Day: February 25, 2023

Tech war: US alliance with Japan, Netherlands to ban chip equipment exports to China may spur investment in South Korea

Chin@Strategy

On Thursday, an article in the People’s Daily-affiliated tabloid Global Times quoted Lu Chao, a professor with Liaoning University in northern China, as saying that Korea’s semiconductor industry should not decouple from China. There are already signs that chip companies are looking to form closer business ties with South Korea. Advertisement Peter Wennink, CEO of Dutch semiconductor equipment giant ASML, met South Korean foreign minister Park Jin on February 17 during his visit to the Netherlands to discuss potential collaborations. According to the South Korean foreign ministry, Wennink said ASML…

Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 368 of the invasion

Chin@Strategy

Thousands of people have taken part in a demonstration in central Berlin to protest against giving more weapons to Ukraine, urging the German government to instead pave the way for negotiations with Vladimir Putin. In London, Marina Litvinenko – the widow of a defector poisoned in London – led calls for a Ukrainian victory in the war at a demonstration of several hundred outside the Russian embassy. A meeting of finance chiefs of the Group of 20 leading economies has ended without a consensus, with Russia and China objecting to…

North Korea’s Kim Taps Young Laborers to Build New Housing

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SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA —  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has mobilized young laborers to launch a new housing project in Pyongyang, state media said on Sunday, as he pushes an ambitious plan to build 50,000 homes in the capital despite deepening economic hardships. Kim attended a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction project in Pyongyang’s Sopo district on Saturday with thousands of young laborers, the official KCNA news agency reported. In 2021, Kim unveiled a plan to build 50,000 new homes in Pyongyang by 2025, and state media reported the…

North Korea Food Shortage Worsens Since COVID

Chin@Strategy

SEOUL, South Korea —  Questions about North Korea’s food insecurity have flared as its top leaders prepare to discuss the “very important and urgent task” of formulating a correct agricultural policy. Unconfirmed reports say an unspecified number of North Koreans have been dying of hunger. But experts say there is no sign of mass deaths or famine. They say the upcoming ruling Workers’ Party meeting is likely intended to shore up support for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as he pushes ahead with his nuclear weapons program in defiance…

Thousands of Russians Flee to Thailand to Escape War 

Chin@Strategy

Bangkok, Thailand —  Russian tourists are fleeing to Thailand to escape the war in Ukraine or look to move to the Southeast Asian country. Thailand has become a haven for Russian visitors who are looking to escape Moscow’s war in Ukraine that has now entered its second year. Visitors are in Thailand but are they fleeing Russia too. Since Thailand fully reopened its borders and dropped COVID-19 restrictions in October, Russian arrivals have made up the third-largest group of visitors, only behind Malaysia and India, according to government data. Now…

G20 Finance Ministers Fail to Bridge Differences Over Ukraine

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new delhi —  The finance ministers of the Group of 20 countries wrapped up a two-day meeting Saturday in India without issuing a joint statement after China and Russia objected to references that other members wanted to make on Moscow’s aggression in Ukraine. With no consensus, India, which holds the G-20 presidency this year, said in what is called a “chair’s summary” that “most members strongly condemned the war in Ukraine and stressed that it is causing immense human suffering and exacerbating existing fragilities in the global economy.” Stating that…

China to Welcome Belarusian Leader, Raising Concerns Over Ukraine

Chin@Strategy

As officials in Ukraine anxiously watch evolving diplomatic overtures between Moscow and Beijing, China’s top leader will host the president of Belarus — a staunch Kremlin ally — with the pomp of a state visit next week. On Saturday, China announced the visit, to take place over three days starting on Tuesday, for President Aleksandr Lukashenko of Belarus, who a year ago allowed Russian forces to use his country as a staging ground for their full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The presence in Beijing of such a close partner of President…

Evicted Yangon residents pushing to return face threats

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Ever since soldiers forced them out of their Yangon home in November, Ma Hla, her husband and their two kids have tried to survive in a one square-meter (10-square-foot) dormitory room. But with jobs tough to come by in Myanmar’s fragile post-coup economy, even the modest 50,000-kyat ($24) monthly rent is proving too much for the family, says Ma Hla, whose husband has been unable to find consistent work.  Desperate, Ma Hla this month joined a group of about 100 other evicted villagers who gathered along a nearby road ward…

Japan, Other G7 Leaders Step Up Russia Sanctions

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TOKYO —  Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and other Group of Seven leaders adopted a set of additional sanctions against Russia over its war on Ukraine at an online G-7 summit Friday to mark the one-year anniversary of the start of the invasion. The leaders renewed their commitment to “intensifying our diplomatic, financial and military support for Ukraine, to increasing the costs to Russia and those supporting its war effort,” and countering the negative impact on the rest of the world, especially the most vulnerable people, they said in a…