Seoul’s Foreign and Unification ministries on Thursday unveiled their 2025 policy priorities, pledging to “proactively” prepare for the potential revival of US-North Korea nuclear talks under a second Donald Trump administration, while gearing up for the possible resumption of inter-Korean dialogue. South Korea is bracing for a potential seismic shift in the overall Korean Peninsula landscape with President-elect Trump’s return to the White House next week. Such vigilance comes despite North Korea’s silence toward overtures from Seoul and Washington since 2019 and the now significantly strained inter-Korean relations compared to under the previous Moon Jae-in administration, which had sought to…
Author: Asia News Network
The search for the 32 people who died in the landslide at the jade mine in Sapot Village and Sai Mu Village, Hpakant Region, Kachin State, was suspended on January 15, according to reports. A local resident said that the mud on the road connecting Sapot Village and Sai Mu Village due to the landslide has been cleared. Although the exact number of missing people has not been released, sources close to the administration said that there were nearly 70 missing people. “We searched until yesterday evening. One person died at the hospital. There was also a pregnant woman. Four…
A male doctor in the southern province of Dong Nai is facing charges of murder, robbery and illegal possession of military weapons after allegedly killing and dismembering his pregnant lover to conceal their extramarital affair. On January 14, the Dong Nai Provincial People’s Procuracy issued an indictment against 36-year-old Danh Son, a general surgery specialist at Dong Nai General Hospital, on these series of three charges. According to the indictment, at the end of 2022, a 35-year-old woman named T.T.B.N. from Bien Hoa City brought a relative to Dong Nai General Hospital for treatment, where she met Danh Son, who…
Ever since China blocked Google, Facebook and other Western social media from 2009, Chinese netizens have had little chance of interacting with Americans on the same social media platform. But now, an influx of American users, who call themselves “TikTok refugees”, has surfaced on popular Chinese social media app Xiaohongshu. With the clock ticking down to TikTok’s likely closure in the US within days, some of its American users have migrated to the Chinese Instagram-like social media app, whose name means “little red book”. In an ironic turn of events, the attempt by the US government to shield Americans from…
From March 31, app stores must block young users below 18 years old from downloading apps not meant for their age group, including dating app Tinder and adult video games like Grand Theft Auto. Under the new Code of Practice for Online Safety for App Distribution Services, app stores targeting users in Singapore must also block children below 12 from downloading apps like Instagram and TikTok, which are rated for ages 12 and above. “We recognise that app distribution services are key gateways to accessing apps on our digital devices and are marketplaces for online content including online games,” said…
The Government has issued Resolution No. 11/NQ-CP dated January 15, 2025, on visa exemptions under the Tourism Stimulus Programme for 2025 for citizens of Poland, the Czech Republic, and Switzerland. According to the Resolution, visa exemptions will be granted to citizens of Poland, the Czech Republic, and Switzerland for a temporary stay of up to 45 days from the date of entry for tourism purposes. The policy applies to tours organised by international travel service providers in Vietnam and is valid regardless of passport type, provided all entry conditions under Vietnamese law are met. This visa exemption policy for citizens…
President Yoon Suk Yeol was taken into custody by a joint probe team at 10:33 a.m. Wednesday, according to police and the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, 12 days after being repelled in its initial attempt to detain him. Yoon arrived at the CIO headquarters of the CIO in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, for questioning over his martial law declaration in December. Yoon, 64, became the first sitting president in South Korean history to be in custody. In the next 48 hours, Yoon will be held at the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province, 16 kilometers south of Yoon’s…
China saw a spike in foreigners’ visits in 2024, a year in which the country kept stepping up efforts to beef up cross-border travel, statistics from the National Immigration Administration showed. Last year, immigration authorities across the country saw more than 20.11 million visa-free trips to China made by foreign travelers, more than double the figure in 2023, Lyu Ning, a spokeswoman for the administration, said on Tuesday. The authorities reported a total of 610 million inbound and outbound trips in 2024, a 43.9 percent year-on-year increase, Lyu said, adding that of these trips, 64.88 million were made by foreign…
North Korea launched multiple short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea on Tuesday, in its latest show of force a week before the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff reported that the missiles flew approximately 250 kilometers after being launched at around 9:30 a.m. from Kanggye, Jagang Province, near the regime’s border with China. They landed in the East Sea, it added. “The South Korea-US intelligence authorities had been closely monitoring signs of missile launch preparations by North Korea and promptly detected and tracked the launch,” the JCS said in a statement. Meanwhile, the…