N. Korean defectors report starvation after harvests ‘taken forcibly by the ruling class’

N. Korean defectors report starvation after harvests ‘taken forcibly by the ruling class’

Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com A growing number of North Koreans are starving to death, even in the country’s grain belt on the southwest coast, despite increased crop yields because soldiers and state officials are extorting the grain. A defector who fled the North last summer said members of the ruling class would […]

Hu Jintao and future President Xi Jinping forge power pact over Bo scandal

Hu Jintao and future President Xi Jinping forge power pact over Bo scandal

Special to WorldTribune.com By Willy Lam, East-Asia-Intel.com Former Chongqing Party Secretary Bo Xilai’s alleged conspiracy to usurp Vice President Xi Jinping’s status as heir apparent to the Chinese Communist Party leadership has served to tighten ties between Xi and the current supremo, President Hu Jintao. This has been seen as one of the few “positive […]

Obama administration pushes to ratify Law of Sea treaty to deter China

Obama administration pushes to ratify Law of Sea treaty to deter China

Special to WorldTribune.com Compiled by Miles Yu, Geostrategy-Direct.com Senior Obama administration officials last week urged the Senate to approve a bill authorizing the U.S. to become a party to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Doing so, they said, would better deter China’s “excessive” claims in the Western Pacific region. “As a […]

Report: South Korean president approves major missile buildup

Report: South Korean president approves major missile buildup

Special to WorldTribune.com Geostrategy-Direct.com Seoul has approved an ambitious missile upgrade plan for additional 500-600 cruise and ballistic missiles during the next five years, according to a May 22 report in the Chosun Ilbo. “Given the mounting threat of provocations from the North since Kim Jong-Un took power, the [ROK] Defense Ministry reported to President […]

Piracy against China ships shows N. Korea’s military units are desperate, on their own

Piracy against China ships shows N. Korea’s military units are desperate, on their own

Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com North Korean troops deployed in a remote area hijacked Chinese fishing boats for ransom earlier this month, government officials and analysts in Seoul said. A North Korean gunboat seized four Chinese boats with more than 30 Chinese fishermen on May 8 and demanded cash for their return. The […]

Much more to China than meets the (American) eye

Much more to China than meets the (American) eye

Lev Navrozov Last week we had a call from someone whom we used to know some years ago: an intelligent young man, a brilliant computer specialist, with a keen interest in international affairs, at that time particularly concerned with Falun Gong persecutions going on in China. He had several Chinese friends associated with the Chinese […]

Image campaign casts N. Korea’s young ruler as more outgoing, like Kim Il-Sung

Image campaign casts N. Korea’s young ruler as more outgoing, like Kim Il-Sung

Special to WorldTribune.com By Lee Jong-Heon, East-Asia-Intel.com A campaign is in full swing in North Korea to craft the image of Kim Jong-Un as “healthy, energetic, friendly and able,” government officials in Seoul said. Kim, the third son of the country’s late ruler Kim Jong-Il, was unknown to the outside world and even to the […]

Report: Taiwan weighs gamechanger with purchase of U.S. F-35B stealth jetfighters

Report: Taiwan weighs gamechanger with purchase of U.S. F-35B stealth jetfighters

Special to WorldTribune.com In a major policy reversal, Taiwan’s defense officials have indicated they may forego further upgrades to their current F-16A/B fleet and instead purchase the next-generation F-35B stealth fighter, according to Taiwan’s China Times. Taiwan’s mainstay combat aircraft is the F-16A/B block 20. Taiwan currently has 145 such advanced aircraft in service. However, […]

China demonstrating the will to dominate; West losing the will to resist

China demonstrating the will to dominate; West losing the will to resist

Lev Navrozov From Moscow, the capital of the slave country founded in 1917, I came to New York, to the 21st floor of a skyscraper. The owners of the slave country had created their radio and television and even their own art and philosophy — in short, they created a new culture, with inevitable shortcomings. […]

As West falters, Asia Pacific region emerging as new global economic engine

As West falters, Asia Pacific region emerging as new global economic engine

John J. Metzler UNITED NATIONS — Despite the persistent economic headwinds which are expected to slow economic expansion this year, “growth in the Asia and the Pacific area remains better than in any other region; continuing as an anchor of stability and a new growth pole for the world economy.” That’s the guardedly optimistic prognosis […]