The East Asia Thread

[Glassfan]

News and conversation about China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Indo-China, The Philippines, Asiatic Russia and Indonesia (etc.).

Two of my own favorite English language East Asian news outlets;


http://www.koreaherald.com/


www.japantimes.co.jp

Please feel free to add your own news sources.

Let me start it off with this story;
Still the same old North Korea

 

[Borachio]

http://www.kcna.co.jp/index-e.htm

Pyongyang, December 18 (KCNA) -- Organizations in Peru, Bolivia and Nigeria released statements on December 12 and 13 hailing the DPRK's successful launch of the second version of satellite Kwangmyongsong-3.

The Peruvian Committee for Remembering Generalissimo Kim Jong Il said that the DPRK's successful launch of satellite constitutes a shining victory of the great Juche idea, the Songun idea and fruition of the unshakable will and Songun leadership of the dear respected Marshal Kim Jong Un.

The Peruvian Group for the Study of Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism said that the DPRK's satellite launch conducted by its own efforts and with its indigenous technology for peaceful purposes is a legitimate right of a sovereign state recognized by international law.

The organization supported the DPRK's independent satellite launch for peaceful purposes and condemned the moves of the U.S., Japan and south Korea against it.

The Bolivia-Korea Friendship Association noted that through its successful launch of the satellite the DPRK strikingly demonstrated its superiority to the capitalist and imperialist powers not only in politics and military affairs but in science and technology.

The Nigeria-Korea Friendship Association stressed that the DPRK's successful launch of the satellite is a clear proof of its tremendous national power and distinguished scientific and technological progress giving confidence and courage to the developing countries.

 

[Glassfan]

"U.S. Magazine Selects Kim Jong Un as Man of 2012
Pyongyang, December 18 (KCNA) -- The U.S. magazine The Time selected the dear respected Kim Jong Un as 'man of 2012'."




Kim Jong Un is mentioned under "people who mattered", 48th of 51, after Stephen Colbert, South Korean "Gangnam" rapper Psy and Jon Stewart.

 

[Glassfan]

First woman, Park Geun-hye, elected President of South Korea


President-elect Park Geun-hye meets Sung Kim, U.S. ambassador to Korea, at the headquarters of the Saenuri Party, Thursday. She also received courtesy calls from China, Japan and Russia envoys.

 

[Glassfan]

China promises to improve intellectual property protection after trade talks with US

"China promised Wednesday to take further steps to address U.S. concerns about widespread piracy by strengthening enforcement of intellectual property rights and promoting the use of legal software.

“We have provided a new platform for a strong U.S.-China relationship,” acting U.S. Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank told a news conference.

"China and the U.S. “have become interdependent and inseparable,” Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan said."

 

[ace99]

Sometimes I wish we could do this:

Nearly 1,000 people, including members of a banned Christian group, have been arrested in China for allegedly spreading end of the world rumours, a state-owned newspaper is reporting.

More than 400 members of the "Almighty God" sect were detained in the northwest province of Qinghai, the China Daily reported on Thursday. Another 350 people were also arrested in the southwestern province of Guizhou.

A few hundreds more were arrested in five other provinces.

Members of the group believe Friday, December 21, marks the end of the world as the Mayan "Long Count" calendar finishes a 5,200-year cycle.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2012/12/2012122010555494737.html

 

[dutchfire]

Well, the worst they can do to them is 1 day in prison, isn't it?

 

[Glassfan]

Bank of Japan green-lights new $119B stimulus

"In a unanimous decision, the board of Japan's central bank voted to unleash 10 trillion yen, or nearly $119 billion, in a new monetary stimulus Thursday -- a widely-expected move to help Asia's second-largest economy combat chronic deflation.

"But many in Japan are concerned that,... Japan needs long-term structural reforms that address overhauling the pension system, health care and Japan's once-profitable corporate giants like Sony and Panasonic, which hemorrhaged a combined $20 billion in their last fiscal year."

 

[rugbyLEAGUEfan]

Well, the worst they can do to them is 1 day in prison, isn't it?

Still, life imprisonment seems harsh.

 

[Glassfan]

James Hong

 

[Glassfan]

China consumers driving economic rebound

"BEIJING: China's consumers are leading an uneven recovery in the world's second biggest economy that has retailers expecting stronger sales in six months, early results of a national survey showed on Wednesday."

 

[Glassfan]

S. Korea urges Japan to resolve wartime sex slavery

"Responding to Japan's renewed denial of forcing Korean women into sex slavery during World War II, South Korea once again urged Japan Thursday to seek "satisfactory" solutions for the victims.

"Historians say up to 200,000 women, mostly Koreans, were coerced into sexual slavery at front-line Japanese military brothels during Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule. Moreover, former sex slaves, who are euphemistically called "comfort women," have long testified to the hardships they were forced to endure."

Japan loses its cool as South Korea heats up

"Last month, a nationwide survey of 3,000 people by the Cabinet office found that the percentage of Japanese who do not view South Korea on friendly terms rose to 59 percent, up by 23.7 points from 2011. The sharply negative shift appeared to reverse over a decade of warming relations between the two countries

"The shift in Japanese opinion largely reflects the abrasive policies of South Korea's soon-to-be ex-president Lee Myong-bak, who many feel has taken an unnecessarily confrontational position on claims over the disputed islands of Takeshima (Dokdo in Korean), as well as pressing demands for an unequivocal apology over the wartime sex slaves issue."

 

[Goodfella]

It's pretty ridiculous that the Japanese government would refuse to acknowledge it and even claim that there exists no historical evidence. However, the 1965 treaty was followed by South Korea's agreement to demand no further compensation. Also, the compensation that they received failed to make its way to the victims of Japanese imperialism, as the Republic sought to appropriate it to areas deemed more important.

 

[Azale]

News and conversation about China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Indo-China, The Philippines, Asiatic Russia and Indonesia (etc.).

Two of my own favorite English language East Asian news outlets;


http://www.koreaherald.com/


www.japantimes.co.jp

Please feel free to add your own news sources.

Let me start it off with this story;
Still the same old North Korea

Oh I have a bunch:

http://eastasiaforum.org/
http://japanfocus.org/home
http://www.atimes.com/
http://www.timbeal.net.nz/geopolitics/
http://www.nkeconwatch.com/
http://www.globalasia.org/
http://www.globalpost.com/news/regions/asia-pacific
http://38north.org/
http://chinageeks.org/
http://blogs.cfr.org/asia/?co=C025301
http://english.hani.co.kr/kisa/section-014000000/home01.html
http://www.crisisgroup.org/en.aspx#
http://www.chinafile.com/

to start

And here is a couple of perhaps over optimistic stories from The Atlantic on the return of manufacturing jobs to the US and the erosion of the outsourcing boom.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine...ina-comes-to-america/309160/?single_page=true

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/12/the-insourcing-boom/309166/

The second one especially blew my mind.

 

[dutchfire]

Read the second article about insourcing, was a good read.

 

[Glassfan]

The New Zealand Herald

Sea Shepherd prepared for Japan whale hunt

"...the conservation group Sea Shepherd has built its fleet up to four ships and says it'll stop at nothing to prevent whales being taken.

It wants intervention by the Australian Government, but Environment Minister Tony Burke says he's done all he can.

"Japan's behaviour on this must stop. We have taken every action that is possible to take."




The Steve Irwin going up river under Tower Bridge in London Sept 2011

 

[rugbyLEAGUEfan]

Aceh certainly stands out as being different to the rest of Indonesia, but the very common Indonesian sense of common sense will prevail and I don't see this law lasting long.

 

[Cutlass]

The cami paint job really makes it.

 

[Glassfan]

China’s princelings build wrong kind of capitalism

"...what resulted was an enormous concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a few. Examining thousands of pages of documents and conducting dozens of interviews, Bloomberg traced the holdings of the Immortals’ 103 direct descendants and their spouses.

Three children alone ― including Deng’s son-in-law He Ping and Chen Yuan, the son of Mao Zedong’s economic czar Chen Yun ― led or still run state-owned companies that had combined assets of about $1.6 trillion in 2011, or the equivalent of more than a fifth of China’s annual economic output.

An earlier, separate investigation by Bloomberg revealed the vast fortune amassed by the family of Xi Jinping, the newly installed Communist Party leader and himself a princeling descended from a revolutionary fighter and vice premier.

The government hasn’t officially issued a Gini coefficient, an index measuring income inequality, since 2000. Yet one just-published study put it at 0.61, much higher than previous estimates ranging from 0.41 to 0.48. Social scientists consider a reading above 0.4 as a warning sign of potential unrest."

 

[PaganJulian]

Japan PM Abe wants to back-track war apology

"...Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants to replace a landmark 1995 apology for suffering caused in Asia during World War Two with an unspecified "forward-looking statement", a newspaper reported on Monday...

He has also said he wants to loosen the constraints of Japan's post-war pacifist constitution."

http://news.sina.com.cn/c/p/2013-01-05/152325960663.shtml

I would say this would anger the Chinese but I believe it is impossible for the Chinese to hate the Japanese more than they do now.
Changing Japan's pacifist disposition is a wise move though. Some kind of conflict with China is pretty likely over the next few decades if both maintain their present positions. They might as well be prepared for it psychologically and materially. Because the Chinese are.