KBS WORLD RADIO
Oct. 31 “UN Official: N. Korea Can't Justify Shooting Death Citing COVID-19 Crisis”
… Tomás Ojea Quintana told Radio Free Asia on Friday that the "shoot on sight" policy cannot be justified even in a state of emergency coming from a pandemic and urged the North Korean government to end that policy, reiterating that it violates the international human rights law.
INQUISITR
… Vietnamese authorities have also announced that they have begun to crack down on the increasing number of migrants entering the country, per Radio Free Asia.
DIPLOMAT
Oct. 30 “Laos Opens Fast-Track Service for Chinese Travelers”
… According to a report by Radio Free Asia, travelers will be required to test negative for the disease and self-quarantine for 14 days within China.
BUDDHIST DOOR
Oct. 30 “Rohingya Refugees Raise Funds to Help Displaced Buddhists in Myanmar’s Rakhine State”
… “We gave 500,000 Myanmar kyat to the war victims in Rakhine through the Rakhine State Students Union,” Maung Maung Tin, a resident of the Kutupalong refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, told Radio Free Asia’s Myanmar Service.
POLYGRAPH
Oct. 29 “Hun Sen’s ‘Color Revolution’ Cover Story”
… The victim, party Secretary General Din Varin, was one of at least 10 CNRP activists and officials to have been attacked since late 2019, Radio Free Asia reported.
KHMER TIMES
Oct. 29 “Ho Vann exposed: Protest mastermind revealed in recording”
… In an interview with Radio Free Asia earlier this week, Vann confirmed he was in the leaked recording but denied he had ordered the protesters to commit wrongdoing.
STREET JOURNAL (Also in EXPRESS)
Oct. 28 “Dozens of North Korean soldiers are blown up while laying landmines”
… The explosion happened while the border guard troops were burying the mines to stop people defecting from North Korea, according to Radio Free Asia.
CHINA DIGITAL TIMES
Oct. 27 “Hong Kong Activists Denied Asylum After Rush To U.S. Consulate”
… In late July, Radio Free Asia’s Chinese service reported that Chung had sought assistance from Taiwan multiple times, but was apparently rejected:
EXPRESS
Oct. 27 “North Korea news: Kim Jong-un forces workers to pay HIM to keep job amid financial crisis”
… Sources in China told Radio Free Asia one of the main reasons for the economic downturn was the closing of the border with China.
ASEAN TODAY
Oct. 27 “Foreign investors push economic zones in Laos despite debt, local opposition”
… We can’t compete with the financial power of the Chinese,” asked one Vang Vieng resident, speaking with Radio Free Asia.
VOX EU
… Radio Free Asia reported in April that a resident of Hubei province said ultimately most people in the area believe that more than 40,000 people died in the city before and during the lockdown.
DONG-A ILBO
Oct. 26 “UN officially discusses shooting death of S. Korean civil servant”
… “South Korea failed to attend a meeting on resolution against North Korean human rights,” Radio Free Asia quoted a spokesperson for the European Union, which is drafting a resolution.
NEW DEHLI TIMES
Oct. 26 “Communist Party of the Philippines calls for attacking Chinese companies”
… On the same day the CCP statement was issued, Marco Valbuena, the group’s Spokesperson gave an interview to Radio Free Asia and said that the Chinese owned businesses and the armed forces were the targets.
HERALD
Oct. 24 “Xi Jinping is afraid, so repression is intensifying”
… This is what Cai Xia, a retired professor at the Central Party School, said in an interview published Oct 21 by Radio Free Asia.
ZEENEWS
Oct. 24 “Chinese Muslims's battle to protect holy Quran from Xi Jinping's Communist govt”
… Radio Free Asia reported a few disturbing incidents from Xinjiang wherein Muslims were forced to dispose of the holy Quran in rivers to save themselves from torture by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) government.
FOREIGN POLICY
Oct. 23 “Beijing’s Human Rights Victims Shouldn’t Support Trump”
… What tends to be overlooked, however, is that back in 1991, for instance, Biden sponsored a law that resulted in the creation of Radio Free Asia, one of the most effective institutions of liberation Congress has funded to open up China’s closed society by undermining Beijing’s media monopoly.
KOREA HERALD
Oct. 23 “Shoddy recovery upsets typhoon-hit N. Koreans: RFA”
… Displaced North Koreans hit by this year’s typhoons said new homes built by the government were still inhabitable, Radio Free Asia said Wednesday, citing anonymous sources in North Korea.
EXPRESS
Oct. 22 “North Korea PARANOIA: Kim Jong-un launches desperate bid to stop spies at border”
… Officials in North Korea also announced a major crackdown and warned anyone found within half a mile of the border could be shot, Radio Free Asia reports.
ASIA NEWS
Oct. 22 “Cai Xia: Xi Jinping is afraid, so repression is intensifying”
… This is what Cai Xia, a retired professor at the Central Party School, said in an interview published yesterday by Radio Free Asia.
NEW ZEALAND HERALD
Oct. 20 “Pratas atoll declared 'danger zone' as Chinese combat planes fly over”
… Project 2049 Institute think-tank analyst Jessica Drun told the US-government controlled Radio Free Asia she believes the overflights and escape attempts may be linked.
ASIA NEWS
Oct. 20 “Floods in Southeast Asia: dozens of deaths, thousands of homeless people”
… "I don't know what to do," a villager in the northwestern province of Banteay Meanchey tells Radio Free Asia (RFA). "We don’t have enough rice to eat."
PHNOM PENH POST
Oct. 19 “Ex-CNRP members arrested for allegedly insulting King”
… But in an interview with Radio Free Asia, he said the two were arrested with warrants issued by the municipal court for insulting the King.
ASEAN TODAY
Oct. 19 “Cambodian rappers await trial for ‘inciting unrest’”
… Their arrest is a violation of their basic rights,” Am Sam Ath, deputy director of civil rights group Licadho, told Radio Free Asia.
GLOBAL VOICES
Oct. 19 Myanmar's election commission censors speeches of political parties in run-up to election
… Ko Ko Gyi, chairman of the People’s Party, told Radio Free Asia that the following part of their speech was rejected by the UEC:
POLYGRAPH
Oct. 18 “Is China The Happiest Country in The World?”
… As Dan Southerland wrote for Radio Free Asia in 2019, the country’s middle class has been growing along with people’s spending power.
KBS WORLD RADIO (Also in DAILY NK)
Oct. 17 “OIE: African Swine Fever Outbreak in N. Korea Continuing”
… An official from the OIE told Radio Free Asia that it has urged North Korean authorities to observe the obligation on reporting animal diseases, citing the importance of transparency.
KBS WORLD RADIO
Oct. 17 “US: Offer on War-ending Declaration Remains on Table”
… Radio Free Asia requested a comment from the department after South Korea's national security adviser Suh Hoon, who visited Washington this week, said a war-ending declaration can't be separated from North Korea's denuclearization.
ASIA TIMES
Oct. 16 “Cambodia playing US to squeeze more from China”
… Still, a Radio Free Asia report on Chen and Prince Group last month noted that a “shroud of mystery hangs over much of the [group’s] wealth”, as does why he’s listed as a director for so many Hong Kong-based companies.
STRATEGIST
Oct. 16 “China feels it no longer needs the foreign media—but it still can’t hide”
… Outlets like Radio Free Asia and others do a commendable job of covering China by conducting telephone interviews with sources inside.
NEWS 18
Oct. 14 “Curse of Being Uyghur Muslims in China's Xinjiang”
… Pork is strictly prohibited in Islam but Chinese authorities forced Muslims to eat pork and drink alcohol during a Chinese festival, a report from US-funded Radio Free Asia says.
TAIWAN NEWS
October 14 “Photo of the Day: 'Save 12' signs for HK activists seen in Taipei”
… On Thursday (Aug. 27), Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported that the 12 people aboard were pro-democracy activists from Hong Kong and included advocacy group member Andy Li (李宇軒) of "Hong Kong Story."
EXPRESS (Also in DONG-A ILBO)
Oct. 13 “What's Kim doing? North Koreans MOCK despot in risky messages smuggled from hermit state”
… One Pyongyang resident told Radio Free Asia: “The commemoration event began at midnight and ended at 3am, and the residents who attended the event were exhausted and dissatisfied as they arrived at home only when the morning sun rose.
KBS WORLD RADIO (Also in JOONG ANG DAILY, KOREA TIMES)
Oct. 13 “US State Department Expresses Pride in S. Korea-US Alliance”
… In a comment to Radio Free Asia, the State Department also said it is proud of all the achievements the alliance has made for peace and prosperity over the past seven decades.
DIPLOMAT
Oct. 13 “Golden Triangle Casino Baron Bankrolls New Mekong River Port”
… According to a report by Radio Free Asia (RFA), the new international river port will be built at the Lao village of Ban Mom, which sits on the stretch of the Mekong running between Laos and Myanmar.
CHINA DIGITAL TIMES
Oct. 9 “Activist Supporter Geng Xiaonan’s Detention Showcases Authorities’ Siege Tactics”
… Radio Free Asia’s Qiao Long and Luisetta Mudie reported late last month on the obstruction of the lawyers Geng had retained in anticipation of official reprisals:
KOREA HERALD
Oct. 9 “[Newsmaker] Criticism mounts over revelation of NK diplomat’s defection”
… His daughter has already been returned to north Korea when Jo and his wife ‘vanished’ and if she is still alive, I expect her to suffer even more,” David Maxwell of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies told Radio Free Asia on Wednesday.
DIPLOMAT
Oct. 9 “Behind Xi Jinping’s Steely Façade, a Leadership Crisis Is Smoldering in China”
… While observers have expressed concern over Leng’s safety now that his letter has been publicized, he told Radio Free Asia last month that he is just a public intellectual doing his duty and reiterated his belief that “it would be great if the ‘federal system’ and democracy were implemented in China.”
WASHINGTON POST
Oct. 8 “A dissident jailed in Vietnam shares her message: Don’t free me, free my country”
… She told Radio Free Asia in May, “Freedom has always been restricted, but nowadays it seems to be narrower, and there’s more and more violence."
COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS (Also in IFEX)
Oct. 7 “Journalist Pham Doan Trang arrested on anti-state charges in Vietnam”
… Trang wrote on her personal Facebook page earlier this year that she had faced persistent police harassment from September 2019 to February 2020, Radio Free Asia reported.
BUZZFEED NEWS
Oct. 7 “The News Site Was Bogus. Facebook Still Let It Build A Real Audience.”
… The articles about Uighurs were copied and pasted from outlets, including NBC News, Agence France-Presse, and Radio Free Asia.
PERSECUTION (Also in CHRISTIANITY DAILY)
Oct. 2 “Ode to Joy Banned in China for Religious Reasons”
… Radio Free Asia (RFA) reached out to Germany-based Wang Xilin, one of the most significant composers in China, to inquire his thoughts about the new ban.
IFEX
Oct. 2 “Deterioration of human rights in Cambodia amid COVID-19”
… We further call for charges to be dropped against Yeang Sothearin and Uon Chhin, former Radio Free Asia journalists who have received no resolution to their case almost three years since their initial arrest.
DAILY MAIL
Oct. 2 “Chinese online store owner is jailed for seven years for selling religious books, reports claim”
… According to US-based Radio Free Asia, many of the books came from the United States and Taiwan.
DIPLOMAT
Oct. 2 “Myanmar Accelerates Arrests of Student Anti-War Protesters”
… “We demanded that they stop the civil war because we want peace,” Swam Pyae Tun, a university student from the central city of Meiktila who went into hiding to avoid arrest, told Radio Free Asia earlier this week.
NEW YORK POST (Also in EXPRESS, SUN, MEAWW)
Oct. 1 “North Korea conducts handwriting tests to find anti-government graffiti writer”
… “The local security department is in an uproar,” a resident of South Pyongan told Radio Free Asia (RFA).
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
Oct. 1 “WHO: North Korea says all COVID-19 test results 'negative'”
… Edwin Salvador, the WHO representative in Pyongyang, told Radio Free Asia on Wednesday that Pyongyang has said more than 3,300 tests have been administered and that all test results were negative.
UCA NEWS (Also in ASIA NEWS, CHRISTIAN NEWS)
Oct. 1 “Lao Christians persecuted despite vow to protect them”
… However, the law remains unknown and unenforced across the country’s rural hinterland, which means Christians continue to face discrimination from some provincial officials, according to a senior official who spoke on condition of anonymity with Radio Free Asia last week.
VOICE OF AMERICA
Oct. 1 “Unknown Assailants Damage Car and Beat Two Kratie Journalists”
… Two former Radio Free Asia reporters have been tried for espionage, with no verdict delivered in the case, and two former Cambodia Daily reporters are awaiting trial on alleged incitement charges over a 2017 commune election story.
