report reveals

Conflict and violence forced people from their homes a record number of times last year, a report has found, with sub-Saharan Africa bearing the brunt of mass internal displacement caused by “huge spikes” in fighting.

People fleeing violence were internally displaced 14.4m times in 2021, an increase of 4.6m on 2020, according to figures published by the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC).

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Poorest New Zealanders lose out to ‘squeezed middle’ in budget, inequality experts say

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Government says child poverty is easing in all areas but those on the ground say the dial has barely shifted in the past five years

The budget neglects poor New Zealanders in favour of the “squeezed middle”, inequality experts have said, despite promises by Jacinda Ardern’s government to combat child poverty.

Budget 2022 offered up a swathe of short-term sweeteners to soften the rising costs of living, including a $350 payment for people earning less than $70,000 but not on other benefits.

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Jacinda Ardern loses sense of taste after Covid, can’t enjoy cheese roll

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New Zealand PM remains in isolation but tried to uphold budget breakfast tradition with finance minister via Instagram

New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern says she has lost her sense of taste after testing positive for Covid-19 on Saturday.

Thursday was budget day in New Zealand, when traditionally the prime minister has an early morning breakfast with finance minister Grant Robertson. Typically, the two share cheese rolls – a South Island New Zealand delicacy involving cheddar cheese and powdered soup rolled inside a piece of toasted white bread. This year, the breakfast took place via Instagram live stream – and the prime minister said the cheese rolls were missing their usual flavour notes.

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New Zealand budget 2022: Ardern offers $1bn in sweeteners to tackle cost of living ‘storm’

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PM says budget, which includes major spending on climate and health care reform, aims to ensure long term ‘economic and social security’

Weekly $27 cash payments, fuel discounts and half-price public transport are among the short-term sweeteners offered up by New Zealand’s government in its latest budget, as it tries to juggle the cost-of-living crisis with big-ticket spending commitments, including $11.1bn of healthcare system reform and $2.9bn responding to the climate crisis.

“While we know the current storm will pass, it is important we take the hard edges off,” prime minister Jacinda Ardern said in remarks accompanying the budget’s release.

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North Korea promotes traditional medicines in bid to fight Covid outbreak

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State media have told patients to use painkillers as well as unverified home remedies such as willow leaf tea

North Korea is ramping up production of drugs and medical supplies including sterilisers and thermometers as well as encouraging the use of traditional Korean medicines said to reduce fever and pain as it battles an unprecedented coronavirus outbreak.

Traditional medicines were “effective in prevention and cure of the malicious disease,” state-run news agency KCNA said, although no medical evidence exists for those claims.

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White House braced for North Korean nuclear test during Biden’s Asia trip

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National security adviser says intelligence reflects ‘long-range missile test or a nuclear test, or frankly both’

The White House is braced for a North Korean missile or nuclear test while Joe Biden is on a trip to South Korea and Japan, which begins on Friday.

The national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told reporters on Wednesday: “Our intelligence does reflect the genuine possibility that there will be either a further missile test, including long-range missile test, or a nuclear test, or frankly both in the days leading into, on or after the president’s trip to the region.

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Japanese man blows town’s Covid relief fund after it appeared in his account

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Money should have gone to 463 low-income households but man received it all and commenced online casino spree

A Japanese man who was mistakenly sent ¥46.3m (£287,000/US$358,000) in Covid-19 relief funds has admitted he gambled away the entire amount in the space of a fortnight.

The 24-year-old, who has not been named, was sent the sum in April as part of a local government programme to help residents who were struggling financially as a result of the pandemic.

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More people leaving New Zealand than entering as young flee high cost of living

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Thousands head overseas, partly because of economic conditions, with departures accelerating and labour shortage feared

Young New Zealanders are leaving in droves as borders reopen and economic conditions tighten at home.

The latest data from Stats NZ found that in the year to March, annual net migration was negative, with 7,300 more people leaving than entering. That loss marks a dramatic shift from early in the pandemic when border closures and the relative safety of Covid-free New Zealand prevented many from leaving. In the year to March 2020 there was a record net gain of 91,700.

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