EastAsiaIntel.com – Page 6 – World Tribune: Window on the Real World

N. Korean military document finds relaxed discipline, increased illegal cultural influence from South

By World Tribune on November 14, 2014 BB NE Asia, Exclusives, NE Asia, North Korea, South Korea, Top Stories

Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, EastAsiaIntel.com SEOUL — A secret North Korean military document contains reports of troops leaving their barracks without permission, commandeering trains to forage for food and other evidence of sharply relaxed military disciplines under Kim Jong-Un’s rule. Some deserters were travelling to markets to earn money and seek for foods, […]

Economic disputes bedeviling China-U.S. ties seen as focus of APEC mini-summit

By World Tribune on November 12, 2014 BB Inside China, China, Exclusives, Intel Brief, NE Asia, Stateside, Top Stories, U.S. Economy, Washington

Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, EastAsiaIntel.com China-American relations, which have the past decade been characterized by “cold politics and hot economics,” could take a serious drubbing at the on-going Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings in Beijing. While geopolitical contention between China and the U.S. has been exacerbated particularly in the Asia-Pacific Region, bilateral ties […]

N. Korea said to be building new gulag to hide prisoners increasingly in global spotlight

By World Tribune on November 7, 2014 BB NE Asia, Exclusives, Intel Brief, NE Asia, North Korea, Top Stories

Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, EastAsiaIntel.com SEOUL — North Korea is building a new concentration camp in a remote northeastern area in an apparent bid to relocate political prisoners now being eyed by spy satellites. The prisoners have been detained at the notorious Yodok camp which has come to figure prominently in the new […]

Extensive groundwork for Xi-Abe meeting could prove consequential … or not

By World Tribune on November 5, 2014 BB Inside China, China, Exclusives, Japan, NE Asia, Top Stories

Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, EastAsiaIntel.com Beijing has all but confirmed that President Xi Jinping and Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will have their first-ever tete-a-tete in Beijing on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ meeting scheduled for Nov. 10 and 11. When asked about the Xi-Abe meeting, Foreign Minister […]

South Koreans: Too stressed to appreciate their new status as coolest Asians

By World Tribune on October 30, 2014 BB Columnists, Columnists, Donald Kirk, Exclusives, NE Asia, South Korea, Top Stories

Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com Many Koreans don’t know it, but Korea is cool. Three newly published books say so. Two of them even have “cool” in the title — “The Birth of Korean Cool” by Euny Hong, who describes herself as having “spent her childhood in Chicago and in the elite Gangnam […]

Xi’s steamrolling agenda for first time encounters turbulence at major party meeting

By World Tribune on October 29, 2014 BB Inside China, China, Exclusives, Intel Brief, NE Asia, Top Stories

Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, EastAsiaIntel.com The much-awaited Fourth Plenary Session of the Central Committee closed in Beijing on Oct. 23 with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership vowing to “improve the socialist system of laws with Chinese characteristics.” However, what caught the attention of political observers in Beijing is that General Secretary and […]

China scolds Taiwan’s president for publicly endorsing Hong Kong democracy

By World Tribune on October 27, 2014 BB NE Asia, China, Exclusives, Hong Kong, Intel Brief, NE Asia, Taiwan, Top Stories

Special to WorldTribune.com East-Asia-Intel.com China lashed out against Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-jeou who finally broke his silence on Hong Kong’s pro-democracy demonstrations and voiced his strong support for the protesters. The irony is that Ma has been extremely unpopular in Taiwan, and his approval ratings have repeatedly dipped into single digits, mostly due to his […]

Hong Kong’s battle of wills with Beijing: Where are all the other righteous Asian protesters

By World Tribune on October 23, 2014 BB NE Asia, China, Columnists, Donald Kirk, Exclusives, Hong Kong, NE Asia, Philippines, South Korea, Top Stories

Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com The demonstrations in Hong Kong are at a critical stage. In the spirit of democracy movements in Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand, these protesters are not giving up. Unlike demonstrators elsewhere, those in Hong Kong have come up with a defense that I never saw when protesters […]

Xi tightens controls on Mainland campuses in wake of Hong Kong’s mass demonstrations

By World Tribune on October 22, 2014 BB Inside China, China, Exclusives, Intel Brief, NE Asia, Top Stories

Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, East-Asia-Intel.com President Xi Jinping has tightened ideological control over teachers, writers and intellectuals in the wake of the “Umbrella Revolution” in Hong Kong. The General Office of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee issued a circular earlier this week affirming party leadership over the nation’s universities. The circular noted […]

During Kim’s absence for medical reasons, his sister manages state affairs

By World Tribune on October 9, 2014 BB NE Asia, Exclusives, Intel Brief, NE Asia, North Korea, Top Stories, World Links

Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com SEOUL — North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un is being treated at Pyongyang’s royal clinic for his brain- and blood vessels-related disease which affects his hands and legs, a source here said. Kim Yo-Jong, the leader’s younger sister who serves as his personal secretary, convened an urgent meeting of senior leaders […]