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East Asia
Economic uncertainty prompts rush to safe assets
Uncertainties stemming from the escalating U.S.-China trade dispute and a slowdown in Asia’s fourth-largest economy are changing the way investors here behave, with many apparently rushing to buy what they believe to be safer assets, such as bonds, gold and houses, data showed Monday. Bond prices have skyrocketed to multi-year…
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East Asia
U.N. special rapporteur to visit Seoul for research on N.K. human rights
The U.N. special rapporteur on North Korea’s human rights situation will visit South Korea next week to gather information on the North’s human rights issues, Seoul’s foreign ministry said Friday. During the five-day stay that starts Monday, Tomas Ojea Quintana is expected to hold a series of talks with ministry…
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East Asia
Builders lure homeseekers with built-in air purifiers amid fine dust woes
Various and viable tools are available for citizens here to respond to the ever-growing air pollution, and newlyweds Park Young-eun and Yeo Ryong-koo are also on the lookout for solutions to keep their home safe from fine dust. Recently, the couple who are considering buying a new apartment in Incheon,…
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East Asia
Moon to address Swedish parliament on denuclearization, peace
South Korean President Moon Jae-in will deliver another major speech on the Korea peace process Friday on a visit to Stockholm, his office said. In the Parliament House address with the theme of “The denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and trust for peace,” Moon plans to emphasize the need for…
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East Asia
10 Afghan bikers cycle their way to Istanbul
Cyclists emphasize significance of Lapis Lazuli corridor Ten Afghan bikers have pedaled 4,118-kilometers from Afghanistan to Turkey to emphasize the economic and cultural relations between countries in the region. The Turkish-Afghan Friendship Cycling Tour began in Afghanistan’s Harat province and ended at the World Peace Park in the Beşiktaş district…
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East Asia
Bahrain bans use of plastic bags starting July
Bahrain will ban the use of plastic bags in July, a senior environment official has said. Mohammed Mubarak Bin Daina, the chief executive of the Supreme Council for Environment (SCE), said the ban would regulate and phase out the use of plastic bags. “The first phase will focus on single-use…
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East Asia
New language model for advanced Korean-based AI service developed
A new Korean language model that can advance artificial intelligence (AI) services and searches have been developed for a wide range of applications, a state-run electronics institute said Tuesday. The system has an average 4.5 percent better processing and understanding capability compared with Google Inc.’s widely used Bidirectional Encoder Representations…
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East Asia
Moon hopes to meet Kim Jong-un before Trump visits S. Korea in late June
South Korean President Moon Jae-in voiced hope Wednesday that he will meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to the peninsula at the end of this month. Moon’s offer came amid renewed expectations for a possible breakthrough in efforts to restart nuclear talks…
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East Asia
Rising digital game exporter, S. Korea at odds with WHO’s adoption of gaming disorder
The fourth-biggest market for digital games in the world and an aspiring leader in the emerging VR technology, South Korea is at odds with the World Health Organization’s recent decision to put excessive gaming in the official list of disorders. The World Health Assembly, the WHO’s decision-making body, unanimously approved…
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East Asia
Young N. Korean defectors aim high by studying English
On a recent Friday morning, a small number of mostly teenaged students trained their eyes on their American teacher, repeating short English sentences after her and raising their hands from time to time to ask questions. At a glance, they look no different from ordinary students in South Korea, where…
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