Asia

Having invested significant diplomatic capital into ties with Russia in recent years, North Korea now seems to be pivoting back to China. Leader Kim Jong-un said his country places “the greatest value” on improving ties with Beijing. This shift came during Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s two-day visit to North Korea last week, where he met Kim and North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui. Notably, Wang’s visit marked his first to North Korea since 2019. In the intervening years of the...

North Korea has made “very serious” advances in its abilities to turn out nuclear weapons, with the probable addition of a new uranium enrichment facility, as it steps up activity at a key complex, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi has said. Enriching uranium can provide an alternative, and experts say, a more effective, path to acquiring weapons-grade material in addition to ‌reprocessing spent plutonium extracted from a nuclear reactor. Speaking in Seoul on Wednesday, the head of the International...

Balikatan, the flagship annual military exercise between Manila and Washington, begins in the Philippines this month without a single neighbouring Southeast Asian member taking part, despite the drills’ growing scale and multinational reach. Analysts say that hesitation helps explain Balikatan’s place in the region: for some Asean members, it is a reassuring sign of US commitment, but joining it risks looking like a strategic choice in the sharpening rivalry between Washington and Beijing. “To...

In Malaysia, artificial intelligence is already causing harm to content creators through deepfake nudes, cloned voices, scam advertisements and stolen likenesses, experts have warned. They shared the view at the Freedom Film Network’s second International Conference on Film & Society in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday, where creators, researchers and advocates from across Southeast Asia gathered under the theme “Cultivating Artistic Freedom in a Volatile World”. Melissa Lim Shi Hui, a lawyer and legal...

President Prabowo Subianto’s heavy overseas travel schedule is drawing scrutiny at home as Indonesians are asked to curb fuel use and officials have had to cut back on foreign trips. The attention reflects a growing debate over the value and timing of the president’s diplomacy as higher global oil prices put fresh pressure on Indonesia’s fuel subsidy bill – even as Prabowo defended some of his recent travel as being aimed at securing energy supplies and economic opportunities for his...

Japan has said it will establish a financial framework worth about US$10 billion to help Asian countries procure energy resources and bolster their stockpiles ‌as Middle East tensions drive prices higher and disrupt supply chains. The support, aimed at preventing knock-on effects on Japan’s own supply chains, would be channelled mainly through state-backed financial institutions such as Japan Bank for International Cooperation and Nippon Export and Investment Insurance. Announcing the plan on...

As Islamabad prepares to host a second round of negotiations between the United States and Iran, Pakistani mediators are seeking ways to extricate the Gulf monarchies from the conflict, according to a well-placed diplomatic source. While the success of those efforts depends largely on the outcome of talks that US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday could resume by the end of the week, Pakistan’s mediation has produced a second confidence-building phone call in a week between the Iranian and...

In a rare public protest in Singapore, hundreds gathered in Hong Lim Park over the weekend to denounce the “US war machine”. They brandished placards and banners, including one with horns drawn on US presidents past and present captioned: “This is what terrorists look like.” The demonstration, which required organisers to get permission from the authorities, came as public sentiment across the region sours against Washington. Observers attribute this to the perception that the United States has...

A breakthrough in India’s nuclear power research has been hailed as a defining moment for the country’s energy programme and a step towards self-reliance. Earlier this month, Indian scientists revealed they had achieved criticality, a state of self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction, at the Kalpakkam prototype fast breeder reactor (PFBR) in Tamil Nadu state. The programme promises to harness India’s abundant thorium reserves, which constitute around 25 per cent of global deposits, advancing its...

A man raped a domestic worker in an open field in Singapore’s Rochor and stole money from her shortly after witnessing another man allegedly sexually assault the woman. Malaysian Harvin Velanggany, 24, was sentenced on Monday to eight years’ jail and six strokes of the cane after pleading guilty to one count of rape with a charge of theft taken into consideration. Court documents stated that the victim, a 32-year-old Filipino, was on her day off when she was sexually assaulted on May 26, 2024....

A leaked plan to grant the US military sweeping overflight access to Indonesia’s airspace has triggered a domestic backlash over concerns that Jakarta is “colluding with the aggressor” amid Washington’s war on Iran. Analysts say the defence document, first reported by New Delhi-based newspaper the Sunday Guardian, raises concerns that President Prabowo Subianto may be trading away Indonesia’s strategic independence. The proposal, which reportedly emerged following a meeting in February between...

The latest Singaporean establishment that the internet has come for with its pitchforks and torches is the Cantonese zi char restaurant, Eat First. The Geylang restaurant recently received a spate of one-star Google reviews following an article published by Mothership on Sunday, which reported that the restaurant charged a family S$2 (US$1.57) for bringing their own bottle of water, in line with its strict no-outside-food-and-drink policy. The internet did not hesitate. The moment the article...

An American YouTuber who caused outrage for filming himself kissing a statue commemorating Korean wartime sex slaves has been sentenced to six months in prison, a court in Seoul said on Wednesday. Johnny Somali, 25, gained notoriety several years ago for recording himself doing a series of provocative stunts in South Korea and Japan, and streaming them on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. South Korean authorities indicted Somali, whose real name is Ramsey Khalid Ismael, in 2024 on public...

For the first time in nine months, former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol finally saw his wife again on Tuesday. He was the defendant. She was the witness. She barely looked at him. The reunion, their first since his arrest following a failed martial law declaration that ended his presidency, lasted all of 30 minutes. The couple made eye contact only once. Yoon looked visibly thinner, his face gaunt and marked with age spots, his once-dark hair now almost entirely silver. Kim Keon-hee wore...

Jewellery and cash worth hundreds of millions of ringgit were found in overfilled luggage bags stored in a luxury condominium in Kuala Lumpur during a raid linked to the 1Malaysia Develop­ment Bhd (1MDB) investigation, the High Court heard. The police had found 71 ­luggage bags, a plastic box and more than 200 boxes during the operation at Pavilion Residences on May 17, 2018. Former Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director Amar Singh Ishar Singh testified that the sheer amount...

Former Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte discussed removing President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr from office and even considered assassination if a supposed power-sharing deal fell apart, a jailed witness told a House impeachment hearing into Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio. Ramil Madriaga, a self-described political organiser, intelligence operative and bagman who said he had once been close to Duterte-Carpio, made the sensational allegations before the House Committee on Justice on Tuesday during...

The operator of Japan’s Narita International Airport is considering compulsory acquisition of farmers’ land to complete a planned third runway, recalling the forced land purchases that led to violent clashes between riot police and local residents when the airport was built in the 1960s. Narita International Airport Corporation (NAA) has been able to secure 88.4 per cent of the land it requires to finish the extension of the existing 2,500-metre second runway at the airport and construct a new...

As the US imposes its own blockade on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz following the collapse of talks with Iran at the weekend, we take a look at how major economies in Asia and Europe could be affected by further restrictions on passage through one of the world’s most critical choke points for energy supplies. Who is most vulnerable in this energy crisis? According to a recent report by Japanese investment bank Nomura, the regions most exposed to the tensions in the Persian Gulf are Asian...

After more than 20 hours of high-level negotiations in Islamabad, US Vice-President J.D. Vance confirmed that Washington and Tehran were walking away without a deal. Iran reportedly refused to accept US terms on its nuclear programme, laying bare the deep strategic divides that continue to stall diplomatic solutions to the conflict. However, the venue tells a larger story. India has long been seen as South Asia’s most globally networked actor and has maintained ties with Washington, Tel Aviv,...

The Philippine military on Tuesday rejected Beijing’s claim that Manila had staged a “cyanide stunt” near a contested reef in the South China Sea, after Filipino officials accused Chinese fishermen of using cyanide around a grounded warship that serves as a military outpost. “We reject any statement that this is fabricated news,” said Navy Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, a spokesman for the Armed Forces of the Philippines. At the centre of the dispute is the BRP Sierra Madre, a derelict navy...

Malaysia’s government has urged the public to be ready to tighten their belts over an extended period, with the full effects of the energy crisis triggered by the Iran war expected to kick in as soon as June after the country’s economic buffers run their course. Domestic gas production and costly fuel subsidies have so far shielded the country’s population of 34 million from most of the fallout from the war, which has choked supply for 25 per cent of global seaborne oil trade and nearly a fifth...

The United States is planning a fuel depot in the southern Philippines to support humanitarian and maritime security missions for its long-time ally in Asia, as part of a growing network of forward-based refuelling hubs in the Western Pacific. Located far from the flashpoint reefs at the centre of Manila’s maritime dispute with Beijing in the South China Sea, the depot marks what one observer called a “more mature and more serious stage” in the US-Philippine alliance: a shift from base access...

A Japanese court on Tuesday sentenced a former teacher to two years in prison for taking indecent images of pupils and sharing them on social media, making him the first among members of an alleged teachers’ voyeurism ring to receive a prison sentence in a high-profile case that came to light last year. The Nagoya District Court handed down the sentence to Katsuya Ishikawa, 28, who was a teacher at a junior high school in Hayama, Kanagawa Prefecture, at the time of his arrest in September. Judge...

Washington’s naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is threatening to tip Asia into its worst energy crisis in living memory, with peace talks on the Iran war stalled and no clear timeline for when oil flows might resume. The United States moved to seize control of the flashpoint waterway on Monday night, with US President Donald Trump framing the move as a way to force Iran to open the strait and accept a deal to end the war. Iran responded by threatening all ports in the Persian Gulf and the...

The United Nations has issued a grim warning about the costs to the Asia-Pacific region of a prolonged conflict in Iran, forecasting job losses, crippling inflation and food insecurity, with the poorest nations brutally exposed to the oil shock and millions of informal workers facing the body blow of rising transport costs. More than 8 million people across the Asia-Pacific could be plunged into poverty if the crisis that closed the Strait of Hormuz drags on, according to a study published on...

Nepal’s tourism industry is scrambling to offset a sharp fall in Western visitors during the peak spring trekking season, with operators and officials turning their attention to Asia-Pacific markets as conflict-linked travel disruptions ripple through the Middle East. Arrivals from the Americas and Europe, which account for a sizeable share of Nepal’s higher-spending long-haul tourism business, dropped by nearly 25 per cent and 19 per cent, respectively, during March compared with the same...

Israel’s ambassador to Japan and the Simon Wiesenthal Centre have condemned a Japanese political commentator over remarks he made on a morning news programme that were widely criticised as suggesting Jared Kushner should not be involved in negotiations with Iran because he is Jewish. Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, joined Vice-President J.D. Vance and special envoy Steve Witkoff in Islamabad over the weekend for talks aimed at ending the war between the US, Israel and...

Malaysia is doubling down on renewables to secure its energy future, its deputy prime minister has said, as the government scrambles to mitigate the fallout from an escalating energy crisis triggered by the Iran war. Tehran all but shut access to the Strait of Hormuz last month in retaliation for the US and Israel’s attacks, disrupting a key energy chokepoint through which about 25 per cent of global seaborne oil trade and nearly a fifth of global liquefied natural gas exports pass – much of...

Melaka police are tracking a 36-year-old express bus driver after a video showing him driving with a woman seated on his lap near the Bemban Rest and Recreational area went viral in Malaysia. Jasin Superintendent Lee Robert said initial investigations found the incident occurred at about 7.30pm on Sunday at the entrance to the area. He described the driver’s actions as extremely dangerous, noting that such behaviour could impair vehicle control and cause serious distraction, posing a risk to...

We have selected seven stories from the SCMP’s coverage of Asia over the past week that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Singapore’s refusal to negotiate over Hormuz creates waves in Malaysia Singapore’s pushback against negotiating with Iran over access to the Strait of Hormuz has triggered a backlash from Malaysian politicians, who saw its statements as “lecturing” them on how best to...