NORTH KOREA
Kim visits father’s tomb
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has paid his respect at a family mausoleum to mark the birthday of his late father and former leader, Kim Jong-il, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said yesterday. Kim Jong-il’s birthday, which falls on Feb. 16, is widely celebrated as a major holiday in the nation. However, it was the first time in four years that the young Kim visited the Kumsusan Palace of Sun in Pyongyang, which houses the embalmed bodies of his father and grandfather, for the anniversary. Accompanied by Kim Yo-jong, his sister and a senior ruling Workers’ Party official, among other aides, Kim Jong-un paid homage “in the humblest reverence,” KCNA said. “He expressed his solemn will to devote himself to the sacred struggle for the eternal prosperity of the country, the security of the people and the promotion of their well-being,” it said.
AFGHANISTAN
Delegation visits Japan
A Taliban government delegation was visiting Japan for the first time yesterday, in a rare diplomatic visit outside of the region. The group left Kabul on Saturday, in a visit that local media said would last one week and included officials from the higher education, foreign affairs and economy ministries. “We seek dignified interaction with the world for a strong, united, advanced, prosperous, developed Afghanistan and to be an active member of the international community,” Deputy Minister of Economy and delegation member Latif Nazari wrote on X on Saturday. The Taliban government makes regular visits to neighboring and regional countries, including Russia and China. However, it has only officially visited Europe for diplomacy summits in Norway in 2022 and 2023. The Afghan delegation plans to “exchange views with Japanese government officials during their stay,” public broadcaster NHK reported, citing unnamed Afghan diplomatic sources.
SOUTH KOREA
Actress found dead at home
Actress Kim Sae-ron, 24, was found dead in her house in Seoul on Sunday, police said. “She was found dead and there is no sign of foul play,” a police official said, without giving more details. Kim was found at her home on Sunday evening by a friend who reported the discovery to police, Yonhap news agency said. Kim is best known for her role in the 2010 movie The Man From Nowhere, in which she played a kidnapped child rescued by a former special forces agent. She won the best new actress award at the Korean Film Awards for her performance. Kim displayed versatility in a range of acting roles and won several other film awards, but her career came to a sudden halt following a drunk-driving accident in 2022, for which she was fined 20 million won (US$13,860). With the negative public sentiment following the incident, she later struggled to land a new role.
INDIA
Tourist’s killer gets life
A court in Goa state yesterday sentenced a 31-year-old man to life in prison for raping and murdering an Irish woman at a popular tourist resort nearly eight years ago. The body of 28-year-old Danielle McLaughlin was found by a farmer on a beach in Goa in March 2017. An autopsy showed that cerebral damage and constriction of the neck caused her death. Vikat Bhagat was on Friday found guilty of the crime. McLaughlin’s family in a statement said they and her friends were “thankful to the public prosecutor and the investigating officer for justice.” Usually, rape victims cannot be named under Indian law. In this case, the victim’s family spoke to the media to raise awareness of her case.
Asian perspectives of the US have shifted from a country once perceived as a force of “moral legitimacy” to something akin to “a landlord seeking rent,” Singaporean Minister for Defence Ng Eng Hen (黃永宏) said on the sidelines of an international security meeting. Ng said in a round-table discussion at the Munich Security Conference in Germany that assumptions undertaken in the years after the end of World War II have fundamentally changed. One example is that from the time of former US president John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address more than 60 years ago, the image of the US was of a country
‘UNUSUAL EVENT’: The Australian defense minister said that the Chinese navy task group was entitled to be where it was, but Australia would be watching it closely The Australian and New Zealand militaries were monitoring three Chinese warships moving unusually far south along Australia’s east coast on an unknown mission, officials said yesterday. The Australian government a week ago said that the warships had traveled through Southeast Asia and the Coral Sea, and were approaching northeast Australia. Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles yesterday said that the Chinese ships — the Hengyang naval frigate, the Zunyi cruiser and the Weishanhu replenishment vessel — were “off the east coast of Australia.” Defense officials did not respond to a request for comment on a Financial Times report that the task group from
BLIND COST CUTTING: A DOGE push to lay off 2,000 energy department workers resulted in hundreds of staff at a nuclear security agency being fired — then ‘unfired’ US President Donald Trump’s administration has halted the firings of hundreds of federal employees who were tasked with working on the nation’s nuclear weapons programs, in an about-face that has left workers confused and experts cautioning that the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE’s) blind cost cutting would put communities at risk. Three US officials who spoke to The Associated Press said up to 350 employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) were abruptly laid off late on Thursday, with some losing access to e-mail before they’d learned they were fired, only to try to enter their offices on Friday morning
CONFIDENT ON DEAL: ‘Ukraine wants a seat at the table, but wouldn’t the people of Ukraine have a say? It’s been a long time since an election, the US president said US President Donald Trump on Tuesday criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and added that he was more confident of a deal to end the war after US-Russia talks. Trump increased pressure on Zelenskiy to hold elections and chided him for complaining about being frozen out of talks in Saudi Arabia. The US president also suggested that he could meet Russian President Vladimir Putin before the end of the month as Washington overhauls its stance toward Russia. “I’m very disappointed, I hear that they’re upset about not having a seat,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida when asked about the Ukrainian
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