by WorldTribune Staff, May 23, 2016 China is building a base in the disputed Spratly Islands for an advanced rescue vessel complete with drones and underwater robots. Chen Xingguang, political commissar of the ship, said the ship is scheduled to be deployed in the second half of the year, the official China Daily reported on […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By EastAsiaIntel.com On April 29, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi issued a joint statement objecting to the contemplated deployment in South Korea of the U.S. Theater High Altitude Area Defense [THAAD] missile interceptor system. But what is unusual is that the joint Russian-Chinese objection to THAAD […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, EastAsiaIntel.com GWANGJU ― The ghosts of the uprising of May 18, 1980, hover over this old but new city in a restive spirit that shows the disunity, the factional splits and the regional hatreds that persist in undermining the ability of South Korea to stand effectively against challenges from […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, EastAsiaIntel.com On the heels of the Party Congress in which North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un presented a five-year economic plan, North Korea has kicked off tougher “work-harder campaigns.” North Koreans, already struggling with hunger and the stresses of survival in the repressive society, are being mobilized for new construction […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Inside China, EastAsiaIntel.com While China’s 700 million netizens are blocked from Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) English-language propaganda machine is harvesting social media fans around the world. Following top-down orders from president Xi Jinping to “tell China’s story” to the world, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are now rife […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, EastAsiaIntel.com We keep hearing about all the influence the Chinese have over North Korea. If only they’d exert their power, maybe cut off or slow down the flow of oil that’s the lifeblood of the country, then the North Koreans would start talking seriously about giving up their nukes. […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, EastAsiaIntel.com SEOUL — North Korea has prioritized increasing the rage of its submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) to 2,000 kilometers, a military source here said. The North is also said to be building 3,000-ton submarines that can carry multiple SLBMs, the source said. “North Korea is believed to have made […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, EastAsiaIntel.com Kim Jong-Un celebrates his “coronation” in Pyongyang Friday while forgetting about one unpleasant reality that deepens North Korea’s isolation in an already hostile world. He presides over North Korea’s biggest-ever party, the Seventh Workers’ Party Congress, while Iran, his longtime partner in nuclear crime, vastly improves its ties […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty The latest report by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom says religious freedom across the world deteriorated in 2015. According to the report released on May 2, the global refugee crisis, political strife, and economic dislocation have contributed to an increase in “societal intolerance.” The […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty Iran has increased oil exports to South Korea fourfold since January and now hopes to triple its yearly trade with Seoul, Iranian leaders have said. Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said Tehran had quadrupled its oil exports to the world’s fifth-largest importer of crude, sending Seoul […]