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South Korea unveils missile that can hit the North’s bunkers

Editor08 mins

South Korea unveiled its latest domestically produced ballistic missile, the Hyunmoo-5, on Tuesday as President Yoon Suk Yeol warned North Korea that it would face the end of its regime if it attempted to use nuclear weapons. Dubbed the “monster missile,” reflecting a destructive capacity that South Korean media says is comparable to that of a nuclear weapon, the Hyunmoo-5 can carry a warhead weighing up to 9 tons and is capable of striking deeply buried command centers. It incorporates an advanced cold-launch system, which uses compressed gas to propel the missile from its launcher before ignition, minimizing damage to the launcher and increasing operational stability, South Korean media has reported. Media have drawn parallels between the Hyunmoo-5 and China’s Dongfeng-31 intercontinental ballistic missile, with the former estimated to have a range of 5,000 kilometers (3,107 miles), capable of targeting critical infrastructure in North Korea and beyond.  The new missile is a centerpiece of the Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation plan, designed to respond to damage caused by a North Korean nuclear weapon by targeting its  leadership and military headquarters in a retaliatory strike. “Our military will immediately retaliate against North Korea’s provocations based on its robust combat capabilities and solid readiness posture,” Yoon said at a ceremony to mark the 76th founding anniversary of the founding of South Korea’s armed forces, where the new missile was showcased for the first time.  South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks during a celebration to mark the 76th anniversary of Korea Armed Forces Day, in Seongnam, South Korea, Oct. 1, 2024. (Kim Hong-Ji/Pool/Reuters) “If North Korea attempts to use nuclear weapons, it will face the resolute and overwhelming response of our military and the South Korea-U.S. alliance. That day will be the end of the North Korean regime,” Yoon added.  Denouncing North Korea for threatening the South with its nuclear weapons and missiles, as well as other provocations, Yoon urged the North to abandon “delusions” that nuclear weapons could guarantee its security “False peace, based on the enemy’s goodwill, is nothing but a mirage. History has proven that the only way to safeguard peace is by strengthening our power so the enemy cannot dare challenge us,” he added, vowing to build a strong military and strengthen security based on the strong alliance with the U.S., as well as trilateral cooperation involving Japan. The South Korean military would reportedly aim to use dozens of Hyunmoo-5s to destroy the North Korean military command’s underground bunkers and devastate Pyongyang in the event of an emergency. RELATED STORIES INTERVIEW: Former ‘Office 39’ official on how North Korea finances nukes North Korea may conduct nuclear test after US election: South’s spy agency Satellite photos show expansion of suspected North Korean uranium enrichment site ‘Never bargain’ Some 5,000 troops and 340 pieces of military equipment, including the Hyunmoo-5, K9 self-propelled howitzers and four-legged robots, were mobilized for an anniversary ceremony parade that began at Seoul Air Base in the city of Seongnam, according to the South’s defense ministry. The ministry said the event was organized to show South Korea’s “overwhelming” capabilities to powerfully retaliate against enemy provocations. The showcasing of the Hyunmoo-5 came amid growing concern in South Korea as North Korea has intensified its nuclear posturing with the first public disclosure of its uranium enrichment facility last month. North Korea’s envoy to the U.N., Kim Song, said on Monday that the North would  never bargain over its “national prestige,” reaffirming the isolated country’s adherence to its nuclear weapons program. “When it comes to the right to self-defense, a legitimate right of a sovereign state, we will never go back to the point in the far-off past,” he said during a general debate at the U.N. General Assembly, repeating North Korea’s accusations of America’s “hostility” and claiming that its nuclear weapons were “just made and exist to defend itself.” “When it comes to national prestige, we will never bargain over it with anyone for it was gained through the bloody struggle of the entire Korean people,” he added.  The ambassador also said that no matter who wins the U.S. presidential election in November, North Korea would only deal with “the state entity called the U.S., not the mere administration.” “Likewise, any U.S. administration will have to face the DPRK which is different from what the U.S. used to think,” he said, using the acronym of the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, without elaborating. Edited by Mike Firn. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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Myanmar guerrillas attack junta military headquarters in Mandalay

Editor06 mins

Pro-democracy insurgents battling Myanmar’s junta fired rockets at the military headquarters in the city of Mandalay, the group said on Monday, the latest in a series of strikes at the heart of the military’s command structure. There was no immediate confirmation from the junta of the attack on the Central Military Headquarters in Myanmar’s second-biggest city early on Sunday, which an activist group called Brave Warriors for Myanmar (BMW) said its members carried out with 107 mm rockets. “Two of the rockets hit a building where junta troops who are about to attack in northern Shan state are staying,” a member of the group who declined to be identified for safety reasons told Radio Free Asia. He said some troops were believed to have been wounded in the attack but the extent of casualties and damage were being investigated. Those who carried out the attack escaped, he said. RFA tried to contact the junta spokesman for Mandalay region, Thein Htay, by telephone to ask about the reported attack but he did not answer calls. The headquarters is in the heart of Mandalay, on the site of what used to be the walled palace of Myanmar’s kings who were deposed by British colonialists in the 19th century. The place was largely destroyed during World War II but the site is of symbolic importance for the nation. A resident of the area, which is known as Aungmyaethazan township, said he heard loud explosions early on Sunday. “I heard three or four blasts at around 2.28 a.m. on Sunday morning, they were quite loud, from a big weapon, I think,” the resident, who declined to be identified for safety reasons, told RFA. Myanmar’s military has been facing setbacks in fighting in several parts of the country over the past year, at the hands of its old ethnic minority insurgent enemies and new pro-democracy People’s Defense Forces, or PDFs, set up by activists largely from the majority Burman community, who took up arms after the generals overthrew an elected government in early 2021. Despite the setbacks, which have included the loss of a regional command headquarters in Shan state, northeast of Mandalay, and of a naval base in Rakhine state in the west, the military remains in control of major cities and can unleash devastating strikes with its air force. PDF fighters have launched several rocket attacks on military bases and junta leaders in the capital Naypyidaw as well as in the main city of Yangon. The junta has condemned what it calls “terrorist” attacks and arrested several groups of plotters. The BWM member said his group and an allied faction called the Shadow Mandalay Group had attacked the Mandalay base twice before, on Dec. 21, 2023, and on Sept. 3 this year. The BWM also helped plan a rocket attack on an air base in Naypyidaw in July, the group members said. PDF insurgents and their ethnic minority force allies have also captured a growing number of towns in the Mandalay region including Mogoke, Thabeikkyin, Singu and Tagaung. Anti-junta forces are also threatening Pyin Oo Lwin, a hill town 64 kilometers (40 miles) east of Mandalay that is home to the military’s Defense Services Academy. RELATED STORIES A new generation in Myanmar risks their lives for change No limits to lawlessness of Myanmar’s predatory regime Month of fighting leaves once-bustling Myanmar town eerily quiet  Edited by Mike Firn We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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Chinese truck convoys crowd main bridge to North Korea

Editor07 mins

Read a version of this story in Korean The main bridge connecting North Korea has been packed bumper-to-bumper with Chinese trucks over the past week, indicating that relations between Pyongyang and Beijing are warming up and that trade is picking up swiftly, residents in China told Radio Free Asia. The Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge spans the Yalu River border, connecting the Chinese city of Dandong with North Korea’s Sinuiju. Most, if not all, official overland trade between the two countries transits this bridge.  A resident of Dandong  told RFA that over the past few days more than 100 trucks crossed the bridge each day. “The frozen relationship between China and North Korea seems to be gradually thawing,” he said. “You can see that by looking at the number of vehicles traveling between North Korea and China through the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge.” Over the past few months, North Korea has been opportunistically cleaving to Russia, which needs all the allies it can get as Moscow’s war with Ukraine isolates it from the rest of the international community. North Korea’s relations with China have thus taken somewhat of a backseat.  But economically, North Korea depends heavily on China. The large daily convoys are drawing spectators who enjoy watching such a massive number of trucks cross the bridge all at once, the resident said. “The reason why the truck movement has increased these days is because fabrics, materials, and equipment are being transported to North Korea to produce clothing,” he said. “This used to be produced in China. This is newly developed news that I learned through a Chinese businessman who has ties to North Korean officials.” He said the trucks go out in the daytime and unload about 40 tons of cargo each. They then return at nighttime. Flood recovery efforts A lot of the goods being transported are needed in flood recovery efforts, another Dandong resident said. In late July and August, heavy rains caused the Yalu River to overflow its banks, damaging communities and even submerging several inhabited islands. “Most of the items loaded on the vehicles are construction materials needed to restore areas affected by recent floods,” he said. “Additionally, there are lots of raw materials being brought in so that North Koreans can make products that were previously made by North Korean workers in China.”   Previously North Korea would send large numbers of workers into China to earn foreign currency for the cash-strapped regime. But all North Korean workers were supposed to have returned home by 2019 according to international nuclear sanctions. The second resident said that the same kind of work is being done, just in North Korea instead of in China. “In the past, some Chinese companies with a legal address in Pyongyang produced clothing and electronic products in North Korea using Chinese materials and then changed them into Chinese products,” he said. In addition to sanctions deterring dispatched workers, the mood inside North Korea is also changing, according to the second resident. The North Korean government is also cautious to send workers abroad because it exposes them to the outside world and makes them less easy to control as they learn about life outside the top-down controlled North Korean society. The second resident said that it is difficult to export products labeled as made in North Korea due to sanctions against North Korea, so products made to order in North Korea are converted to products made in China. “It is impossible to count the number of vehicles lined up on the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge, but at one glance, more than 100 vehicles are transporting goods to North Korea every day,” he said. “This is the result of both North Korea and China agreeing on various exchanges from the standpoint of mutual interest.” Translated by Claire S. Lee and Leejin J. Chung. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.  We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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Biden meets Vietnam’s president in New York

Editor09 mins

U.S. President Joe Biden and his Vietnamese counterpart, To Lam, met on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, with the pair praising rapidly warming bilateral relations nearly half a century after the end of the Vietnam War. It marked the end of a whirlwind trip to New York for Lam, who in May became president – typically considered the second-most powerful office in Vietnam – and then ascended to the top role of general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam last month. Lam earlier met with U.S. business executives on Monday and delivered a concise – and mostly circumspect – inaugural speech as Vietnam’s president to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday. He also met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday and with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday. Meeting at the InterContinental New York Barclay hotel three blocks from the U.N. Headquarters, Lam thanked Biden for sending condolences upon the passing of his predecessor as general secretary, Nguyen Phu Trong, who died aged 80 after 13 years in office. Vietnam’s President and ruling Communist Party Chief To Lam meets with U.S. President Joe Biden (not pictured) on the sidelines of the 79th session of the United National General Assembly (UNGA) in New York City, U.S., Sept. 25, 2024. (Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters) “Even during his lifetime, the late general secretary often spoke of you with fond memories and sincere appreciation,” Lam said to Biden in his remarks in front of reporters prior to the closed-door meeting. “His historic visit to the U.S. in 2015 followed by your visit to Vietnam in September last year were historic milestones,” he added, “and have significantly advanced the growth of the Vietnam-U.S. relations, resulting in the higher level of the relations that we enjoy today.” “We appreciate very much your fondness for Vietnam, and your historic contributions have been pivotal in elevating our bilateral relations.” ‘Unprecedented cooperation’ Reading from notes, Biden noted that he and Vietnam’s leadership elevated bilateral ties to the “highest level possible” during his trip to Hanoi last year, which commentators at the time said was driven by the countries’ mutual distrust of Beijing’s growing power. “Since then, we’ve been very proud of the progress we’ve made,” Biden said, pointing to U.S. investments in microchips and supply chains in Vietnam and the countries’ “unprecedented cooperation” on cybersecurity as areas where the relationship was blossoming. U.S. President Joe Biden meets with Vietnam’s President and ruling Communist Party Chief To Lam (not pictured) on the sidelines of the 79th session of the United National General Assembly (UNGA) in New York City, U.S., Sept. 25, 2024. (Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters) Neither leader directly mentioned China in their remarks, with the Vietnamese government seeking to carefully balance its growing ties with America with productive relations with its northern neighbor. However, Biden said Hanoi and Washington were united in efforts to build “a more open and secure Indian Ocean, committed to freedom of navigation and the rule of law” – an apparent gaffe meant to refer to the Indo-Pacific region, which U.S. officials use for the vast region stretching from India through the Pacific to America’s west coast. “We continue our path breaking work to heal the wounds of war,” he added. “There’s nothing beyond our capacity to work together.” A senior administration official who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity after the talks said it was “an extremely warm meeting” and that the pair had also discussed “stability in the South China Sea.” Earlier on Wednesday, Lam met with Guterres, the U.N. secretary general, and discussed “the importance of multilateralism, the work of the U.N., international law including the Convention on the Law of the Sea,” according to a readout released by the United Nations. Vietnamese Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son also met with his Laotian and Cambodian counterparts, Saleumxay Kommasith and Sok Chenda Sophea, to affirm continuing cooperation in the wake of Cambodia’s recent decision to withdraw from a three-country development pact. US business leaders Lam was not only in New York for diplomatic meetings, though. His meeting with U.S. executives at a forum on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly on Monday was a productive one, according to Vietnamese state media, which reported that numerous cooperation deals were signed by Vietnamese and American businesses. Vietnam’s President To Lam addresses the 79th United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, 24, 2024. (Eduardo Munoz/Reuters) Former British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who is now the president of global affairs for Facebook parent company Meta, told Lam during their talks that the company planned to manufacture its Metaverse virtual reality glasses in Vietnam, the reports said. A separate meeting with Nick Ammann, Apple’s vice president in charge of global government affairs, produced an agreement to create an Apple research and development center at the National Innovation Center in Hanoi, including scholarships for Vietnamese students to study artificial intelligence and “the internet of things.” Vietnamese tycoon Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao’s Vietjet Group also signed a $1.1 billion cooperation agreement with Maryland-based Honeywell Aerospace Technologies to provide avionics and aviation technical services for Vietjet’s aircraft fleet, the reports said. Deals on liquid natural gas and data center development were also signed during the forum, according to the state media reports. After five days in New York, Lam is scheduled to fly to Cuba on Wednesday night for meetings with his country’s old communist allies in Havana. He is scheduled to return to Vietnam on Friday. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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Leaked audit of VW’s Xinjiang plant contains flaws: expert

Editor011 mins

Volkswagen’s audit of its joint venture plant in Xinjiang — where human rights groups accuse it of using Uyghur forced labor — contains flaws that make it unreliable, said an expert who obtained a leaked confidential copy of the audit. The German automaker had declared in December that the audit of the factory, a joint venture with Chinese state-owned SAIC Motor Corp., showed no signs of human rights violations. But after analyzing the leaked audit report, Adrian Zenz, senior fellow at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation in Washington, found that contrary to its claims, the audit failed to use international standards and was therefore “unsuited to meaningfully assess the presence or absence of forced labor at the factory.” “The methodology of the audit was extremely faulty and insufficient,” he told Radio Free Asia in an interview. Zenz also found problems with auditors themselves. Last year, Volkswagen hired the Berlin-based consultancy Löning-Human Rights & Responsible Business GmbH to perform the audit. Löning in turn commissioned the Shenzhen-based Laingma law firm, which has ties to the Chinese Communist Party, to conduct the actual examination. The Volkswagen-SAIC Motor joint venture plant is seen on the outskirts of Urumqi in northwestern China’s Xinjiang region, April 22, 2021. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP) But Zenz found that neither Liangma nor its expert, British national Clive Greenwood, had experience in performing social audits or SA8000 certifications based on internationally recognized standards of decent work. “Liangma’s audit did not conform to the SA8000 standard that it claimed to assess,” Zenz wrote in the 24-page report issued Thursday that was posted on the website of the Jamestown Foundation, a Washington–based conservative defense policy think tank. “Shortcomings in the audit’s method and implementation mean that it was not able to adequately assess forced labor risks,” he wrote. Inconsistencies Löning, which claimed the application of SA8000 auditing principles, neglected key aspects of this standard and ignored the region’s repressive political environment, Zenz found.  Furthermore, Liangma’s website does not advertise auditing services or indicate that the firm has expertise in conducting them. And the audit did not assess all the indicators of possible forced labor, he later told RFA in a phone interview. Zenz also found that two Han Chinese lawyers and Greenwood conducted the audit, but did not ask employees questions about possible forced labor, and they didn’t follow standards for worker interviews, he said.  An aerial view of Volkswagen cars to be loaded onto a ship at a port in Nanjing, in eastern China’s Jiangsu province, June 23, 2024. (AFP) The auditors live streamed interviews with workers back to their home office, thereby affording workers no confidentiality and risking intercepts via the internet by the Chinese government, he said.   By reading the leaked audit document, one can “assess the discrepancy between Volkswagen’s final statement about the audit and what the audit itself actually said,” Zenz said. Volkswagen defended the audit, saying it “always adheres to the legal requirements in its communications,” a company spokesperson told RFA in an email, asking not to be identified by name. “At no time has there been any deception of investors or the public.” Calls to withdraw News of the leaked audit prompted the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China to issue a statement on Friday saying it was dismayed by its contents. “It is totally unacceptable for a major company like Volkswagen to continue operating a factory where assimilationist policies are promoted, and unacceptable that claims were made about the integrity of their supply chain due diligence which appear to be false,” said the statement issued by lawmakers from various democratic countries focused on relations with China. The group called on Volkswagen to withdraw from Xinjiang and provide a full explanation in response to reports about the audit. RELATED STORIES US lawmakers query credibility of Volkswagen forced labor audit     Volkswagen reviews Xinjiang operations as abuse pressure mounts     Volkswagen under fire after audit finds no evidence of Uyghur forced labor   Protesters disrupt Volkswagen shareholder meeting over alleged Uyghur forced labor   The audit also indicated that the factory held staff activities to promote “ethnic unity” and ensure “harmony,” though these activities are associated with forced assimilation, Zenz’s report notes.  “This raises severe ethical concerns over Volkswagen’s continued presence in the region,” Zenz wrote. “A review of the audit shows that it did not attempt to assess forced labor according to international standards,” Zenz said. “It simply claims no forced labor based on a visual inspection of the factory and a review of worker contracts.” Furthermore, Greenwood, who joined Liangma in September 2023, shortly before the audit to participate in it, has publicly stated that SA8000 audits are worthless in China, the report said. “Mr. Greenwood’s enigmatic and in parts highly obscure background is marked by twists, turns, contradictions and obfuscation,” Zenz said in the report.  ‘Profiting from exploitation’ Uyghur rights groups have repeatedly called for Volkswagen to withdraw its presence and supply chains from Xinjiang and to shut down its joint venture in Urumqi. The World Uyghur Congress, or WUC, headquartered in Germany, said Volkswagen had “long demonstrated its complicity in the Chinese government’s genocide of Uyghurs.”   The Volkswagen-SAIC Motor plant is seen on the outskirts of Urumqi in northwestern China’s Xinjiang region, April 22, 2021. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP) “Credible and independent audits are not possible in a repressive environment, where millions of Uyghurs are under extensive surveillance, arbitrarily detained, and tortured for words or appearances that do not conform to Communist Party ideals,” Gheyyur Qurban, the group’s director of German Advocacy, said in a statement. “It is high time for VW to leave,” he said. Rushan Abbas, executive director of Campaign for Uyghurs, or CFU, said the leaked audit report pointed to “not mere oversight” but a “deliberate, cold-blooded betrayal of basic human dignity.”  CFU said it received a copy of the leaked audit report in August and that its findings had been shared with Financial Times, Der Spiegel and German TV broadcaster ZDF. “Profiting from the exploitation and suffering of innocent people is the height of moral…

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Did Kim Jong Un make a statement threatening Israel?

Editor06 mins

A claim has been repeatedly shared in social media posts that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made a statement threatening Israel in support of Iran.  But the claim is false. Keyword searches found no official statements or credible reports that back the claim. Experts dismissed the claim, saying there is little to gain for Kim in making such a statement. The claim was shared in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Aug. 3, 2024, by a user called “SprinterFamily” who has previously spread false information about North Korea. The post cited Kim as saying: “We will always stand by Iran and will respond decisively to any threat to our ally. We warn the mercenary of global imperialism, namely Israel, not to make mistakes.” A screenshot of the false X post. The claim began to circulate amid growing fears of a regional war in the Middle East.  The nearly 10-month-old war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas has led to regular low-level hostilities between Israel and Iran and Hezbollah, as well as other groups in the region that are aligned with Tehran. But after the killing of the top leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah in July, Iran and Hezbollah pledged to retaliate, with media reports saying they may attack Israel.  North Korea has been a strategic partner of long standing for Iran, based on their subjection to extensive U.S. economic sanctions and other U.S. policies designed to counter the threats they pose to key U.S. partners.  There have been media reports that North Korean-made weapons have been supplied to Palestinian militant groups such as Hamas through Iran.  Some believe North Korea is indirectly involved in the conflicts in the Middle East, although it has never officially acknowledged or commented on any military support. But the claim about the North Korean leader’s threat against Israel is false.  A review of North Korea’s state-run media outlets, which often carry statements from Kim, found no such statement or report.  ‘Little to gain for Kim’ Harry Kazianis, senior director at the Center for the National Interest think tank, believes that if the statement was not recorded by North Korea’s official news agency, it should be assumed that the claim is false. Kazianis said North Korea had “other ways” to cause trouble for Israel, including sales of missile technology to Iran that could be used against Israel, citing U.S. and South Korean intelligence agencies. Makino Yoshihiro, a visiting professor at Hiroshima University and diplomatic correspondent for Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun, said there would be little to gain for Kim in making such a statement. “Iran is currently trying not to overly provoke the United States, and North Korea’s involvement would create confusion,” said Yoshihiro.  Bruce Bennett, a senior researcher at the RAND Corporation, believes the claim about Kim’s statement on Israel may have originated from China or Russia, citing Russia’s attempts to build an anti-Western coalition. “Given that there was an attack in Iran that killed a major Hamas leader, and Kim Jong Un did nothing, it suggests that if he was really threatening to confront Israel, something would have already happened,” Bennett said, adding that Kim’s threats are primarily for propaganda purposes and are unlikely to be carried out in practice. Translated by Dukin Han. Edited by Taejun Kang.  Asia Fact Check Lab (AFCL) was established to counter disinformation in today’s complex media environment. We publish fact-checks, media-watches and in-depth reports that aim to sharpen and deepen our readers’ understanding of current affairs and public issues. If you like our content, you can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and X. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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No limits to the lawlessness of Myanmar’s predatory military regime

Editor014 mins

Having illegally seized power and overthrown a democratically elected government, Myanmar’s military was never expected to hold itself up to the rule of law.  But given their losses since a trio of rebel armies launched Operation 1027 nearly a year ago, the military has acted with an even greater degree of desperate and callous criminality. The U.N. The High Commissioner for Human Rights released a new report that recorded a 50% increase in civilian deaths from April 2023 to June 2024, year on year. In addition to the more than 2414 civilians killed, the report detailed the deaths of 1,326 people, including 88 children and 125 women who died in military custody since the February 2021 coup.  Myat Thu Tun, a former reporter for the media outlet Democratic Voice of Burma, was one of seven people arrested and killed in Rakhine state’s Mrauk-U by Myanmar junta forces in early 2024. (RFA) The report documented executions, egregious sexual violence, and routine torture. Those who survived government custody described harrowing conditions in prisons and military detention facilities.  Now there are leaked reports on pro-regime Telegram channels that the military government is preparing to execute five anti-regime activists as early as next week.  That would follow the shocking executions of four, including Kyaw Min Yu (Ko Jimmy) and Phyo Zeya Thaw, in July 2022.  There are at least 112 people who have been put on death row since the coup. And the regime wants to send a signal through the executions, both to domestic and foreign audiences, that it is still firmly in control, despite losses on the battlefield.  War crimes are the strategy  The world has become inured to the intentional bombing of civilians, the execution of POWs, and the mass arrests of citizens as a form of collective punishment. Over 27,000 people have been arrested since the coup.  Junta troops torched more than 1,050 houses in retaliatory arson attacks in Sagaing, Magway and Mandalay regions in the first half of 2024 alone.  Radio Free Asia has documented a stepped up aerial bombing campaign leading to increased civilian casualties.   This should come as no surprise. The military’s counterinsurgency doctrine, known as the “Four Cuts” – stopping food, funds, information and recruitment to insurgents – is predicated on the intentional targeting of civilians as a deterrent for lending support to anti-regime forces.  A man looks at homes destroyed after air and artillery strikes in Mung Lai Hkyet displacement camp, in Laiza, Myanmar, Oct. 10, 2023. (AP) War crimes have always been the milirary’s strategy, and troops are indoctrinated and encouraged to commit them, including rape. The military is fighting across six distinct battle grounds, and has suffered losses in all of them. It has lost control over 60% of the towns in northern Shan state alone.  Opposition forces now control key roads and riparian ports, making the movement and resupply of troops difficult. The only way that the military can retaliate is through aerial bombardment and long-range artillery strikes.  If they can’t kill the opposition forces, they will kill the populations that support them. Preying on their own The military’s forces have committed such egregious human rights abuses that it’s hard to feel sorry for them. But their predatory behavior starts with plundering the income of their own troops. Despite their paltry salaries, troops are compelled to make monthly contributions to the sprawling military-owned conglomerate Myanma Economic Holdings Ltd (MEHL). The amount differs based on rank, but all must pay.  At the end of the year, MEHL is supposed to pay troops a dividend. Yet nothing has been paid since the coup, a result of nationwide boycotts of military-produced products and services.  The military insurance plan is even more egregious.  Established in late 2012, by Min Aung Hlaing’s son, Aung Pyae Sone, by 2015 the Aung Myint Moh Insurance company had secured a monopoly on selling life insurance to the military, supplanting the state-owned Myanma Insurance. It has an unclear degree of military ownership through MEHL. Even the lowest ranked soldiers are pressured to buy a minimum two-year policy costing some 500,000 kyats – $238 at the official, artificially low exchange rate – in addition to a monthly premium of 8,400 kyats. Elizabeth Throssell, Spokesperson for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). (Daniel Johnson/UN News) Amid recent battlefield losses, including a large number of the hastily trained five classes of conscripts since, the company has had to pay out more than it’s taking in.  Its own capital reserves are thought to have flatlined in the overall poor economic climate and investment conditions.  As one can expect from Min Aung Hlaing’s rapacious clan, the insurance company is cheating. The firm has labeled many dead soldiers as “missing in action”.   In other cases, it has found loopholes in paperwork and nonpayment of monthly fees as justification for not honoring claims. The firm has pocketed the payments of the estimated 20,000 troops who have defected to the opposition.  The junta is flat out stealing from the soldiers that they conscript just to line their own pockets. A well-armed extortion racket The abject criminality of the military is getting worse.  Due to the military’s own economic incompetence, the economy has cratered. And with that has been a sharp decline in revenue needed to conduct the war.  The opposition National Unity Government’s digital Spring Lottery has significantly cut into government sweepstakes income. The loss of territory on the battlefield has cut off revenue streams.  Recent losses include four MOGE oil fields, coal, tin, lead and ruby mines. Intense fighting is underway in Hpakant in northern Kachin State for control of lucrative jadeite and rare earth mines.  Take a moment to read more China’s frustration with the Myanmar junta’s incompetence is mounting As Myanmar junta falters, rival ethnic armies jostle in Shan state Caveat creditor: China offers a financial lifeline to Myanmar’s junta Debris and soot cover the floor of a middle school in Let Yet Kone village in Tabayin township in…

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Vietnam releases 2 political prisoners ahead of leader To Lam’s US trip

Editor06 mins

Read RFA’s coverage of this topic in Vietnamese Vietnam has released two prominent political prisoners, a day before its top leader To Lam headed to the United States to speak before the United Nations General Assembly. Climate campaigner Hoang Thi Minh Hong, was sentenced to three years in prison last September for tax evasion. She was freed on Friday from a prison in Gia Lai province, her husband told the AFP news agency. “She took a bus home, it took her 12 hours to reach Ho Chi Minh City and I picked her up from the bus station at 5:00 am this morning,” Hoang Vinh Nam told the news agency. “It’s just amazing. She’s good, she’s healthy and she’s the same person she was when she went in.” Hong, 52, founded the non-profit CHANGE VN, which campaigned to raise environmental awareness. She shut it down in October last year after the  arrest of several environmental activists. Prosecutors accused her of dodging US$274,000 in taxes, which she was ordered to pay back, along with a fine of $4,000. RELATED STORIES Vietnam’s clean energy transition is failing, pressure group says Vietnamese activist sentenced to 3 years in prison US Human Rights Commission calls on Vietnam to release campaigner Authorities also released Tran Huynh Duy Thuc, eight months before the end of his16-year sentence, his brother Tran Huynh Duy Tan told Radio Free Asia. “There is nothing more joyful than this, waiting every day, every minute, every second,” Tan said. “There is nothing more to say, this moment has been very much awaited.” Tan added that his whole family had gathered at Thuc’s house to welcome him home. Thuc, 57, is the co-founder of human rights group Vietnam Path. He was arrested in 2009 and sentenced the following year for “activities aimed at overthrowing the people’s government,” in connection with his online articles criticizing Vietnam’s one-party state. “I was very surprised and also very happy when Thuc was released a few months early, before the end of the 16-year term,” said former political prisoner Nguyen Tien Trung, who fled to Germany to avoid possible re-arrest. “However, for me, Mr Thuc’s sentence is completely unjust and the 16-year sentence is incorrect, completely wrong by the Vietnamese government.” Trung told RFA Vietnamese that Thuc’s release comes at a time when the government is clamping down hard on the democracy movement. “Most of the prominent democracy activists had to leave or were arrested,” Trung said. “This means that Thuc will face many difficulties when he gets home and there may be very few people left by his side to continue the fight.” There was no announcement from the government as to why the two were released but it came one day before Communist Party General Secretary To Lam boarded a flight from Hanoi to New York where he is due to speak at a UN Summit of the Future and the 79th session of the UN General Assembly, Vietnamese media reported. In January 2023, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, a bipartisan group of U.S. Congress members, called on Vietnam to release Thuc “immediately and without condition.” And in September last year, the U.S. State Department reacted to news of Hong’s sentencing by calling for the release of the environmental activist and other political prisoners. “NGO leaders like Hoang Thi Minh Hong play a vital role in tackling global challenges, proposing sustainable solutions in the global fight against the climate crisis, and combating wildlife and timber trafficking,” the State Department said. Translated by RFA Vietnamese. Edited by Mike Firn. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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Myanmar junta arrests dozens for sending supplies to rebel zone

Editor04 mins

Junta forces in Myanmar arrested and interrogated about 70 residents in the capital of Rakhine state on suspicion of being rebel sympathizers and trying to send supplies into rebel zones, residents told Radio Free Asia on Monday.   The residents of Sittwe were targeted for trying to send goods and food to Arakan Army-controlled townships on Friday in violation of a junta blockade, residents said, adding that they had not been released as of Monday afternoon.  “They dropped the goods off on the bank of the Kaladan River headed for Pauktaw and Mrauk-U townships,” said one resident, who declined to be identified for security reasons, referring to two townships that the ethnic minority insurgents seized in recent months from forces of the junta that seized power in a 2021 coup. “Both the people who actually dropped the goods off and other people from the neighborhood were arrested, including women,” the resident said. The identities and exact charges that the detained people faced were not known, he said.  RFA tried to telephone Rakhine state’s junta spokesperson, Hla Thein, but he could not be reached for comment.  Another resident, who also asked not to be identified out of fear for their safety, said soldiers were holding the detainees at Sittwe Police Station No. 1, adding that the military had tightened security on Sittwe’s roads to block shipments to areas under AA control. Junta forces have lost significant amounts of territory to the AA in Myanmar’s western-most state since late last year and the guerrillas now control 10 of its 17 townships. Junta forces have for years battled insurgents with a so-called four-cuts strategy, cutting off rebels from food, funds, information and recruits. In Rakhine state, the military has tried to isolate the AA with transport blockades while rounding suspected sympathizers and setting up neighborhood militias to support the military. The AA, which draws its support from the state’s Buddhist ethnic Rakhine community and is fighting for self-determination, announced its intention to capture the junta-controlled capital of Sittwe in March. On Friday, the AA said it was planning an offensive to capture the remaining seven townships under junta control, including Sittwe.  RELATED STORIES Rebel army captures Myanmar navy training base Myanmar junta airstrike kills dozens including prisoners, rebels say Myanmar military court jails 144 villagers detained after massacre  Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan and Mike Firn.  We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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