Page 2 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
ASIA / PACIFIC
May 7, 2018
India eyes three sports events, including 2032 Olympics
NEW DELHI (AP) — The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) says it is
planning to bid for three major sporting events — the 2026 Youth Olympics, the
2030 Asian Games, and the 2032 Summer Olympics. The bidding process for the
2026 Youth Olympics is likely to start in 2020. Thailand has also expressed
interest in hosting the event. Addressing a press conference with International
Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach, IOA president Narindra Batra
said he expects fierce competition from other bidders. Bach said India has the
capability to host big events but advised it to wait for the bidding process to
start. He said no procedure is currently open for the 2032 Olympic Games or for
2026 Youth Olympics.
Propaganda loudspeakers removed at Korean border
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea has removed propaganda-broad-
casting loudspeakers from the border with North Korea. The announcement to
remove them came three days after the leaders of the two Koreas agreed to work
together to achieve a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula and end hostile acts against
each other along their border during their rare summit talks last month. South
Korea had turned off its loudspeakers ahead of the summit talks, and North
Korea responded by halting its own broadcasts. Seoul had blasted propaganda
messages and K-pop songs from border loudspeakers since the North’s fourth
nuclear test in early 2016. The North quickly matched the South’s action with its
own border broadcasts.
HISTORIC MEETING. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, right,
cross the border line at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone on Friday, April 27, 2018. North Korean
leader Kim made history by crossing over the world’s most heavily armed border to greet President Moon for a summit
along their shared border. (Korea Summit Press Pool via AP)
Summit offers South Koreans
rare insight into Kim Jong Un
Census finds increase in Mekong River Irrawaddy dolphins
By Hyung-Jin Kim
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodia’s government and a major
conservation group say the number of critically endangered Irrawaddy dolphins
along a stretch of the Mekong River has increased for the first time in 20 years,
but the animals still face serious threats. A joint statement issued by the World
Wide Fund for Nature and Cambodia’s Fishery Administration says a 2017
census pegged the freshwater dolphins’ population along a 118-mile stretch of
river from Kratie in Cambodia to Khone Falls in Laos at 92, a 15 percent
increase over an estimate made in 2015. The country director of WWF-
Cambodia warned that the dolphins still face many threats to their existence,
including illegal fishing methods, increasing boat traffic, and ongoing dam
projects.
The Associated Press
HRW: “Men only” job ads show ongoing discrimination
BEIJING (AP) — A human-rights group says gender discrimination is
widespread in the Chinese workforce, with many hiring advertisements openly
calling only for male applicants and using the attractiveness of female
co-workers as a draw. Human Rights Watch (HRW) released the report after
looking at more than 36,000 job advertisements posted between 2013 and 2018
from recruiters, companies, and the government. China bans discrimination in
both hiring and job advertising, but enforcement is weak. Government
departments are among the offenders, according to the report, with 55 percent of
jobs advertised by the Ministry of Public Security last year specifying “men
only.” These practices widen gaps in both female work participation and pay,
according to official data.
Afghanistan rolls out electronic ID cards
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan is rolling out long-delayed
electronic ID cards as a measure President Ashraf Ghani insists is “important to
help fight terrorist attacks.” Ghani and some senior officials were the first to
receive their cards in Kabul. Last December, the Afghan parliament approved
Ghani’s decree on the ID card, which unlike its simple predecessors made of
paper, has a chip that will be tied to the country’s electronic database. Militants
have often used fake ID cards to pass through security checkpoints and enter big
urban centers to stage attacks. But some in the government of chief executive
Abdullah Abdullah have voiced opposition to the cards because they denote a
person’s ethnicity and religion — and as such could be used to discriminate
against ethnic Hazaras and other minorities.
Pakistan sentences man in first conviction over child porn
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A Pakistani court in the eastern city of Sargodha
has sentenced a man to seven years in prison for working for a child pornography
network, the first such conviction in the Islamic nation. District police chief
Suhail Chaudhry highlighted the court’s ruling against Sadat Amin, who was
arrested earlier in April by the Federal Investigation Agency — Pakistan’s
version of the FBI — following a complaint from the Norwegian government.
The police chief said the investigation proved Amin produced and sold porn
videos of children to a Norway-based network. During the trial, prosecutors said
Amin confessed to luring children to produce porn videos. Pakistan recently
introduced laws giving authorities power to crack down on the porn industry.
Nepal airport reopened after plane skidded off runway
KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Nepal’s only international airport reopened
last month after a passenger plane attempting to take off skidded off the
runway, forcing a halt to all flights. Tribhuvan International Airport in
Kathmandu said no one was injured when the Boeing 737 operated by Malindo
Air skidded into the grassy area at the end of the runway. All flights were
cancelled and thousands of passengers waited outside the terminal while
authorities worked to pull out the plane. It was finally towed safely to the hanger
area, allowing the airport to resume flights at about midday.
G
OYANG, South Korea — A day after
the leaders of the two Koreas met for a
summit along their shared border, the
emotional, memorable, even funny scenes
from their time together were both a bitter
reminder of the countries’ seven decades of
division and an insight into the mysterious
character of North Korean leader Kim Jong
Un.
A look at some of the scenes that South
Koreans were talking about amid the
afterglow of one of the most unusual moments
in recent inter-Korean history include:
Kim crossing the border
Kim became the first North Korean leader to
set foot onto South Korean land since the
1950-1953 Korean War when he stepped into
the southern side of the border village of
Panmunjom to meet with South Korean
President Moon Jae-in.
The image that lingers is of Kim stepping
across the ankle-high concrete slab that forms
the military demarcation line at Panmunjom
and shaking hands with Moon, both leaders
broadly smiling. Kim then took Moon’s hand
and led him back across the borderline into the
North, where they posed for a ceremonial
photo together before returning to the South.
Moon, whose parents were refugees from
North Korea during the war, visited the
North’s Diamond Mountain resort in 2004 to
meet his aunt during a temporary reunion
between war-separated families.
Kim short of breath
After their meeting at the borderline, Kim
and Moon moved to a small plaza to inspect an
honor guard before walking together for a
couple of minutes to the Peace House, the
venue for the summit. Despite the relative
short bout of exercise, live television footage
showed that an obese Kim was panting heavily
through his mouth, his shoulders heaving a
bit, as he signed a guestbook.
South Korean media quickly speculated that
Kim, 34, is about 5’8” tall and weighs 287
pounds, and likely suffers from diabetes,
high-blood pressure, and hyperlipidemia.
In 2014, Kim disappeared from the public
eye for about five weeks, triggering a frenzy of
speculation about his health. When he
resumed his public activities, he walked with a
cane. Kim’s father and grandfather both died
of heart ailments.
Kim’s security
When Kim returned to the northern side of
Panmunjom in a black Mercedes limousine for
lunch after a morning meeting with Moon, a
dozen bodyguards, all wearing black suits and
blue ties, surrounded the vehicle and jogged
beside it as it made its way to the North.
The men — all tall, their hair cropped short
— are likely from the North’s secret service.
Later in the day, as Kim returned to the
South, the car moved at a faster speed and the
Continued on page 4
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83.035
4045.0
6.3627
2.075
7.8494
66.87
13945
42025
109.12
8318.5
3.9395
106.96
115.77
3.252
51.714
62.457
3.7503
1.3341
1077.2
157.72
29.715
31.762
22966