Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com The demise of the man who was once the power behind the throne in North Korea inspires so many theories that all you can say for sure is that nobody knows what’s really going on in the corridors of power in Pyongyang. A couple of these theories are […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, East-Asia-Intel.com Beijing is pushing ahead with plans to designate at least two additional Air Defense Identification Zones (ADIZ) in the coming six months. The People’s Liberation Army’s establishment last month of China’s first ADIZ in the East China Sea — which covers the contentious Senkaku-Diaoyu islands — drew hot […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com TACLOBAN, Philippines — The great game for power and influence in Asia laps up on the storm-ravaged shores of this devastated city in the form of a Chinese vessel known as the Peace Ark, with 100 doctors and nurses on board and 300 beds for patients in need […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — North Korea’s military is deeply involved in the production and trafficking of narcotics as a source of hard currency, sources and defectors here said. The United States on Nov. 20 announced charges against five suspects extradited from Thailand for smuggling North Korean meth into the United States, marking […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — North Korea has offered China rights to develop seven major mines in return for its economic assistance in building high-speed rail links connecting its capital Pyongyang with the southern border city of Kaesong and the northeast border city of Shinuiju, a diplomatic source said. North Korea […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com TACLOBAN, Philippines — The Korea Disaster Relief Team keeps a gruesome body count in the search for ever more victims of Typhoon Haiyan, aka Yolanda. “Every day we retrieve cadavers,” says Lee In-Sun, coordinator for the 42 Koreans sent here in the wake of the world’s worst storm. […]
Special to WorldTribune.com East-Asia-Intel.com Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj told North Korean university students and professors to try to “live free,” saying “no tyranny lasts forever.” In the speech at the Kim Il-Sung University on Oct. 31 before wrapping up his four-day visit to North Korea, the Mongolian leader also called for the reclusive communist nation […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has directed his security agencies to conduct new crackdowns on “anti-state” and “anti-Party” activities and confiscate electronic devices smuggled from China that contains South Korean dramas and entertainment shows, sources here said. Kim’s order is thought to be connected to reports of another […]
Special to WorldTribune.com JERUSALEM — Israel has decided to abandon a lawsuit against a Chinese bank that allegedly provided financial services to Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has walked away from a suit in a U.S. court by Israeli victims of Palestinian attacks. The government said despite assurances of […]
Special to WorldTribune.com JERUSALEM — Israel has been struggling to decide on whether to participate in a U.S. court case in which China was linked to Hamas. The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has to decide within days whether to allow a former official to testify in a suit against Bank of China. Uzi […]