Showing 1 - 10 of 19
Why is North Korea courting Russian tourists?
Oped, Saahil Menon, Published on 13/08/2025
» Hoping to replenish state coffers with much-needed foreign exchange reserves and offset the sharp post-Covid decline in Chinese tour groups, the Hermit Kingdom has set its sights on inquisitive holiday-makers from an ideologically aligned Russia.
Breaking the silence over North Korea
Oped, John J Metzler, Published on 29/05/2025
» Speaking out to break the information barrier inside the North Korean dictatorship is in itself nothing new, and usually quickly forgotten. North Korean exiles, friendly governments, and humanitarian organisations periodically raise the oft-forsaken banner of human rights, only to be confronted by realpolitik through another round of North Korean missile launches or nuclear proliferation.
GDP figures don't reflect real situation
Oped, Chartchai Parasuk, Published on 26/12/2024
» This article is the last for 2024. I have made many bad predictions about the Thai economy throughout the year. Many became true, like the contracting credit market, the NPL explosion, and an ineffective cash handout programme. Many have not become true (or have they?). One was GDP growth. Instead of shrinking as I predicted, GDP growth rates improved from quarter to quarter. They were 1.6% for Q1, 2.2% for Q2, and 3.0% for Q3. And it is expected to be 3.5% for Q4 to fulfil the annual 2.6% growth projection.
Trump to challenge global order
Oped, Kantathi Suphamongkhon, Published on 22/11/2024
» With President Donald Trump back in the White House, the fate of the liberal international order created by the US at the end of World War II is at risk.
NK troops sent to the Ukraine: cannon fodder?
Oped, John J Metzler, Published on 24/10/2024
» The rumours were true. The apparent dispatch of elite North Korean military units to fight alongside Russian troops in Ukraine appears at first surprising but actually is quite logical given the historic and comradely ties between Pyongyang and Moscow. After all, North Korea's isolated Kim Jong-un regime has forged increasingly close ties with Vladimir Putin's Russia and the cash-strapped North Koreans have shipped more than eight million 122mm and 152mm artillery shells to Russia during in the past year.
What to make of the Russian-N Korean alliance
Oped, Yoon Young-kwan, Published on 12/07/2024
» Not content with disturbing the peace in Europe, Russian President Vladimir Putin recently signed a comprehensive strategic partnership treaty with his North Korean counterpart, Kim Jong-un. As troubling to China's leaders as it is to Western officials, the deal is shaking up the geopolitics of Northeast Asia and sending reverberations around the world.
UN top council slams N Korea's rights record
Oped, John J. Metzler, Published on 19/06/2024
» North Korea's ongoing human rights violations were slammed and shamed by most members of the UN Security Council in a meeting last week. In a powerful briefing by both diplomats and a high profile North Korean political defector, the 15-member council underscored the noxious relationship between the regime's massive military buildups at the expense of both its population's human rights and physical well being -- namely access to sufficient food and nutrition.
Russian moves block UN probe of North Korea
Oped, John J Metzler, Published on 05/04/2024
» In a classic under-the-political radar ploy, Russia has vetoed a UN committee investigating North Korean nuclear missile and banking sanctions violations. The low-profile but highly significant sanctions committee regularly monitors illicit actions by Pyongyang to develop, improve and implement the regime's nuclear weapons and offensive missile programmes.
North Korea's launches still making a splash
Oped, John J Metzler, Published on 27/12/2023
» There they go again again! North Korea's reclusive communist regime ended the year with a provocative intercontinental ballistic launch, flying near Japan and splashing down in the Pacific. The ominous firing of a powerful Hwasong-18 rocket came a month after Pyongyang put a spy satellite into orbit.
Lao PDR is ready for Asean challenges
Oped, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 26/12/2023
» Starting Jan 1, Lao PDR will officially take over the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). This comes at a critical time as uncertainty increases regionally and globally. The growing competition among major powers has already had chilling effects on the region and beyond, never mind the ongoing issues of climate change and supply chain crises. Taking the helm for the third time, Vientiane will have to be proactive due to the urgency of such challenges.