Asia

North Korea’s Kim ⁠Yo-jong, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong-un, condemned a G7 call for the country’s denuclearisation as a violation of its constitution and an infringement of ‌sovereignty, state media KCNA said on Thursday. Kim said denuclearisation was an “irreversibly finalised agenda” that could never be realised, and that nuclear possession was North Korea’s core interest and an irreversible line, the statement carried by KCNA said. “Denuclearisation is the line ⁠of no retreat that...

A Vietnamese police operation rescued about 400 pet cats destined for the dinner plate, uncovering a nationwide racket fuelling the country’s rampant pet meat trade that uses a criminal corridor running from the south to the north. Hundreds of desperate cat owners rushed to a Ho Chi Minh police headquarters over the weekend to see if their lost pet was among the cats rescued from traffickers by police. In what is believed to be one of the largest busts of its kind, police said the cats were...

Trials are under way in China to roll out autonomous navigation and other smart shipping solutions to slash logistics costs ahead of the opening of the landmark Pinglu Canal, which will link its landlocked southwestern regions to Southeast Asia to spur trade and connectivity. Intelligent barges and other vessels have been tested on the artificial waterway in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region since Wednesday, as part of preparations for the commissioning of the roughly US$10 billion...

A Thai police officer who tried to flee after allegedly shooting his wife and her mother with his service weapon outside a gym was chased down and detained by two fitness trainers. Responding to reports of gunshots, officers from Nang Rong Police Station arrived at the two-storey fitness centre owned by the shooter’s wife behind Sra Ya Ma Market in Buriram province on Wednesday afternoon, according to the ThaiRath newspaper. They found the 37-year-old gym owner lying in a pool of blood with a...

A sharp sell-off in Indonesian assets has taken on a political tone online, with some social media users alleging, without evidence, that Singapore stands to gain from a “Sell Indonesia” narrative around Southeast Asia’s biggest economy. The rupiah has slipped to multiple record lows and weakened about 8 per cent this year, crossing a key level and trading above 18,000 to the US dollar last week, while Jakarta’s stock market has lost about a third of its value since the start of the year. As...

The mother of a 16-year-old girl who died from emaciation following lengthy detention and menacing interrogations by Japanese authorities is seeking compensation, in the latest “hostage justice” case. The lawsuit, filed with western Japan’s Kobe district court on Wednesday, argues that the girl’s 18-day ordeal at a jail traumatised her so much that five months after her release, she weighed just 20kg (44lbs) – and died in December. “My daughter was unrecognisable when she died,” the mother of...

Malaysian police have deported two Indian nationals wanted in connection with an explosion on a railway line in Punjab, in a case Indian media have linked to an alleged militant plot tied to the Khalistan separatist movement. Royal Malaysia Police said the pair were sent back to India on Wednesday after Indian authorities requested help locating and detaining them. M. Kumar S. Muthuvelu, director of the police’s criminal investigation department, said the two were believed to have been involved...

Japanese football fans have gone viral once again for tidying up the stadium after their team’s World Cup match against the Netherlands this week, only to prompt a meme criticising the country’s men for not applying the same standards of behaviour while at home. A spoof of a train etiquette poster contrasts an image of a football fan cleaning a stadium with a domestic scene where a woman washes dishes while a man clad in the national team’s Samurai Blue kit lounges on a sofa behind her. The...

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim visited Russia’s Kazan with a message about Asean centrality and a more urgent national problem behind it: keeping fuel supplies secure as global energy uncertainties linger. The two-day Asean-Russia Commemorative Summit has turned into a small but telling test of Washington’s influence in Southeast Asia, according to analysts, with Anwar and other regional leaders meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin even as Western governments seek to increase...

A Singaporean man is facing jail time for sending an edited photo of Marina Bay Sands (MBS) on fire to Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s Facebook page while mentioning a “bomb”. Andie Tan Kok Yong, a 35-year-old Singaporean, pleaded guilty on Thursday to one charge of knowingly sending a false message under the Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order and Nuisance) Act. A second charge of obstructing the course of justice by performing a factory reset of his phone will be considered in...

The deaths in quick succession of three rugby players in Malaysia have put renewed focus on the risks of competing in extreme heat and humidity, as climate change pushes temperatures higher across Southeast Asia. On May 23, prop Azlan Azhari, playing for Kedah’s state team against Johor in the 2026 Agong Cup, a local interstate tournament, collapsed about five minutes after scoring a try. The 22-year-old was stretchered off the field and taken to hospital where he was placed in an induced coma...

When Yuriko Koike was Japan’s environment minister in 2005, she was hailed by legions of salarymen as they shed ties and jackets in summer during the “Cool Biz” national energy-saving campaign that she helped to launch. Now, as Tokyo governor, Koike has taken the idea a step further: shorts in the office. In April, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government said it would allow male employees to arrive for work in shorts, urging businesses across the capital to adopt similarly relaxed dress codes. Tokyo...

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he thinks Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is his “biggest fan” among world leaders. “Japan’s doing very well,” Trump said at a press conference after a Group of Seven summit concluded in the French spa resort of Evian-les-Bains. “I have to tell you, she thinks I did a great job. You have to call her and ask her. She’s doing a very good job, by the way.” Trump’s comments came after he was asked whether he had called on other G7 members, including...

Japan’s push to build its own civil aviation sector and stay competitive in the technology race against China could receive a boost from a potential partnership with American aircraft giant Boeing. The country is already a key Boeing partner, possesses advanced manufacturing technologies and could benefit from a captive domestic market – factors that analysts say make its plan to develop a commercial aircraft viable, as it seeks to rebound from the failed SpaceJet airliner programme. “It’s what...

US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday attempted to defuse escalating tensions over the recent killing of three Indian sailors by American naval forces off the coast of Oman. Speaking to the media after their first bilateral meeting in 16 months, Trump said both Washington and New Delhi continue to “work together” on the issue, calling commercial vessel operations “a rough profession”. “I heard about that,” Trump added, without offering any condolences or...

When Singaporean Joel Tan stood before fellow Harvard Medical School PhD graduates recently, he recalled how the chance to study biology had once seemed unrealistic because he was told his grades were not good enough. “I often think about how much of my life depended on someone, somewhere, deciding that my past performance did not have to define my future potential,” said Tan, who delivered the student address at the Harvard Medical School-affiliated PhD programmes’ hooding ceremony on May...

A leadership stand-off in the Philippine Senate ended Wednesday with the removal of an ally of former president Rodrigo Duterte as leader of the chamber, which will soon start the impeachment trial of his daughter, incumbent Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio. With 13 of 24 senators backing him, Sherwin Gatchalian, an ally of President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, was elected Senate president. His rival, Alan Peter Cayetano, a key supporter of Duterte, admitted defeat. “He’s the leader the Senate needs...

The son of Sri Lanka’s former president Mahinda Rajapaksa was arrested on Wednesday on corruption charges, the anti-bribery commission said, the latest case to target the once all-powerful political clan. Yoshitha Rajapaksa, 38, is accused of tapping state funds for overseas training during his career as a naval officer. The Bribery Commission said he was being investigated for having risen through the ranks without the necessary qualifications and going to Britain for government-funded officer...

Fifa has extended an official invitation to a South Korean YouTuber to attend her country’s World Cup match against Mexico on Thursday after she was subjected to a racist gesture during a recent game. The football governing body said the match, which falls on the International Day for Countering Hate Speech, will be used to deliver a “message of inclusion and respect”. The UN established the observance in 2021 to tackle what it called the “exponential spread” of hate speech, xenophobia and...

Indonesia’s rupiah rallied from a historic low this week, its stock market surged and a closely watched sovereign wealth fund bond offering was oversubscribed, offering Southeast Asia’s largest economy a reprieve after months of asset pressure. But economists have warned that the relief may come at a cost as the same forces helping stabilise the rupiah, including higher interest rates and easing external pressure, could deepen financial strain on the country’s shrinking middle class and weigh on...

The US Navy has launched its largest annual humanitarian mission in the Indo-Pacific with a renewed focus on Southeast Asia, in what analysts described as part of Washington’s effort to rebuild confidence and project soft power in a region central to its rivalry with China. Pacific Partnership 2026, the US Navy’s largest annual maritime humanitarian and civic assistance effort in the Indo-Pacific, began after US personnel departed San Diego on May 27 for a mission-coordinating hub in the...

Illegal cyber activities accounted for around a third of all crimes recorded in some Asian countries, with scams the most widespread and financially damaging, according to a new Interpol report. The global policing agency’s latest cyber threat assessment cited the increasing dominance of online crimes compared to traditional illicit activity, describing the activities as “persistent, large-scale challenges affecting multiple jurisdictions” linked to the rapid adoption of digital...

For years, Washington described India as an indispensable partner, a democratic counterweight to China and a strategic anchor in the Indo-Pacific. Then the US Navy killed three Indian sailors and America’s top diplomat could not even bring himself to apologise. India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar raised the deaths directly with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a phone call last Friday, reiterating what he called India’s “strong protest” and declaring, in a later social media...

Malaysia and Thailand are edging closer to resolving a tit-for-tat seafood safety dispute, offering a lifeline to exporters after weeks of halted shipments and retaliatory restrictions on Thai shrimp and Malaysian sea bass. Tentative signs of a way out emerged on Wednesday when Malaysian officials confirmed that their Thai counterparts had returned a completed food safety standards questionnaire for formal assessment. Completing the questionnaire was a condition set by Malaysia for lifting the...

Captain Raman Kapoor was loading oil at an Iraqi port when word reached him that the United States and Iran were at war. Within hours, his tanker was trapped north of the Strait of Hormuz with 24 crew members aboard, as missiles began arcing across the sky overhead. “We were stuck inside the war zone and everyone was so scared and clueless about what to do,” Kapoor, 48, recalled. “We all felt so trapped. We were helpless, totally helpless.” He and his crew would stay that way for 75 days. The...

A group of Malaysian tourists is facing intense backlash for filming strangers and mocking locals in China as “smelly”, sparking debate on travel etiquette and national image. The clips, which also appeared to show the visitors shouting insults in Malay while travelling in the country, were allegedly first posted on TikTok by user @ekyn.wong. They were later deleted from the account when checked by This Week in Asia, but not before going viral on Malaysian social media, where users panned what...

With the card-collecting hobby turning into a moneymaking venture with thousands of ringgit moved in single transactions, Malaysia’s tax authorities are keeping a close eye out for any tax discrepancies and doing audits to clarify statuses. The Inland Revenue Board (LHDN) said it was aware of the growing market for high-value collectibles, in particular trading cards, and urged collectors to be aware of tax responsibilities if their hobbies are deemed to be business transactions. “We are aware...

When Celine Teo feels homesick, she visits Singaporean eatery Vanda Room in Beijing’s central business district to enjoy delicacies such as chicken rice and laksa. “Being able to enjoy a familiar dish abroad always brings a sense of comfort and connection to home,” said the 25-year-old undergraduate, who has lived in China for four years. But Teo worries these connections are thinning, as some Singapore-linked F&B players retreat, refocus or struggle to defend their edge in China’s increasingly...

The expected reopening of the Strait of Hormuz under a US-Iran ceasefire framework could ease pressure on South Korea’s energy-dependent economy while creating a thornier diplomatic problem for Seoul: how much should it contribute to securing the waterway? That question is likely to shadow President Lee Jae Myung’s visit to the Group of Seven summit this week in Evian-les-Bains, France, where the wars in Ukraine and Iran are expected to dominate talks among G7 leaders and several invited...

The Russia-India-China (RIC) dialogue is back in the diplomatic conversation. It has not formally restarted, and no summit is on the horizon. But the signals are here. In 2025, Moscow again pushed for reviving the RIC format. India said any meeting would have to be arranged in a “mutually convenient manner”, a cautious but open formula. China said it was willing to maintain communication with Russia and India on trilateral cooperation. This month, Russian President Vladimir Putin again spoke...