Page 2 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
ASIA / PACIFIC
January 2, 2017
How many women can have a baby in S. Korean cities?
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s government has closed a website
that drew fury for showing the number of women of childbearing age by each city
district and region. The Ministry of the Interior’s website featuring the pink
birth map remained closed a day after its launch, showing instead a notice that
the site is undergoing corrections. The website went offline after just a few
hours following criticism the government is trying to shame women for not
having babies. The site also featured a ranking of regions by the number of
women between ages 15 and 49. The government had touted it as a tool to
increase the public’s understanding of the country’s low birth rate. South Korea
is struggling to boost its rock-bottom birth rate, one of the lowest among rich
countries.
North Korean defector impressed by Seoul political protests
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A high-profile North Korean defector has told
South Korean lawmakers the massive protests that led to the impeachment of
President Park Geun-hye still feels strange to him, but he sees the
demonstrations as the country’s strength. The office of lawmaker Lee Cheol Woo
said former North Korean diplomat Thae Yong Ho commented in a closed-door
briefing to legislators that he was impressed with the South’s democracy
because its government continued to function despite the protests. The South
Korean government in August announced that Thae, the former North Korean
deputy ambassador to London, defected to the South with his family because of
his disgust with the North’s government under leader Kim Jong Un.
Cheetah bones, ivory shipped from Mozambique seized
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia has made one of its biggest
seizures ever of smuggled animal parts, including more than a ton of ivory,
according to a wildlife protection group. The Wildlife Alliance said 1.3 metric
tons of ivory, 10 cheetah skulls, 180 pounds of cheetah bones, and 301 pounds of
pangolin scales were found December 16 concealed in three containers shipped
from Mozambique. The group said in a statement that another shipment of illicit
ivory by the same company was intercepted in Vietnam in October. The Wildlife
Alliance said Cambodia has made 19 seizures of ivory and rhino horn from six
African countries since 2014. A major international conference on wildlife
trafficking was held in November in Vietnam, one of the major transit points
and consumers of trafficked ivory and rhino horns. The pangolin is considered
the world’s most heavily trafficked mammal, sought for its meat, eaten as a
delicacy, and for its scales, which are used in traditional medicine.
James Taylor cancels concert over Duterte’s drug war
MANILA, The Philippines (AP) — James Taylor has cancelled his February
25 concert in Manila, saying reports of summary executions of suspected drug
offenders in the Philippines without judicial proceedings are “deeply concerning
and unacceptable.” The American singer-songwriter tweeted that he had been
looking forward to performing in Manila and that it saddened him to cancel the
concert. He apologized to his Filipino fans and said all tickets sold for the
performance at Manila’s Mall of Asia Arena would be fully refunded. Since
taking office in June, President Rodrigo Duterte has overseen a crackdown on
illegal drugs that has left more than 6,000 people dead. While acknowledging
that drug addiction is a worldwide problem that seriously harms society, Taylor
criticized the anti-drug campaign. “For a sovereign nation to prosecute and
punish, under the law, those responsible for illegal trade in drugs is, of course,
understandable, even commendable,” Taylor tweeted. “But recent reports from
the Philippines of summary executions of suspected offenders without trial or
judicial process are deeply concerning and unacceptable to anyone who loves the
rule of law.” Dozens of tweets from people reacting to Taylor’s message praised
the musician and voiced respect for his stand. Others urged artists to follow his
lead, while a handful of Duterte supporters said Taylor should see the situation
for himself instead of basing his opinion only on media reports.
Aid groups warn of crisis as Mongolia hit by harsh winter
BEIJING (AP) — Another unusually harsh winter in Mongolia that’s
decimating livestock and sending temperatures to minus 70° Fahrenheit may
create a humanitarian crisis, with worse conditions still to come, aid groups
warn. Save the Children and the International Federation of the Red Cross say
this winter will likely see vast swathes of the Mongolian steppe affected by the
extreme weather phenomenon known in Mongolia as dzud. A dzud typically
happens once a decade, but could strike for the second consecutive year. The
dzud last year killed more than 1 million animals, afflicting the majority of
Mongolians who depend on livestock for food, milk, and income. The Mongolian
government said it met with international organizations including Save the
Children, the Red Cross, and the United Nations Development Program to
discuss efforts to deliver heating fuel and medical supplies amid “worsening”
conditions and heavy snowfall since October. Aid groups say the situation is
compounded by last year’s harsh winter and a deep recession amid a market
bust for Mongolia’s mineral exports. The country is struggling to repay debt with
its hard currency stocks while household savings have also evaporated. Red
Cross disaster program manager in Mongolia Davaajargal Batdorj said more
livestock deaths are expected this year with far northwestern areas of the
country already buried under one yard of snow. The organization will begin
sending cash to herder families in the far west in the coming weeks. “It’s a
natural disaster on top of an economic crisis,” Davaajargal said.
RYUGYONG MYSTERY. The 105-story, pyramid-shaped Ryugyong Hotel towers over residential apartments that
form the skyline of Pyongyang, North Korea. Thirty years after work began on what was then one of the tallest hotel projects
ever attempted, the inside of the structure has yet to be completed and mystery swirls over whether it will ever open for
guests. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
Huge but empty pyramid hotel a
sphinx-like North Korean mystery
By Eric Talmadge
The Associated Press
YONGYANG, North Korea — Pyong-
yang’s pyramid-shaped Ryugyong
Hotel, which poetically enough was
built with some help from Egyptians, is one of
the world’s strangest landmarks and most
conspicuous construction-project fails. In-
tended to be the world’s tallest hotel, it has yet
to host a guest, even though it’s nearly as old as
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
The perennial mystery: Will it ever?
Nearly 30 years after ground was broken,
the tower looms eerily dark in the Pyongyang
night, a single light at the top blinking a silent
warning to aircraft. By day, residents walk
quickly to and from the nearby subway station
with nary a glance upward at its 105-story
presence.
In December, however, a video showing
lights toward the top of the tower, combined
with a visit to Pyongyang by the hotel’s Egyp-
tian investors, sparked speculation among
foreign Pyongyang watchers that construction
was resuming and the hotel might even open
in 2017. Not to be outdone, some British
tabloids were soon reporting that the hotel had
already opened its doors for guests.
Fact check: It hasn’t. And those lights on the
upper floors have gone dark again.
But the idea that Kim might be interested in
finally finishing the biggest project started in
the name of his grandfather, “eternal
president” Kim Il Sung, isn’t particularly
outlandish. Since assuming power five years
ago, Kim has ordered the construction of a
number of skyscrapers that have significantly
changed the Pyongyang skyline.
And while the possibility something is afoot
P
at the Ryugyong can’t be ruled out, for the time
being Kim appears to be putting his money
elsewhere. An apartment building is now
nearing completion in the newest project, on
Ryomyong Street. It’s about 70 stories and the
North’s tallest building outside of the
Ryugyong. Earlier this year, a cluster of new,
futuristic-looking high-rises was completed on
Scientists’ Street, including one at 50 stories.
Construction of the Ryugyong tower began
in 1987 and was supposed to take about two
years.
For various reasons, it drew on until 1992,
which was a very bad year — and the begin-
ning of a very bad decade — for North Korea.
The Soviet Union collapsed in late 1991,
taking with it most of the North’s communist
bloc benefactors and setting the stage for a
major economic crisis heightened by a series of
droughts and a famine that brought North
Korea to the verge of collapse.
The country survived what it now
euphemistically calls the “arduous march,”
but construction of the Ryugyong didn’t start
up again until 2008.
With a $30-million injection of funds from
Egypt’s Orascom Telecommunications Hold-
ings — which was in the country to pursue a
joint venture to establish a North Korean
cellphone network — the building’s exterior
was completed in 2011.
In a prospectus from June 2012, Orascom
said it expected the partial completion of the
Ryugyong’s 360,000 square meters of floor
space, which would include apartments and
offices along with hotel facilities, by the end of
the year. It added that Orascom was planning
to kick in another $15-million loan “to be
repaid when the tower becomes operational.”
Continued on page 3
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78.91
3990.4
6.945
2.1391
7.7559
67.924
13473
32376
116.96
8167.8
4.4862
108.59
104.37
3.1764
49.6
61.538
3.7518
1.4468
1208.6
149.71
32.326
35.835
22758