• East Asia

    Stop whining about North Korea

    Doug Bandow – The Korea Times Washington long has told the rest of the world what to do. But the world usually pays little attention. When ignored, U.S. officials typically talk tougher and louder, with no better result. That describes American policy toward North Korea. It would be better for…

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  • Central Asia

    Kazakh president to visit Azerbaijan and Armenia

    President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev will visit Azerbaijan, Serbia, Armenia and a number of other countries in 2016, Kazakh Foreign Minister Erlan Idrissov said at a briefing Aug. 17, Trend reports. In June, Idrissov said Nazarbayev will visit Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Jordan in 2016. The Kazakh president…

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  • Central Asia

    Premier confirms Mongolia’s willingness to expand cooperation with Turkey

    Prime Minister J.Erdenenbat received Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary from the Republic of Turkey to Mongolia Murat Karagoz on August 11, as part of a series of meetings with foreign ambassadors to Mongolia held after taking his office, The UB Post reports. Highlighting that the historic relationship between Mongolia and Turkey…

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  • East Asia

    S. Korea’s agriculture ministry launches Chinese website

    South Korea’s agriculture ministry said Wednesday it has launched its Chinese website (chinese.mafra.go.kr) in the latest move to provide better information on the country’s agricultural products. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said it plans to boost exchanges and cooperation with China in the agricultural sector. The ministry…

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  • East Asia

    North Korea’s foreign trade

    Recent economic sanctions created serious problems with exports of minerals from North Korea. Technically UN member countries are banned from importing North Korea minerals even though in practice it remains to be seen to what extent this ban will be observed by China. Nonetheless, there is no doubt that the…

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  • Central Asia

    Russian naval strike force starts anti-terror drills in the Mediterranean

    The Russian Black Sea Fleet’s advanced warships Serpukhov and Zelyony Dol armed with Kalibr cruise missiles have launched anti-terror drills in the east Mediterranean, TASS reports. “The drills will check the ability of the fleet’s forces to operate in the conditions of resolving crisis situations of terrorist nature. The naval…

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  • Central Asia

    Mongolian tankers qualify for IAG semifinals

    The Mongolian Ministry of Defense reports that the Mongolian team participating in the Tank Biathlon of the 2016 International Army Games qualified for the semifinals after the conclusion of the individual race on August 7, The UB Post reports. The Mongolian tank team finished the individual race with 29 minutes…

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  • South East Asia

    Indonesian President Dismisses Energy Minister Over US Citizenship

    Indonesian President Joko Widodo has relieved Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Archandra Tahar from his duties over reports that he had a dual Indonesian-US citizenship, State Secretariat Minister Pratikno said. Under Indonesian nationality law, Indonesians automatically lose their citizenship if they voluntarily accept foreign citizenship. “Responding to the public statement…

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  • Central Asia

    Tehran and Moscow to construct 2 Nuclear Power Plants in Iran

    Iran and Russia will construct two nuclear power plants in Iran, Spokesman of the Parliament National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Sayid Hossein Naqavi Hosseini said Sputnik reports. Hosseini said on Saturday that Iran needs 20,000MW of electricity, which requires construction of about 10 nuclear power plants, Shana news agency…

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  • East Asia

    Crossing the red line

    By Tong Kim – The Korea Times Many have reached a point of fatigue and a sense of futility in talking about denuclearization. There is plenty of blame to go around for Pyongyang, Washington and Seoul. North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho, speaking to reporters in Vientiane, Laos, where he…

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