Asia

Each year on July 27, North Korea commemorates “Victory Day”, marking what it presents as its triumph in the Korean war. While few outside the country accept that characterisation, the date underscores a reality: the war never formally ended. The 1953 agreement was an armistice that left the peninsula in a state of suspended conflict. Responsibility for the resulting instability is widely distributed. North Korea’s missile tests, expanding nuclear arsenal and escalatory rhetoric have undermined...

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Russia has sought an extra 30,000 troops and missile launchers from North Korea to fight his country. Preparations for the extra troops are being made in Russia’s Voronezh region near the frontier with Ukraine, Zelensky said in a social media post late Saturday. North Korea sent thousands of troops to help Russia fight off a Ukrainian counteroffensive in the Kursk region in 2024. It has also provided arms to help Russia’s invasion since...

India’s ambition to grow its navy past 200 ships within the next decade has taken on fresh urgency as China expands the world’s largest naval fleet and Pakistan adds advanced Chinese-built attack submarines, heightening New Delhi’s anxieties in the Indian Ocean. Analysts see this month’s commissioning of the stealth frigate INS Mahendragiri and submarine hunter INS Malvan this month as a symbol of that effort: both domestically built warships presented as evidence that New Delhi can scale up its...

Unesco decided on Sunday to add a group of ancient sites in Nara prefecture that show the formation of Japan’s centralised state to the World Heritage list, marking the country’s 27th such site. The decision on the Asuka-Fujiwara: Archaeological sites of Japan’s Ancient Capitals and Related Properties was made during a meeting of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation World Heritage Committee held in Busan, South Korea. The ruins are highly regarded for showing the...

In recent years, Southeast Asian governments have viewed the “China plus one” strategy as their best chance to escape the middle-income trap. As global manufacturers looked to diversify away from China because of rising costs, trade tensions and supply-chain vulnerabilities, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia seemed perfectly placed to benefit. The promise was simple and compelling: new factories would arrive, more formal jobs would be created, wages would rise in tandem with higher productivity...

As India picks up the pieces in the aftermath of a youth protest that deposed an education minister, questions linger over the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) failure to connect with younger generations. Analysts say the scale of youth participation in the protest suggests a loss of faith in Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with the real test coming at the ballot box in key state elections next year. Thousands of young people joined the Cockroach Janta Party’s (CJP) march to parliament on...

A new wave of US tariffs that hit seven Southeast Asian countries is set to reinforce perceptions of Washington as an unreliable partner to the region, according to analysts. Citing what it said were forced labour practices uncovered in its latest investigations, the US on Thursday imposed levies ranging from 10 to 12.5 per cent on 60 economies – with the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam the hardest hit among Association of Southeast Asian Nations members. Malaysia, Indonesia and...

Malaysian police have received a report against Perikatan Nasional election director Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor over remarks allegedly made during a speech while campaigning for the Negeri Sembilan election. Negeri Sembilan police chief Alzafny Ahmad said the report was lodged by a 40-year-old man at the Bandar Seri Jempol police station on Friday. “The complainant was ­unhappy with a news report published by an online portal regarding a ­speech by the Kedah chief minister,” he said in a statement...

Across Myanmar, the statues are vanishing one by one. Military-backed authorities blame “incorrect proportions and shapes”. Unofficially, analysts see a deliberate attempt to erase the presence of independence hero Aung San from public life – and with it, the legitimacy of the elected government the junta overthrew. Revered as the country’s founding father, Aung San founded its military, united its diverse ethnic groups and spearheaded the nationalist movement that ultimately wrested...

Indonesia wants to build a financial centre to rival Singapore, Hong Kong or Dubai, but analysts say the real work of persuading global investors has barely begun. Parliament’s passage of the enabling legislation on Tuesday laid the legal foundation for the hub, marking a milestone in President Prabowo Subianto’s push to attract more foreign capital into Southeast Asia’s largest economy and lift growth towards 8 per cent by the end of his term in 2029. Yet observers caution that the centre,...

A Mitsubishi Heavy Industries factory is expected to be the Japan centre for the development and assembly of the next-generation fighter jet to be produced by Japan, Britain and Italy, sources close to the matter said on Saturday. The three members of the trilateral Global Combat Air Program are discussing the roles each will play in the design and manufacture of the jet, with Britain to set up its centre in Warton and Italy in Turin, according to the sources. The Japanese centre will be set up...

India’s education minister resigned on Saturday after coming under intense pressure from young protesters, with outrage over leaked examination questions compounded by discontent with the job market and government. Hours after the resignation, protesters agreed to ‌end their protest, a spokesperson of the “cockroach” ⁠movement said ‌after talks with ‌the government on Saturday. “Considering the situation that has arisen at Jantar Mantar [protest site] and across the country, so that...

Heatwaves come and go, and while this is happening with increasing frequency and intensity – as this year’s record-breaking temperatures show – they slip from attention once things cool off. What does not disappear is the lasting and costly damage they do to the basic infrastructure we rely on in our daily lives. Ultra-hot days and nights can result in the deaths of many people (those who cannot afford air conditioning especially) and they ignite forest infernos of terrifying intensity. Some of...

Ukraine hopes to gain support from Japan as it looks to produce Patriot air defence systems under US licence, citing the expertise of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries that manufactures the interceptors for the Japanese defence forces, according to an aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. “We maintain political dialogue” towards seeking cooperation from Japan, which is one of the few countries granted a licence to build the Patriot surface-to-air missile system, Sergiy Kyslytsya, first...

Japan has been establishing dialogue frameworks for artificial intelligence with like-minded countries and Global South partners to reduce reliance on top US and Chinese firms and promote domestic companies abroad. The outreach signals a growing recognition among those countries of the need for cooperation, rather than going it alone, to survive in the increasingly competitive field of AI. At home, Japan is seeking to foster its own domestic AI ecosystem. The move by the United States to...

By day, Adele Lee juggles schedules and administrative work as a personal assistant to a senior director at a financial advisory firm. Three evenings a week, the 32-year-old logs back on, this time to sell second-hand clothes through TikTok livestreams, fielding questions from viewers and packing orders herself after the broadcast ends. The side hustle brings in about S$500 (US$390) a month, supplementing her monthly salary of almost S$4,000. The extra cash helps pay for her insurance premiums...

In an industry built on going global, K-pop’s freshest phenomenon has succeeded by doing the exact opposite: staying home. Rescene, a five-member girl group from little-known agency The Muze Entertainment, debuted in 2024 but largely flew under the radar until recently. Now, they are the talk of the town – chart-toppers, brand ambassadors and a name that is suddenly inescapable across South Korea. No stadium tours preceded their rapid ascent from relative obscurity. No Hybe-scale marketing...

Japan’s tourism boom has packed the streets of Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka with foreign visitors, but one of the country’s most scenic regions is still struggling to draw them north. Tohoku, the northern region of Japan’s main island of Honshu, comprises Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Akita, Yamagata and Fukushima prefectures – an area known for mountains, hot springs, skiing, festivals and a slower rural pace of life. Of the record 42.7 million foreign visitors to Japan last year, just 2.57 million –...

Bali has “aura” and political titan Luhut Pandjaitan wants to channel it to transform Indonesia’s famed resort island into an international financial centre. But President Prabowo Subianto’s special adviser and economic tsar is not relying on subtle nods to Gen Z slang to sell paradise. Instead, he conjures up a striking image to make his case. A friend recently sent him a photograph of kamikaze drones lighting up the skies over Abu Dhabi, accompanied by a plea: help us get out. Indonesia,...

India’s Akasa Air and Malaysia’s AirBorneo are pressing ahead with expansion plans despite soaring jet fuel prices and disruption from the US-Israel war on Iran, in a development analysts say shows smaller Asian carriers finding room to grow while larger airlines grapple with capacity constraints. Akasa Air, India’s youngest airline, said last week that it was seeking to raise 10.5 billion rupees (US$110 million) through equity and debt, including loans from state-run banks, to fund its...

A tornado tore through an industrial site in Batam, Indonesia, ripping roofing from workshop facilities and sending helmeted workers running for cover as weather officials warned that unstable conditions could trigger further sudden storms. The short-lived wind vortex, described locally as a puting beliung, struck VME Process in Tanjung Sengkuang, Batu Ampar, at about 10am on Wednesday, damaging workers’ shelters and scattering construction materials across the site, according to Indonesian...

Southeast Asia’s governments have spent months trying to blunt the effects of war-driven energy shocks from the Middle East, but renewed fighting between the United States and Iran has exposed how limited those defences are, analysts have warned. The latest flare-up has revived fears of a second round of fuel disruption across the region, where many economies remain heavily dependent on imported oil and shipping routes linked to the Gulf. Southeast Asian leaders expressed “grave concern” over...

Malaysia has ordered the UN refugee agency to stop registering new refugees while it builds a biometric identification system that officials say will give them greater control over a population of more than 215,000 displaced people. But rights advocates warn the freeze risks leaving newly arrived asylum seekers with no way to prove they need protection, opening a dangerous gap in a country that does not accord them formal legal status. The cabinet ordered the United Nations High Commissioner for...

Japan’s move to establish a new bureau to boost defence cooperation with allies is part of Tokyo’s wider policy to deepen deterrence against China, analysts say, adding that the internal reform was also long overdue for the government. The new unit will be under the defence ministry to oversee international coordination with like-minded countries, according to government and political sources cited by local media earlier this month. The move is said to be aimed at strengthening the ministry’s...

First, the US-Israeli war on Iran sparked a Diet Coke shortage in India by squeezing supplies of aluminium cans, triggering an unusual wave of “Diet Coke parties” in one of the world’s largest consumer markets. But now, the fizzy drink is getting pricier. Across India, Coca-Cola has hiked prices of ‌Diet Coke – sold predominantly in aluminium cans in the country – by more than 10 per cent due to the ongoing Middle East conflict, which has choked its supply chain. As a result, the company had...

A ⁠South ⁠Korean court ⁠on Friday ordered SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won to pay his former ‌wife Roh Soh-yeong 944 billion won (US$644 million) in a divorce-related property division case, lower than a previous 1.38 trillion won ⁠award that had drawn scrutiny of his stake in the group’s holding company. If finalised, the ruling from the Seoul High Court would be South Korea’s most expensive divorce ever. Chey is worth about US$5.6 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, with his...

Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin, a former ally of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, will resign on Friday halfway through his term, according to his spokesman. The president’s office is a largely ceremonial post and Shahabuddin is quitting much before the end of his tenure in April 2028. The decision comes after Hasina announced her plan to return in December to surrender following a court conviction. “As a result of his illnesses, it is no longer possible for him to discharge his...

Malaysia’s ambassador to the United States was ⁠summoned by the ⁠US State Department to explain ⁠Kuala Lumpur’s position on Israel, state media reported, citing the country’s foreign minister. Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan said Ambassador Muhammad Shahrul Ikram Yaakob told the State Department that Malaysia’s long-standing policy of not recognising ‌Israel was not new. “It has always been Malaysia’s policy. Our immigration policy does not recognise the State of Israel or the Zionist regime....

Barely four months into its implementation, South Korea’s new labour-friendly law is coming under growing scrutiny as workers’ demands for bonuses tied to a fixed percentage of corporate profits spread across the country. If left unchecked, critics warn, the revised Trade Union and Labour Relations Adjustment Act – commonly known as the Yellow Envelope Act – could fuel labour disputes, create uncertainty for businesses and threaten an economy that is only beginning to recover. At the heart of...

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet pledged to step up a crackdown on transnational online scam networks, but warned the criminal syndicates were adapting by fracturing into smaller, decentralised cells across the region. Authorities had already shut down more than 670 illegal scam operations while expanding intelligence sharing with key international law enforcement partners, he said, including during a visit this week with US Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel. “We will make...