Page 2 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
ASIA / PACIFIC
September 7, 2015
China says it has arrested 15,000 people for cybercrimes
BEIJING (AP) — Chinese authorities say police have arrested 15,000 people
on suspicion of cybercrimes as the government tightens its control over the
internet. The Ministry of Public Security said police have investigated more
than 7,400 cases of possible cybercrimes, including hacking, online fraud, and
the illegal sale of personal information, resulting in 15,000 arrests. It did not say
when the arrests were made. Authorities launched a six-month special opera-
tion in July to clean the internet, but some of the cases date back as far as De-
cember. Beijing considers the internet a virtual territory that must be ruled by
laws and regulations. Recently, authorities detained a man for exaggerating the
death toll from blasts in the port city of Tianjin. The August 12 explosions at a
warehouse storing dangerous chemicals killed 158 people; 15 are still missing.
Cambodian police seize 1.5 tons of pot, largest in 15 years
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodian police say they have
confiscated nearly 1.5 tons of marijuana in what they describe as their biggest
seizure since they started cracking down on it 15 years ago. The head of the
Interior Ministry’s anti-drug unit, Gen. Khieu Samon, told reporters that the
marijuana came from Laos and was supposed to be shipped to a third country
that he refused to name, saying the case remained under investigation. He
added that police were seeking to arrest the suspected mastermind, whom he
described as a westerner, without revealing more details. Three Cambodians
were arrested at different locations in the Cambodian capital. Khieu Samon said
the marijuana, packed in boxes alongside coffee, is worth about $7 million and
that about 1 1/2 liters of cannabis oil was also seized. Cambodia used to maintain
a laissez-faire attitude toward marijuana until 15 years ago, when under
western pressure it implemented a ban on growing it, and Prime Minister Hun
Sen himself led the first raid on a plantation. Cambodia has become a transit
point for illegal drugs including heroin and methamphetamine because of its
porous borders and lax law enforcement.
Malaysia finds 24 more bodies of human-trafficking victims
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysian police say they have found
another 24 bodies of suspected human-trafficking victims in jungles bordering
Thailand. Authorities in May said they discovered 139 suspected graves in
abandoned jungle camps in northern Perlis state, a remote area bordering
Thailand that trafficking syndicates used as a transit point. Most were believed
to be from Myanmar’s persecuted Rohingya minority and impoverished
migrants from Bangladesh. The 24 bodies were discovered in addition to 106
bodies found earlier. Police in a statement said the bodies have been sent for
autopsy. The discoveries in northern Malaysia followed similar revelations
earlier in May, where police unearthed 36 bodies from shallow graves in seven
abandoned camps on the Thai side of the border.
620 turtles and tortoises smuggled from Vietnam seized
BEIJING (AP) — Chinese border patrol officials have seized 620 wild turtles
and tortoises — 510 of them considered endangered — that were found alive in a
shipment of frozen seafood from Vietnam, according to state media. The official
Xinhua News Agency said border police detected crawling sounds when they
were inspecting the shipment at a border city in the southwestern region of
Guangxi on August 24. Police discovered the endangered species, including
Indochinese box turtles and elongated tortoises, in the shipment heading for the
neighboring province of Guangdong, where the animals are considered
delicacies, Xinhua said. The local state-run Nanning Evening News said border
officials grew suspicious when the cargo was clearly more than what had been
declared and that the driver was nervous when interrogated. They found 15
foam boxes and, upon discovering the live animals, questioned the driver, who
was unable to provide any documents proving their legitimacy, according to
local media. The turtles and tortoises were confiscated and handed over to
China’s forestry authorities.
VIRTUAL MEAL. Kim Sung-jin, 14, broadcasts himself eating delivery Chinese food in his room at home in Bucheon,
south of Seoul, South Korea. Every evening, he gorges on food as he chats before a live camera with hundreds, sometimes
thousands, of teenagers watching. That’s the show, and it makes Kim money: 2 million won ($1,700) in his most success-
ful episode. Better known to his viewers by the nickname Patoo, he is one of the youngest broadcasters on Afreeca TV, an
app for live-broadcasting video online that launched in 2006. (AP Photo/Julie Yoon)
A meal and webcam form unlikely
recipe for South Korean fame
By Youkyung Lee
AP Technology Writer
S
EOUL, South Korea — Every evening,
14-year-old Kim Sung-jin orders fried
chicken, delivery pizza, or Chinese food
to eat in a small room in his family’s home
south of Seoul. He gorges on food as he chats
before a live camera with hundreds, some-
times thousands, of teenagers watching.
That’s the show, and it makes Kim money:
2 million won ($1,700) in his most successful
episode.
Better known to his viewers by the nick-
name Patoo, he is one of the youngest broad-
casters on Afreeca TV, an app for live-broad-
casting video online launched in 2006.
Kim, who has a delicate physique and
chopstick-like slight limbs, has been broad-
casting himself eating almost every evening
since he was 11. Sometimes he invites friends
to eat with him. To add fun, he once wore a
blonde wig and dressed as a woman.
While the internet has been making stars for
years — from bloggers to gamers who play for
millions of YouTube viewers — outsiders may
find it puzzling, if not outright bizarre, for
young people to spend hours watching some-
one eating. But in South Korea, Afreeca TV
has become a big player in the internet subcul-
ture and a crucial part of social life for teens.
Shows like Kim’s are known as “Meok
Bang,” a mash-up Korean word of broadcast
and eating. They are the most popular and
often most profitable among some 5,000 live
shows that are aired at any given moment on
Afreeca TV.
Kim started the show essentially to find
someone to eat with. His parents worked in
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Top woman leader of Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge dies at 83
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Ieng Thirith, a Khmer Rouge leader who
was the highest-ranking woman in the genocidal regime that oversaw the death
of nearly 2 million Cambodians in the late 1970s, has died. She was 83 years old.
Ieng Thirith was a sister-in-law of the movement’s late supreme leader, Pol Pot.
A Sorbonne-educated Shakespeare scholar, she served as minister of social
affairs and was married to Ieng Sary, the regime’s former foreign minister, who
died in 2013 at age 87. Her son, Ieng Vuth, said she had been suffering from
dementia, heart trouble, and other health problems. Ieng Thirith was put on
trial by a United Nations-backed tribunal seeking justice for crimes committed
by the radical movement, but was freed in September 2012 before its conclusion
after being declared mentally unfit.
Chinese soccer association gains more independence
BEIJING (AP) — The Chinese soccer association is gaining more indepen-
dence in the hope that it can better promote the sport in the world’s most
populous country. China’s General Administration of Sports said it is removing
the national federation from its organizational chart, and that those working for
the association would no longer be considered government employees. Critics
have long said the association, which oversees soccer training, leagues, and the
national team, has been hindered by bureaucracy. As an independent entity, the
association is expected to have greater latitude in decision-making, such as
purchases of training equipment for players on the national team.
another city so he was living with his
grandparents, and they ate dinner so early he
got hungry at night.
He says the show made his dining more
regular, although most of his meals on Afreeca
TV begin after 10:00pm. The show also
brought him unexpected joy: He said that even
though he’s just an ordinary teenager, “people
say hello to me on the street.”
“I do what I want. That’s the perk of a
personal broadcast.”
Many connect the popularity of Meok Bang
to the increasing number of South Koreans
who live alone, and to the strong social aspects
of food in society.
“Even if it is online, when someone talks
while eating, the same words feel much more
intimate,” said Ahn Joon-soo, an executive at
Afreeca TV. He noted South Koreans’ common
habit of bidding farewell to friends by saying,
“Let’s eat together next time,” even when they
don’t literally mean it.
There are plenty of other quirky offerings on
Afreeca TV. Late at night there is “Sool Bang”
— broadcast drinking — in which melancholic
South Koreans drink liquor alone discussing
their tough lives. Then there is “Study Bang,”
or broadcast studying: A screen shows the
hand of an unidentified person writing notes
on a thick book under the light of a desk lamp.
About 60 percent of the 8 million unique
monthly visitors to Afreeca TV are teens or in
their 20s. That means nearly 40 percent of the
12.5 million South Koreans between 10 and 30
years old watch a show on Afreeca TV at least
once a month.
“Young generations believe that TV is
naturally something like Afreeca TV, where
Continued on page 5
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77.795
4108.1
6.3559
2.1622
7.75
66.465
14172
29856
119.05
8172.2
4.26
106.1
104.25
2.8051
46.76
67.757
3.7508
1.4204
1193.2
137.75
32.691
35.877
22472