UPI
May 31 “Report: North Korea enacts death penalty for distributing foreign media”
… A source in North Korea told Radio Free Asia on Tuesday the state has designated the "viewing and importation of illegal video material as 'anti-state activity,' and the act would be punished accordingly."
SUN
… A source from the North Hamgyong province told Radio Free Asia: “All parents now have an obsessive desire to raise their children to become scientists.
CAMBODIA DAILY
May 29 “Court Complaint Filed Against Cambodia Daily Reporters”
… In response to criticism from the Overseas Press Club of Cambodia (OPCC), Mr. Kanharith called Radio Free Asia (RFA) on Thursday and said he had taken down the photo.
NATION (THAILAND)
May 28 “One year, 24 whiz kids, five social challenges”
… Kade graduated in political science from Chulalongkorn and has been working as a journalist at Radio Free Asia focusing on environmental issues. Her main interest is in Laos and people living along the Mekong River.
YONHAP
May 26 “N.K. found to have used S. Korean cars in Kaesong complex without permit”
… Radio Free Asia made the report, citing a photo taken on Dec. 9 by DigitalGlobe, an American commercial space imagery vendor, and recently made public on Google Earth.
BANGKOK POST
May 26 “Stop attacks, or stop talks”
… According to a group sympathiser interviewed by Radio Free Asia, the BRN "believe violence is the path to independence".
UPI
May 26 “Report: Superstition a bigger crime than prostitution in North Korea”
… The act of seeking out diviners or providing fortunetelling services is now one of four major criminal acts, because engaging in the activities subverts the state policy of Kim idolization, Radio Free Asia reported Friday.
CHINA DIGITAL TIMES
May 25 “Tea-drinking Diary—Guangzhou, Loving You Isn’t Easy,” by Li Xuewen”
Last week, according to the U.S. government-backed Radio Free Asia, domestic security officers in Guangzhou approached a number of local activists and other politically sensitive figures, ordering them to leave the city for six months until after Fortune magazine’s Fortune Global Forum in early December. A planned dinner gathering of activists that Tuesday night was disrupted by telephoned warnings of detention, RFA reported, and activist Wang Aizhong was held and questioned for several hours after the meal.
PHNOM PENH POST
May 24 “CPP calls out foreign NGOs for stirring ‘colour revolution’”
… [Cambodian People’s Party lawmaker Chheang Vun] also attacked “foreign-owned” media organisations in Cambodia, including The Phnom Penh Post and Cambodia Daily, Voice of America and Radio Free Asia, as “tools” to “damage” the country’s leaders’ reputation.
UPI
May 24 “North Korea official: China within striking distance of Hwasong-12 missile”
… Multiple sources in North Korea's Yanggang Province told Radio Free Asia the statement was made on Saturday during a lecture, before an audience of state "subcontractors," at the meeting room of the Yanggang Provincial Party Committee.
YONHAP (Also in KOREA HERALD, KBS)
May 23 “Russia presents list of embargoed luxury goods to N.K. sanctions committee”
… The list includes luxury products mainly related to sports and recreation, said Radio Free Asia, adding that Russia has notified the committee of its decision to limit their direct and indirect export and transportation to the North on May 3, Radio Free Asia said.
THE WIRE
May 23 “Panic Over Russian Online Suicide Game Sparks ‘Whale Hunt’ in China”
Russian media outlets have widely reported that the ‘Blue Whale’ suicide game has been responsible for more than 130 suicides in Russia has been widely spread via tabloids in different countries, including China, though news outlets including Radio Free Asia, Meduza and fact-checking website Snopes have pointed out that the claim has not been proven and may be overblown.
PHNOM PENH POST
May 23 “Commune elections 2017: Is the CNRP missing Rainsy?”
… “He thinks he made a mistake in allowing Sam Rainsy back,” Adams said in an interview with Radio Free Asia in December.
JAPAN TIMES
May 23 “Govt begins new radio program for abductees in North Korea”
The Japanese government has stepped up its efforts to help Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea who are believed to still be in that country, by starting a new radio program as part of Radio Free Asia (see below), which is affiliated with the U.S. government.
DIPLOMAT
May 22 “China’s Next Internet Crackdown
Last month, Radio Free Asia reported that as local governments in Hebei and Guangdong provinces stepped up monitoring of public WiFi hotspots, a free mobile application called WiFi Master Key — which encrypts user activity — was downloaded over 900 million times.”
UPI
May 19 “Kim Jong Un urges missile engineers to 'make more powerful weapons'”
… "Not only are they exempt from military service for 10 years, they also receive good housing and live a stable life," one North Korea source toldRadio Free Asia.
HONG KONG FREE PRESS
May 19 “Hundreds of students in northeast China hospitalised; bacteria found in school water supply”
… An unnamed source in Fuyu city’s health organs told US-backed Radio Free Asia that the authorities were restricting information, and that even medical workers did not know how many students in total were affected.
EURASIA REVIEW
May 19 “Burma: Police make arrests after Buddhist-Muslim clash”
… Police apprehended Tin Lin Htike and Tin Htay Aung who were involved in the incident in Mingala Taungnyunt township in the east-central part of the city, Radio Free Asia reported.
YONHAP (Also in NEWSWEEK, KOREA TIMES and RAW STORY)
May 18 “N.K preparing for cruise missile strikes: RFA”
… The North's armed forces ministry ordered the army to take steps to protect gallery strongholds from air raids in mid-April, Radio Free Asia (RFA) said, citing the Osaka-based North Korea specialist news organ Asia Press.
EPOCH TIMES
May 17 “Chinese human rights lawyer emerges from prison emaciated and aged”
… Human rights lawyer Li Heping, formerly youthful and robust, looked markedly different and almost unrecognizable after being imprisoned and tortured. (Radio Free Asia)
NEW YORK TIMES
May 17 “Why do we appease North Korea?”
… Yet the United States budget for radio broadcasting into North Korea via Voice of America and Radio Free Asia has diminished over the past decade. Such broadcasts make a difference: Approximately three-quarters of North Koreans who fled to freedom in the South in 2009 had been exposed to foreign media.
UPI (Also in YONHAP)
May 17 “Report: North Korea scientists exempt from military conscription”
… It may be a sign Kim Jong Un is pleased with a class of professionals who have contributed the most to Pyongyang's burgeoning nuclear weapons and missile programs, Radio Free Asia reported.
A source in North Korea's Yanggang Province told RFA North Koreans who major in the natural sciences are now exempt from the state's 10-year military conscription.
YONHAP (Also in KOREA HERALD)
May 16 “Four out of 10 N. Koreans exposed to food insecurity: U.N. report”
… According to the 2017 Global Report on Food Crisis recently released jointly by the FAO and WFP, 4.4 million, or 17 percent of the total 25.3 million people in the North, are in IPC Phase 3 or worse situations, Radio Free Asia said
YONHAP
May 16 “N.K. gives IMO no prior notice on its missile launch”
… The IMO, which governs the safety of shipping worldwide as a specialized arm of the U.N., has received no notice on the test-fire from the North in advance according to Radio Free Asia (RFA), which cited an IMO public relations official.
THE TIBET POST
May 15 “Another Tibetan teenager reportedly self immolates in eastern Tibet”
… Radio Free Asia (RFA) has reported that a 16-year old student from Gansu in eastern Tibet set himself on fire in protest of Chinese rule on May 2nd.
VOICE OF AMERICA
May 13 “Cambodia again promises to stop illegal timber exports”
… Radio Free Asia (RFA) says the government order was dated May 8 and publicly released the following day. It said the ministry has taken note of the existence of forest and land-clearing, as well as the seizure of forest land for private ownership.
DIPLOMAT (Also in ASIAN CORRESPONDENT)
May 12 “Hun Sen slams Cambodia’s ‘foreign servants’ at World Economic Forum”
… You work for Radio Free Asia (RFA), which is a radio against the government. And you write for Cambodia Daily, which opposes me all the time,” he told the forum, adding that journalists who reported for either outlet were the “servants of foreigners.”
PHAYUL
May 12 “Self-immolation survivor released after five years in prison”
… Lobsang Gyatso, now 24-year-old was released from prison on May 10 and has reached his hometown around midnight, a source told Radio Free Asia.
BREITBART
May 12 “Envoy: 5,000 Chinese join al-Qaeda, Islamic State, other Jihadists in Syria”
… “The proportion of Uighur fighters to their total population is also too high,” Liu told Radio Free Asia (RFA).
CAMBODIA DAILY (Also in PHNOM PEHN POST, ASIAN CORRESPONDENT and SOUTHEAST ASIA GLOBE)
May 12 “Hun Sen scolds media during forum session”
… During a 37-minute media briefing with the premier on the second day of the international business summit, Mr. Hun Sen described Radio Free Asia (RFA) as “a radio against the government,” and said The Cambodia Daily was “opposing me all the time,” according to a live English translation of the prime minister’s statements.
DIPLOMAT
May 12 “What we don’t know about the Cambodian opposition’s financial plans”
… “There are [Chinese-funded] mines and deforestation, and the people are victims of those projects; they are victims of land grabbing and abuse, and China doesn’t give any consideration to human rights,” he told Radio Free Asia. “That’s why the Cambodian government likes to get loans from China, it is easy money.”
HONG KONG FREE PRESS (Also in EJINSIGHT)
May 11 “Plan for incinerator project scrapped after protesters clash with police in Guangdong”
… Protests escalated this week, starting Sunday, when Feilaixia residents marched to the Qingyuan municipal government offices, according to US-backed Radio Free Asia.
PHNOM PEHN POST
May 11 “Complaint to be filed in suspicious prison death”
… Banteay Meanchey Provincial Prison Director Um Siphan could not be reached for comment, but was quoted by Radio Free Asia as saying that Chanthan died after being sent to a hospital.
DAILY NK
May 10 “Confessions of a human trafficker”
… “When I was in North Korea, I listened to foreign broadcasts such as Radio Free Asia and Voice of America. That’s how I know that people in North Korea are hearing my voice right now. To those listeners, I want to encourage you to be strong and wait for reunification to come.”
HUFFINGTON POST
May 10 “Cambodia is building a ‘hotel’ prison where inmates can pay to stay”
… “Living in the prison is like living in hell,” former Prey Sar inmate Kong Raya told Radio Free Asia. “Prisoners sleep on top of each other, with at least 30 people packed into each small cell, and they smoke hundreds of cigarettes a day, with everyone forced to breathe the smoke.”
HONG KONG FREE PRESS
May 10 “Xinjiang woman detained for sharing praise for Allah on social media”
… US-backed Radio Free Asia cited a Korla police officer as saying that the woman was detained because she uploaded a graphic containing praise for Allah.
WASHINGTON FREE BEACON (Also in STUDENT INTERNATIONAL NEWS, VOICE OF AMERICA and UNPO)
May 9 “China orders all Uyghur students abroad to return, uses families as hostages”
… The local provincial government in Xinjiang is supposedly behind the order, which has left some students missing, Radio Free Asia reports.
UPI (Also in DONG-A ILBO)
May 9 “Report: China may shut down bridge to North Korea”
… A Chinese diplomatic source who spoke to Radio Free Asia anonymously said the symbolic Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge that spans the Yalu River might be closed as part of sanctions.
REUTERS
May 9 “U.S. lawmakers visit Dalai Lama, highlight situation in Tibet”
… A 16-year-old student, chanting "Tibet wants freedom" and "Let His Holiness the Dalai Lama come back to Tibet", burned himself to death on May 2, Radio Free Asia's Tibetan service has reported.
DAILY CALLER (Also in LIBERTARIAN REPUBLIC and NATIONAL INTEREST)
May 8 “North Korean officials are afraid to live in new Pyongyang high-rises”
… High-rise buildings in North Korea often have power failures and limited water supplies. A defector told Radio Free Asia last month that the new high-rises are likely to face the same fate.
UPI (Also in NEWSWEEK and NEW EUROPE)
May 8 “Report: North Koreans showing less respect for Kim Jong Un”
… A source in North Hamgyong Province told Radio Free Asia the trend dates back to the era of Kim Jong Il, who ruled the country between 1994 and 2011.
ASIAN CORRESPONDENT (Also in INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES, UCA and PHAYUL)
May 8 “Tibetan teenager self immolates in protest of Chinese rule”
… A witness to the incident said the boy yelled “Tibet wants freedom” and “Let His Holiness the Dalai Lama come back to Tibet” and attempted to run towards Chinese government offices as he burned, reports Radio Free Asia’s (RFA) Tibetan service.
ELEVEN MYANMAR
May 7 “KIA quits rebel coalition: report”
… Radio Free Asia and Irrawaddy reported on May 6 that the letter was signed by La Nan, general secretary of the KIA.
EURASIA REVIEW
May 6 “China: Mounting pressure to free human rights lawyer Xie Yang”
… The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) called on the Chinese government to release Xie, who has reported torture during his incarceration,Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported.
UPI
May 5 “Report: North Korea faces fertilizer shortage due to China coal sanctions”
… A source in Yanggang Province told Radio Free Asia the shortage of chemical fertilizer in the country is "serious," and is an outcome of Chinese implementation of U.N. sanctions.
ELEVEN MYANMAR
May 5 “Constitution needs changing ‘as we have two governments’”
Khun Tun Oo, who won a second term in office, made this remark in his speech opening the third annual meeting of the Committee for Shan State Unity (CSSU) in Chiang Mai on Thursday, according to a televised report from Radio Free Asia news agency.
CAMBODIA DAILY
May 4 “Radio Free journalist back on the air – from Washington”
The journalist who had been leading Radio Free Asia’s (RFA) news operations in Cambodia returned to the airwaves on Wednesday for the first time since he left the country and a day after a court issued a warrant for his arrest.
GLOBAL VOICES
… One recent example of Vietnam’s intolerance for critical media coverage is the arrest of Nguyen Van Hoa, a journalist, security trainer and contributor to Radio Free Asia who has been in state custody since January for “abusing democratic freedoms to infringe upon the interests of the state.” Hoa covered stories about environmental disaster in Vietnam, including capturing video of a peaceful protest attended by over 10,000 people last October. Digital and human rights advocacy groups have called on the Vietnamese government to release Hoa immediately.
JOONGANG DAILY
May 4 “Pyongyang, Beijing lash out at each other”
… China’s pressure on the North includes implementation of new trade sanctions. All cargo to the North is being checked at the North Korea-China border, a change from random checks, Radio Free Asia reported. The searches were conducted without increasing the number of customs officials.
UPI
May 3 “Report: North Korea cultivating marijuana to fuel drones”
… But sources in the country say the state has ulterior motives -- preparing the product as fuel for military use, Radio Free Asia reportedWednesday.
IRRAWADDY
May 3 “NLD govt must live up to its manifesto on press freedom”
… In December, just one month after the 2015 election, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi told Radio Free Asia (RFA), “State-owned newspapers are not working in accordance with democratic practices. But we will not change them overnight. We will discuss it, but we don’t want [it] to take too long. It will improve the country.”
PHNOM PEHN POST (Also in CAMBODIA DAILY, KHMER TIMES, VOA, IFEX and COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS)
May 3 “Court seeks arrest of RFA reporter”
… The Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday stepped up its pressure on Radio Free Asia reporter Chun Chanboth by issuing an arrest warrant for him, hours after his lawyer submitted a written statement admitting Chanboth had joined an opposition delegation visiting Prey Sar prison, but denying that he concealed his identity to gain entry.
YONHAP
May 2 “Rights organ urges UNSC to bring N. Korean rights violators to justice”
… The U.N. council should handle an issue to punish the North's human rights violations as well as its nuclear issue in order to realize justice and bring those responsible to the International Criminal Court, Param-Preet Singh, an international judicial advisor of the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), told Radio Free Asia on Sunday (New York time).
KOREA TIMES (Also in INDEPENDENT, SPUTNIK INTERNATIONAL, DAILY MAIL, NEWS AUSTRALIA and MINA)
May 1 “China urges citizens in N. Korea to return home”
… The embassy began sending the message on Apr. 20, five days before the North celebrated the 85th anniversary of the Korean People's Army with a show of military power, Radio Free Asia said Tuesday.
PHNOM PEHN POST (Also in CAMBODIA DAILY and KHMER TIMES)
May 1 “Fearing safety, RFA reporter in US”
… In an escalation of an evolving struggle over press freedom in Cambodia, Radio Free Asia confirmed its reporter Chun Chanboth had returned to the US and would not attend a hearing at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court today, saying it feared for his safety and the politicisation of the case.
