GLOBAL NEWS
Sept. 29 “Soap operas and short-wave radio: how North Koreans learn about the outside world”
… They can then listen to South Korean stations near the border, or to shortwave foreign broadcasts like the BBC’s and similar ones from Radio Free Asia and Voice of America.
KOREA TIMES
Sept. 29 “Time to talk to end N. Korea’s nuke crisis”
… According to foreign media, including the Radio Free Asia (RFA), Thursday, former U.S. government officials and diplomats are expected to meet with officials from North Korea's foreign ministry for informal talks in Europe in mid-October.
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES (Also in INDEPENDENT, PAGAL PARROT, NEWS.COM.AU, NEWS NATION and THE SUN)
… "Officials at village, township and county level are confiscating all Qurans and the special mats used for namaaz [prayer]," a Kazakh source in Altay prefecture, near the border with Kazakhstan told Radio Free Asia.
PHNOM PENH POST
Sept. 28 “Interior Ministry launches its own China-backed TV station”
… Meanwhile, numerous radio frequencies broadcasting shows from Voice of Democracy, Voice of America, Radio Free Asiaand the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party have been shut down.
YONHAP NEWS
Sept. 28 “N.K known to have 1.5-track meeting with U.S. next month: RFA”
… High-ranking officials from the North's foreign ministry, former U.S. state department officials and scholars are said to be meeting in Europe in mid-October, Radio Free Asia said.
EPOCH TIMES
Sept. 28 “Increase in Arrests, Censorship, Ahead of China’s 19th National Congress”
… Tibetans working in travel agencies here were told by authorities that foreigners will not be allowed to visit the region from Oct. 18 to 28, Radio Free Asia reported.
UCA NEWS (Also in DAILY MAIL)
Sept. 28 “Chinese authorities confiscating all copies of the Quran”
… Uyghur, Kazakh and Kyrgyz Muslims were being told they must hand in the items or face harsh penalties, the sources toldRadio Free Asia (RFA).
HONGKONG FREE PRESS
Sept. 28 “Chinese Court upholds 4-year jail term for press freedom prize winner Lu Yuyu”
… “He said that before [in the original sentence] they gave him four years for publishing eight messages – he said that he actually sent out about 70,000 messages; if they were to sentence him it should be for about 30,000 years – he said the sentence was too short,” Wang told US-backed Radio Free Asia.
NIKKEI ASIAN REVIEW
Sept. 28 “Keith B. Richburg: Press freedom under attack across Asia”
… The move against The Cambodia Daily came just days after the information ministry shut down two Khmer language radio stations, Maha Nokor and the Voice of Democracy, which aired programs from the U.S. Voice of America and Radio Free Asia.
CPJ PRESS FREEDOM
Sept. 27 “Chinese journalist Ding Lingjie reportedly jailed”
… In 2014, authorities charged the journalist with "picking quarrels and provoking trouble" after she wrote about how authorities handle people who petition government officials, according to a Radio Free Asia article.
PHNOM PENH POST
Sept. 27 “After wave of independent broadcasters shut down, Fresh News turns to radio”
… He added that the development had nothing to do with the closures of Radio Free Asia and the Cambodia Daily, and did not find fault with Fresh News’s strong pro-government lean. “This is the right of all media to take a stance . . . and it is their right as well,” he said.
38 NORTH (Also in TELEGRAPH and JEJU WEEKLY)
Sept. 26 “The BBC Launches Korean Language News: A New Option for North Korean Radio Listeners”
… BBC Korea is part of a major expansion of BBC language services and comes after a grassroots campaign to get the BBC on air alongside South Korea’s KBS and two US networks: Voice of America and Radio Free Asia.
CSO ONLINE
Sept. 26 “Skynet in China: Real-life ‘Person of Interest’ spying in real time”
… “Radio Free Asia added, “In some cities, the cameras automatically take at least one picture of every occupant as a back-up in case of later criminal activity.”
IRRAWADDY
Sept. 26 “Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on Politics and Crises: In Quotes”
… “Regarding the current situation in Rakhine State, it has never been good, even since we took office. However, the issue has needed to be handled more delicately, lately as it has received extra attention from the international community. It is more difficult to resolve any problem when all are watching it.” – Radio Free Asia
YONHAP NEWS
Sept. 26 “Caritas building nursing homes in N. Korea: RFA”
… Caritas Internationalis has decided to build nursing homes in Hamhung and Kowon in South Hamkyong Province, as facilities for old people there are far from enough, Radio Free Asia reported, citing the aid group.
TIME (Also in WORLD POLITICS REVIEW and INTERNATIONAL POLICY DIGEST)
Sept. 24 “Going Down In a Blaze of Glory. The Brief, Crusading Life of the Cambodia Daily”
… Hun Sen has forced off the air at least 15 independent radio stations, many of which carried relays from the U.S.-funded broadcasters Radio Free Asia and Voice of America, silencing their voices as a result.
INDEPENDENT ONLINE
Sept. 24 “In North Korea information is the seed of hope”
… Professor Kim was an IT professor for 20 years in Pyongyang, and highly regarded in society. But when he illegally tuned in to banned radio stations such as Radio Free Asia and Voice of America.
LOWELL SUN
Sept. 24 “A nation’s horror, and strength”
… In August, the Sen administration for expelled the U.S.-based National Democratic Institute and took licenses from Voice of America and Radio Free Asia, among others. The government cited registration and tax violations.
ALJAZEERA
Sept. 22 “Cambodia: Switching off independent radio stations”
… Last week, the US-funded Radio Free Asia closed its Phnom Penh bureau, switching from an open, in-country radio broadcaster to an offshore model that mimics its operations in countries such as Tibet and North Korea.
HONG KONG FREE PRESS
Sept. 22 “Legal team of detained Chinese rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang denied meeting with their client”
… Cheng told US-backed Radio Free Asia that they got into a scuffle with a police officer at the detention centre when the lawyers attempted to record their interaction using cellphones.
APPS FOR PC DAILY
Sept. 22 “Protesters Try To Block Rohingya Aid”
… In a later interview with Radio Free Asia, Suu Kyi attempted to brush aside accusations that she was refusing to confront the military over the violence.
HONG KONG FREE PRESS
Sept. 21 “Former aide to ousted Communist Party leader to be removed from home as party congress approaches”
… Bao, who is 85, told US-backed Radio Free Asia that he was told of the arrangement by Beijing police on Saturday: “They just told me that, starting now, I should not give interviews to reporters.
REUTERS (Also in INDIA TV NEWS, TELEGRAPH, RELIEF WEB and NATION)
Sept. 20 “Myanmar’s Suu Kyi denies going “soft” on Military”
… "We've never changed our stand," Suu Kyi said in an interview with Radio Free Asia, when asked if she had softened her stance on the military, which she challenged for years in her campaign for democracy.
IFEX
Sept. 20 “Cambodia: a hostile environment for rights defenders”
… Then, on 12 September, the US-funded Radio Free Asia (RFA) was forced to suspend operations in Cambodia under what it described as a 'relentless crackdown on independent voices'.
YONHAP
Sept. 20 “Taiwan sanctions N. Korea for nuke test”
… On Tuesday, Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs announced its independent sanctions against Pyongyang, which include complete bans on exports of liquefied natural gas, crude and refined oil, and on the imports of North Korean textiles, one of the key sources of hard currency for the Kim Jong-un regime, Radio Free Asia said.
NIKKEI ASIAN REVIEW
Sept. 20 “A bad year for free press in Asia”
… The move against The Cambodia Daily came just days after the information ministry shut down two Khmer language radio stations, Maha Nokor and the Voice of Democracy, which aired programs from the U.S. Voice of America and Radio Free Asia media outlets.
EXPRESS
Sept. 19 “North Korea crisis: Chinese residents forced into security training”
… A source told Radio Free Asia’s North Korean service: “Chinese residents living in North Korea often make their living working as small-time traders or merchants, and they now have to attend security education sessions to learn what to keep in mind when traveling to China.
STRAITS TIMES
Sept. 17 “North Korea’s Hwasong-12 is the most serious missile to watch”
… It's more equipped to attack an area with condensed population rather than a small military base, he said on Radio Free Asia, adding that its circular error probable, or the distance by which a missile can miss its target, is estimated to be 5 to 10 kilometers.
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST (Also in FINANCIAL TIMES)
Sept. 17 “Hun Sen Counts On China As He Cracks Down In Cambodia – Has He Miscalculated?”
… Following the demise of the independent Cambodia Daily and Khmer-language radio stations, one of which was linked to US-backed Voice of America and Radio Free Asia, the potential for unrest has grown ever greater.
DAILY NK
Sept. 17 “Will nuclear armament enable North Korea-led reunification?”
… Quoting a source in Ryanggang Province, Radio Free Asia reported on September 6 that an online lecture for North Korean senior officials was distributed on September 4, the day after the nuclear test, which claimed that, "nuclear weapons and missiles are the ultimate key to advance reunification," and "national reunification must be achieved even with the use of violence."
PRESS-TELEGRAM
Sept. 16 “Long Beach’s Khmer community marches to decry crackdown on free speech in Cambodia”
… Early this month, the government ordered an independent newspaper to shut down for not paying more than $6 million they allegedly owed in back taxes, arrested the leader of the main opposition party on allegations of treason and ordered over a dozen radio stations to stop selling airtime to Voice of America and Radio Free Asia.
SPUNTNIK NEWS (Also in NATION)
Sept. 16 “Tit-for-Tat in a Tete-a-Tete: Cambodia Stops US MIA Searches After Visa Ban”
… Washington also rejected Phnom Penh's claims, criticizing the arrest, and what is reported to be a crackdown on media supportive of opposition parties, including an independent English-language newspaper and radio stations offering US state-run programming from Voice of America and Radio Free Asia.
WASHINGTON POST (Also in ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Sept. 15 “Cambodian leader, angry with US, wants Peace Corps out”
… Radio Free Asia announced this week that it was shutting down its operations in Cambodia, though it would continue reporting about the country.
HONG KONG FREE PRESS
Sept. 15 “Jailed founder of China protest blog maintains innocence in appeal”
… Speaking to Radio Free Asia, Wang Zongyue, a member of Lu’s legal team, told the US-backed radio station that Lu made a statement maintaining his innocence before the court.
NEWSLINE
Sept. 14 “Report: North Korea completing work on new SLBM submarines”
… The U.S. Senate is reviewing a 2018 defense bill that includes a proposal to reconsider the relocation of submarine-launched nuclear cruise missiles to the Asia-Pacific, Radio Free Asia reported Thursday.
WASHINGTON POST
Sept. 14 “China’s thought police are giving a master class in censorship”
… Democracy activist Zha Jianguo told Radio Free Asia in late August that Beijing state security agents had already begun “asking me where I want to go on vacation during the 19th Party Congress.”
NY TIMES (Also in PHNOM PENH POST, CPJ PRESS FREEDOM, KHMER TIMES)
Sept. 14 “What the Latest Crackdown in Cambodia Means”
… The government is invoking specious tax bills or contractual violations to muzzle outlets like The Cambodia Daily, Voice of America, Radio Free Asia and Voice of Democracy, which have a history of reporting on controversial issues like expropriation, deforestation and government corruption.
BROADWAY WORLD
Sept. 14 “Hungry Dictator Press Releases Scathing Graphic Novel The Great Successor: Kim Jong-Un”
… This graphic novel provides a glimpse into North Korea from an insider's perspective by utilizing media outlets such as The Daily NK, Free North Korea Radio, Chosun Ilbo, and Radio Free Asia to construct the narration.
ASIA TIMES (Also in NEW DELHI TIMES)
Sept. 14 “Should Western countries impose sanctions on Cambodia?”
… His arrest followed the government’s expulsion of a US-based non-governmental organization and the closures of The Cambodia Daily and local radio stations linked to Radio Free Asia and the Voice of America.
KBS WORLD RADIO
Sept. 14 “US Senate Moves to Pass Bill to Enhance Extended Deterrence in Asia Pacific”
… Radio Free Asia reported on Wednesday that the bill stipulated extended deployment of U.S. strategic assets in the Asia Pacific region, such as its missile defense system and long-range bombers. It also called for enhancing military cooperation and exercises with allies in the region, as well as increasing arms sales.
DAILY NK
Sept. 13 “Some North Korean homes damaged from recent nuclear test”
… Meanwhile, Radio Free Asia has reported that the North Korean authorities carried out safety inspections of older buildings in Giljugun, North Hamgyong Province, shortly after the nuclear test.
DAILY NK
Sept. 13 “12 North Korean defectors arrested in Jilin and Hebei”
… Radio Free Asia (quoting Human Rights Watch) reported on September 3 that at least 41 North Korean defectors and unspecified collaborators in China were detained over the prior two months of July and August.
PHNOM PENH POST
… Saktheara, however, told Radio Free Asia the difference in figures with Taiwan could be caused by differences in recording methods.
GUARDIAN
Sept. 12 “Aung San Suu Kyi: what has happened to Myanmar’s icon of morality?”
… Nyan Win, a party spokesman and Aung San Suu Kyi’s personal lawyer, voiced the views of many in Myanmar when he told Radio Free Asia: “I think everyone knows the Bengali. There are no facial features like Bengalis’ in our Myanmar, nowhere in the country.”
PHNOM PENH POST (Also in KHMER TIMES)
Sept. 12 “RFA shuts down Cambodia operations amid media crackdown”
… United States-funded broadcaster Radio Free Asia announced today it will close its Phnom Penh bureau and cease in-country operations citing a recent crackdown on independent media that has made it “impossible” to continue in the country.
ASSOCIATED PRESS (Also in REUTERS, KHMER TIMES and FORBES)
Sept. 12 “Cambodian leader threatens opposition over arrested chief”
… An English-language newspaper, The Cambodia Daily, was shut down after being accused of not paying a huge tax bill--an assessment it strongly disputed--and more than a dozen radio stations that broadcast dissident voices or used programing from U.S. government-funded Voice of America and Radio Free Asia were forced to stop broadcasting for alleged breach of regulations.
YONHAP NEWS
Sept. 12 “Oil prices soaring in N. Korean amid U.N. sanctions”
… Prior to the test, gasoline was sold for 13,000 North Korean won (US$101.24) per kilogram, Radio Free Asia said, citing sources who are in contact with North Korean residents.
ONE INDIA
Sept. 12 “US support to Tibet cause: Congressional committees approve $17 mn aid”
… In addition to USD 15 million for Tibetan issues, the appropriations bill supported the continuation of the Tibetan service of Voice of America and Radio Free Asia.
DAILY NK
Sept. 9 “Beijing orders banks to close accounts for North Koreans”
… A March 2017 Radio Free Asia (RFA) investigation reported a similar trend, noting, “Private Chinese banks are beginning to close bank accounts held by North Korean nationals. North Korean laborers earning foreign currency in China have been issued an emergency alert.”
DIPLOMAT (Also in YAHOO NEWS, ASIA CORRESPONDENT, ASIA TIMES, and PHNOM PENH POST)
Sept. 9 “What’s Really Behind Cambodia’s Latest Opposition Crackdown?”
… At least 15 radio stations have been commanded to halt broadcasting programming from U.S. government-funded organizations Voice of America and Radio Free Asia.
ECONOMIST (Also in LOWELL SUN and MEDIA FILE)
Sept. 9 “Cambodia’s government is preparing for elections with repression”
… In August local radio stations were banned from broadcasting Voice of America and Radio Free Asia – two international news services funded by America’s government.
MYANMAR TIMES (Also in DVB)
Sept. 8 “Former child soldier faces court for talking to media”
… Ko Aung Ko Htwe’s present predicament stemmed from a complaint filed by Lieutenant Colonel Myo Myint Aung after he spoke to Radio Free Asia (RFA) about his experience as a child soldier in Tatmadaw, which was broadcast on August 10.
TIBET POST INTERNATIONAL
Sept. 7 “Nomads banned from traditional grazing land in northeastern Tibet”
… Authorities set a deadline of August 23 for the nomads to move, and though most were able to leave by the assigned date, according to a source speaking to Radio Free Asia, “some did not meet the deadline,” the source said.
HONG KONG FREE PRESS
Sept. 7 “Chinese poet Langzi detained after commemorating late Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo”
… The Independent Chinese PEN Center, of which both men are members, said in a statement that the two were roughly treated, and that their detention contravened their rights to freedom of expression, according to US-backed Radio Free Asia.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sept. 6 “Riot Video Sparks Anti-Muslim Reactions on Chinese Social Media”
… The website of US government-funded Radio Free Asia reported that unrest occurred at the toll station Saturday night after the Muslim cleric was injured in a scuffle, and cited online posts as saying he had been beaten by a toll station worker after he tried to pass through a closed lane instead of waiting in a long line.
YONHAP
Sept. 6 “N. Korean diplomats tussle with defectors: RFA”
… On Monday, Ma Young-ae, head of the London-based International North Korea's Association for Human Rights and Democracy (INKAHRD), and some other INKAHRD members picketed before the North Korean Representative to the U.N. condemning the North's latest nuclear test and the Kim Jong-un regime, Radio Free Asia said.
GLOBAL RESEARCH
Sept. 6 “Myanmar: The Rohingya, Saudi Backed ISIS Militants, Aung San Suu Kyi is a US Proxy”
… Both Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) have Burmese services.
STRAITS TIMES
Sept. 6 “Myanmar’s ‘Bengali problem’ threatens to embroil the region”
… "In the squalid refugee camps in Bangladesh, joining the Arsa is now becoming 'farj' - a religious obligation," Professor Zachary Abuza at the National War College in Washington, DC wrote last week, in a commentary for Radio Free Asia.
WASHINGTON POST (Also in PHNOM PENH POST, KHMER TIMES, TIMES, REUTERS and MACAU DAILY)
Sept. 6 “Cambodia’s ruthless leader is stepping up his authoritarian game”
… At the same time, the government has been actively attempting to silence radio broadcasts, forcing dozens off the air; it is also pressuring radio station owners to stop relaying broadcasts of Radio Free Asia and Voice of America.
CPJ PRESS FREEDOM (Also in SBS)
Sept. 5 “Prominent newspaper folds under official pressure in Cambodia”
… The Information Ministry has closed all local radio stations that broadcast the U.S. Congress-funded radio broadcastersRadio Free Asia and Voice of America outside of the capital, Phnom Penh, according to reports.
SOUTHEAST ASIA GLOBE (Also in PHNOM PENH POST)
Sept. 4 “Cambodia Daily publishers banned from leaving the country”
… The Information Ministry has banned radio stations outside Phnom Penh from carrying the US-funded Radio Free Asiaand Voice of America, two of the main Khmer-language sources of independent news in a media landscape dominated by government-aligned outlets.
KHMER TIMES (Also in NY TIMES, INTERPRETER and ASIA TIMES)
Sept. 4 “How the nation became a graveyard for democracy”
… Civil society’s main allies, The Cambodia Daily, Radio Free Asia, Voice of America, Voice of Democracy, National Democratic Institute, etc., are under assault so they probably feel like someone’s punched them in the gut.
NPR (Also in CNN, ALJAZEERA, JAMAICA GLEANER and REUTERS)
Sept. 3 “Cambodia Daily Newspaper To Close After 24 Years”
… The Khmer-language arms of Radio Free Asia and Voice of America have also been sent tax notices.
NY TIMES (Also in CAMBODIA TIMES, TELEGRAPH, NY TIMES, INDEPENDENT and TIMES)
Sept. 2 “Cambodia Arrests Opposition Leader, Accusing Him of Treason”
… An independent newspaper owned by an American family, The Cambodia Daily, said it would halt publication on Mondaybecause of a dispute over a tax bill of more than $6 million, and at least 15 radio stations have been ordered to stop broadcasting programming from the Voice of America and Radio Free Asia.
SOUTHEAST ASIA (Also in KHMER TIMES, CAMBODIA DAILY and PHNOM PENH POST)
Sept. 1 “Is this the beginning of the end for Cambodia’s free press?”
… In late August, American-funded radio stations Voice of America and Radio Free Asia, and the independent Voice of Democracy, who broadcast in the local Khmer language, were silenced for airing “outside programmes without requesting authorisation”.
DVB
Sept. 1 “Trial postponed for former child soldier facing military criminal complaint”
… Aung Ko Htwe was arrested on 18 August after the military lodged a criminal complaint over an interview he gave withRadio Free Asia’s Burmese-language service about his life as a child soldier, forced into the Tatmadaw as a teenager.
DIPLOMAT (Also in WASHINGTON POST, WIRE, CNN, PHNOM PENH POST, KHMER TIMES and CAMBODIA DAILY)
Sept. 1 “What Does Hun Sen’s Big Tax Hunt Mean for Cambodia?”
… Voice of America and Radio Free Asia are two media organizations under the microscope of Hun Sen’s tax department, alongside the Phnom Penh Post.
