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East Asia
Rohingya crisis goes beyond condemning the military: Myanmar scholars
Ongoing media coverage of the plight of Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar (also known as Burma) has been heavy in condemning Myanmar military forces for allegedly attempting ethnic cleansing and forcing hundreds of thousands of them to flee across the border into Bangladesh. This resulted in the United Nations Human…
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East Asia
Exploring the Andong Mask Festival
Mask dance is an elusive aspect of Korean culture. Many visitors to the peninsula are vaguely aware of it; they may have seen a yangban mask printed on a bus, or noticed the iconic character faces that line Yaksu Station. But in a country whose nation-brand is largely connected to…
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East Asia
My trip to Pyongyang: Finding South Korea there
Part I As the shaky Antonov An-148 aircraft descended, it was nothing but North Korea below us, or so I thought. With the plane trundling up to the terminal at Pyongyang Sunan International Airport, I glanced out of the window to see the Taegukgi ― South Korea’s national flag. It…
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East Asia
Office worker shares Himalayan experience
Lee Su-ji, 33, relives her travels as she writes about them, but also aims to share the charms of the places she visits to inspire potential travelers. “It is pointless to tell people how great the Himalayas are, to tell them to visit,” Lee says in the prologue of her…
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East Asia
PM declares war on fake news
Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon ordered government officials Tuesday to sternly tackle the spread of fake news that he said is disturbing democracy in the name of free speech. At a Cabinet meeting, Lee raised the need to hold accountable those who produce fake news and spread it intentionally. “(Fake…
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East Asia
Two Koreas begin clearing mines along DMZ
The two Koreas began removing landmines buried along the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), Monday, to fulfill a joint military agreement signed during the latest inter-Korean summit last month, the Ministry of National Defense said Monday. The move is in line with their bilateral agreement to…
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East Asia
Unemployment of college graduates hits record high
The unemployment rate for college graduates rose to a record high in the second quarter as companies and small businesses grew more reluctant to hire new workers amid a consumption slump and other unfavorable business conditions. Due to worsening job market conditions, the number of unemployed university graduates as of…
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East Asia
Gay rights and global culture
Is there really such a thing as a global culture? Consider gay rights. Last Thursday the Indian Supreme Court decriminalized homosexuality. Last April a court in Trinidad and Tobago found colonial-era laws banning gay sex to be unconstitutional. And late last year, Australia became the umpteenth state to legalize same-sex…
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East Asia
Korea isolated in job recovery
Korea seems to be one of the very few countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) facing rising joblessness. Developed countries such as the United States, Japan and Germany, on the other hand, have reached virtually full employment. Korea’s unemployment rate stood at 4 percent in August,…
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East Asia
Indonesian teenager survives 49 days at sea
An Indonesian teenager who survived 49 days adrift at sea after the wooden fish trap he was employed to mind slipped its moorings says he ran out of food within a week and survived on fish and seawater he squeezed from his clothing. Aldi Novel Adilang told The Associated Press…
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