National | FOCUS May 7, 2020
How lax rules and missed warnings led to Japan's second coronavirus-hit cruise ship
Costa Atlantica cruise ship crew members' movements in Nagasaki went largely unmonitored and unregulated as virus spread across Japan.
Asia Pacific / Social Issues | FOCUS Nov 27, 2019
No money, no hope: South Korea's 'dirt spoons' turn against President Moon Jae-in
Hwang Hyeon-dong lives in a 6.6-square-meter (71-square-foot) cubicle near his university campus in Seoul, which comes with a shared bathroom and kitchen plus all the rice he can eat, that he rents for 350,000 won ($302) a month. The sparsely furnished rooms, in premises called ...
National Jul 28, 2019
Anti-Moon YouTubers in South Korea win fans in Japan
Japanese citizens angry at South Korea's role in a diplomatic row over their wartime history that has spilled into trade have found some unlikely allies: South Korean commentators using YouTube to attack their own president, Moon Jae-in. The South Korean leader has drawn the ire ...
Entertainment News May 7, 2019
K-Pop stardom lures young Japanese hopefuls to South Korea despite diplomatic chill
Yuuka Hasumi put high school on hold and flew to South Korea in February to try her chances at becoming a K-pop star, even if it means long hours of vocal and dance training, no privacy, no boyfriend and even no phone. Hasumi, 17, joined ...
Asia Pacific Feb 23, 2019
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un departs by train for Vietnam ahead of summit with Trump: report
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un set off by train for Vietnam on Saturday for his second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump next week, Russia's TASS news agency reported. The report came hours after Vietnam announced that Kim would make an official visit in ...
Business | FOCUS Sep 23, 2018
Japanese and other Asian firms shifting production from China as U.S. tariffs take toll
As the U.S. imposes tariffs on Chinese imports, a growing number of Asian manufacturers producing items there are moving to shift production from China to other factories in the region.
Asia Pacific | ANALYSIS Jun 22, 2018
Peace doesn't pay: How foreign companies have lost a fortune in North Korea
Months before the first summit between the leaders of the two Koreas in 2000, South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Inc. invested $730,000 in Pyongyang's top computer lab. North Korean programmers there would develop online chess games and food recipes for Samsung to sell ...
Asia Pacific | FOCUS Jun 21, 2018
Crisis-plagued private Pyongyang university seeks revival after Trump-Kim summit
When the only private university in North Korea held a commencement in March, the school's American president wasn't there, blocked by Washington's ban on travel to the country. Now, with the United States and North Korea reshaping relations between the two old adversaries, Pyongyang University ...
Business | FOCUS Feb 23, 2018
Distrust of unions and GM hangs over South Korean efforts to stem job losses
South Korean President Moon Jae-in is in a bind. Either he risks losing political capital and thousands of high-paying jobs if General Motors cuts its presence in South Korea, or he faces a public backlash if he uses taxpayer money as a lifeline for the ...
Asia Pacific | FOCUS Oct 15, 2017
North Korea's Kim works to turn missile-testing outpost into tourism cash cow
In the seaside city of Wonsan, North Korean families cook up barbecues on the beach, go fishing, and eat royal jelly flavored ice cream in the summer breeze. For their leader Kim Jong Un, the resort is a summer retreat, a future temple to ...