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Inmates in Tochigi Prison’s factory in Japan sew flags and banners. Photo: Julian Ryall
Japan

Japanese female prison’s rehabilitation goal faces health, language barriers

A human rights group says Japan’s penal system still fails to treat prison inmates ‘like human beings’.

South Korea

What Lee’s Netanyahu ‘war criminal’ remark means for South Korea’s diplomacy

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Japan

US to send powerful missile systems to Japan for drills amid China tensions

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China exports

Japanese firms warn of ‘severe’ magnet shortages as China’s exports remain low

China’s exports of rare earth magnets to Japan recovered only modestly last month, with Japanese firms warning of ‘severe’ shortages.

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Workers transport soil containing rare earth elements for export at a port in China’s eastern Jiangsu province. Photo: Reuters
Workers transport soil containing rare earth elements for export at a port in China’s eastern Jiangsu province. Photo: Reuters
South Korea

Japan, South Korea hone diplomatic ‘muscle memory’ amid Taiwan worries

Energy security and supply chains topped the summit’s formal agenda. The subtext was a fear of ‘alliance abandonment’, analysts say.

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Singapore

Singapore, Japan, South Korea boost Ebola screening after WHO alert

Other Asian nations including Vietnam and Indonesia have also announced increased monitoring or public health measures at ports of entry.

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South Korea

Samsung workers’ union puts off strike after tentative wage deal reached

The stand-off has raised concerns in South Korea, where semiconductors account for about 35 per cent of exports.

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Samsung Electronics’ trade union members chant slogans during a protest against the company’s compensation levels in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, last month. Photo: Reuters
Samsung Electronics’ trade union members chant slogans during a protest against the company’s compensation levels in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, last month. Photo: Reuters
Japan

Japan plans island drone deployment to monitor Chinese naval activity

Tokyo hopes deploying US-built SeaGuardians on Iwo Jima and Chichijima will eliminate a Pacific surveillance ‘blind spot’.

Japan

Japan zoo may ban photos near viral monkey after intrusion by 2 Americans

One visitor entered the macaque’s habitat dressed in a character costume, while the other filmed him with a phone from outside.

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South Korea

South Korea’s Lee hails ‘deep friendship’ as he hosts Japan’s Takaichi in hometown

The talks in Andong, a city famous for its centuries-old folk village, come after the two met in Takaichi’s hometown of Nara in January.

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Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (left) and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung hold a joint news conference in Andong on Tuesday. Photo: EPA
Semiconductors

Does China’s rapid chipmaking expansion threaten the global AI memory chip boom?

Rising Chinese output and shifting investment patterns may weigh on the semiconductor sector’s outlook, Samsung adviser says.

Memory chips by South Korean semiconductor supplier SK Hynix are seen on a circuit board of a computer in this illustration picture taken February 25, 2022. Photo: Reuters
Memory chips by South Korean semiconductor supplier SK Hynix are seen on a circuit board of a computer in this illustration picture taken February 25, 2022. Photo: Reuters
The Philippines

More than a missile? Why the Philippines wants Japan’s old Type 88

Manila’s military already operates superior weapons, but analysts say Tokyo’s Cold War-era hardware still has something to offer.

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US, Israel war on Iran

Spirit collapsed under high fuel costs. Some Asian airlines could be next

The head of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines said direct financial support from governments required to survive the crisis.

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South Korea

Starbucks Korea boss loses job after ‘Tank Day’ promotion misfires

Sohn Jeong-hyun was fired following public anger over the campaign that was seen as mocking the anniversary of the Gwangju uprising.

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A Starbucks outlet in Busan, South Korea. Photo: Shutterstock
Japan

Russian hiker becomes Japan’s latest bear attack victim as a new record looms

After a year with more than 50,000 sightings and 238 injuries, Japan’s vanishing hunting communities are struggling to contain the problem.

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A bear is spotted on a riverbank in Morioka, Iwate prefecture, in October 2025. Photo: Kyodo
A bear is spotted on a riverbank in Morioka, Iwate prefecture, in October 2025. Photo: Kyodo
Japan

How a Japanese deal to appease Trump resulted in Texans protesting in Tokyo

Community groups from the Freeport area are urging Japanese financiers and ministries not to back fossil fuel infrastructure.

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South Korea

South Korea weighs the cost of stepping into Samsung’s US$400,000 bonus row

Seoul is considering using a rarely used emergency power to halt a strike that could cost the economy US$67 billion.

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North Korea

North Korea to turn southern border into ‘impregnable fortress’

Experts say the plans reflect awareness of drone and other types of hi-tech warfare amid the Russia-Ukraine and Iran conflicts.

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A soldier stands at a fence bordering the demilitarised zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea in 2017. Photo: AFP
A soldier stands at a fence bordering the demilitarised zone (DMZ) separating North and South Korea in 2017. Photo: AFP
South Korea

South Korea weighs arbitration to avoid Samsung semiconductor plant strike

The world’s largest memory chipmaker and its South ‌Korean labour union will resume pay talks on Monday with a government mediator.

North Korea

North Korean footballers arrive in South, match tickets sell out

The rare visit comes as North Korea has in ‌recent years labelled the South its ‘most hostile state’.

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South Korea

Reality deficit: how South Korea lost the plot on AI

A viral ‘baseball goddess’, a wolf that never was and a deepfake epidemic. Generative AI is rewriting South Korea’s reality.

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A screenshot of the "baseball goddess" from an AI-generated video. Photo: X/kangminlee
Japan

Japan’s ‘ibasho’ sense of belonging helps disaster survivors heal, study finds

Research into the 2011 earthquake and tsunami shows fostering social connection and purpose helps survivors rebuild and staves off dementia.

A family retrieve belongings from their destroyed home in Ishinomaki, Miyagi, Japan, on April 10, 2011. Photo: EPA
A family retrieve belongings from their destroyed home in Ishinomaki, Miyagi, Japan, on April 10, 2011. Photo: EPA
South Korea

South Korea uses AI to prevent suicides, track crime on Seoul’s Han River bridges

AI sounds an alarm if it identifies a person staying for more than 300 seconds in a bridge’s ‘loitering zones’, allowing humans to swoop in.

Japan

Japan’s restaurant sector feels bite of sudden foreign worker visa freeze

The number of foreigners holding Type I visas in the food industry has reached roughly 46,000, on course to surpass the quota of 50,000.

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2026 Xi-Trump summit

Trump and his CEOs want China’s business – but has Asia moved on?

The US delegation went to Beijing looking for deals, but a ‘super cycle’ of capital expenditures across Asia is already fuelling enormous growth.

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Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen
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