There are a few rumors that he is sick, like probably going to kick in the next few years sick. Now I take all rumors with Kim at a grain of salt. But between that and the money rumors the best way to guarantee the Kim regime survives him, there isn't a good succession set up this time, is peace and money. The best bet would be for his sister to take over probably.
So if this follows the old play book of maintaining the Kim regime above all that would make sense.
To me though is just setting up an impossible situation and the Kim's come out looking domestically like roses when Trump fucks it up but there really was never a chance anyway of a real peace treaty here.
This could very much be the all politics are domestic and Kim is finding a way to shore up that regime power due to numerous external factors and is using Trump as the pawn.
Yeah...whats Kims hustle here. Im not against putting the conflict to bed. But I have to wonder what the con is.
I don't think anybody knows what's going on here. Or if they are, they're staying mum about it. Which is part of the problem with these talks: North Korea knows exactly what the US wants, but not the other way around. Maybe someone in State or CIA's got the scoop though, and it's just not public.
It's not unusual for North Korea to start promising the world once they need money again. Wait for the other shoe to drop, where Kim starts to talk about aid packages. Aid shipments tend to arrive on time, North Korean promises tend to get delayed...
A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words.
+6
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FencingsaxIt is difficult to get a man to understand, when his salary depends upon his not understandingGNU Terry PratchettRegistered Userregular
Why not shoot the moon when the other person can barely comprehend Go Fish or Old Maid?
Yeah...whats Kims hustle here. Im not against putting the conflict to bed. But I have to wonder what the con is.
At the least, Un gets international attention and one of these photo ops for himself.
Unending waves crashing against the unyielding rocks in the background, seated side by side next to the former leader of a world superpower. Spreading around a similar photo in his country could keep Un's stock up for years.
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IlpalaJust this guy, y'knowTexasRegistered Userregular
Just having a face-to-face meeting, by itself, doesn't gain the US anything
Is is, however, a big goal of the NK regime, it's a huge propaganda win for domestic consumption.
Lower-level diplomacy is fine and desirable
But now all Kim has to do is show up, have a few photos taken, and then tell Trump to fuck off. He heads back home with a pile of photos demonstrating how he's elevated NK's standing and his weapons program has forced the US to treat his NK regime as equals.
Not only does it give Kim a free win with no cost, it potentially escalates the risk of war afterwards. Because at this point the Trump admin is absolutely desperate for some sort of policy win, and they're also pretty stupid, and if diplomacy falls through - and they're not really setting it up for success - then it takes a lot of non-war resolutions off the table.
Best case is probably just that absolutely nothing happens and Trump comes home declaring victory, and then just refuses to acknowledge NK threats for a few years, because that would undercut their own claimed victory.
Basically this. NK's goal for the longest time for these talks has simply been an air of legitimacy
The difference is, we now have a US administration that ALSO needs this.
FF XIV - Qih'to Furishu (on Siren), Battle.Net - Ilpala#1975
Switch - SW-7373-3669-3011
Fuck Joe Manchin
North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un wants to sign a peace treaty and establish diplomatic relations with the U.S., including allowing an embassy in Pyongyang, according to the Seoul-based Dong-A Ilbo newspaper, which cited an unidentified senior official with South Korea’s presidential office.
Kim is likely to raise the possibility of a peace treaty as well as denuclearizing his country during a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, the newspaper said, citing an official in the office of South Korean leader Moon Jae-in. Trump last week agreed to meet Kim, although when and where the summit would take place has yet to be decided.
In a separate summit between Kim and Moon scheduled for next month, the North Korean leader is also expected to raise resuming cultural exchanges and reuniting separated families.
That last sentence is great. I have more hope in SK/NK meetings going somewhere productive than NK/US meetings (although I'm still glad about the latter too).
His family have not heard from him since he left Interpol HQ in the French city of Lyon on 25 September. China has made no official comment.
The South China Morning Post quotes a source as saying Mr Meng, 64, was "taken away" for questioning in China.
It is not clear why he was being investigated by "discipline authorities" or where he was being held, the Hong Kong-based newspaper adds.
Hm. Well.
Yeah, that's kind of a ballsy play in the international sphere just to settle some domestic shit. I mean I know all politics is local but seriously, China couldn't have waited 2 more years?
His family have not heard from him since he left Interpol HQ in the French city of Lyon on 25 September. China has made no official comment.
The South China Morning Post quotes a source as saying Mr Meng, 64, was "taken away" for questioning in China.
It is not clear why he was being investigated by "discipline authorities" or where he was being held, the Hong Kong-based newspaper adds.
Hm. Well.
Yeah, that's kind of a ballsy play in the international sphere just to settle some domestic shit. I mean I know all politics is local but seriously, China couldn't have waited 2 more years?
Xi is apparently purging. Has been since before the Congress last year. Might become an ongoing fixture.
His family have not heard from him since he left Interpol HQ in the French city of Lyon on 25 September. China has made no official comment.
The South China Morning Post quotes a source as saying Mr Meng, 64, was "taken away" for questioning in China.
It is not clear why he was being investigated by "discipline authorities" or where he was being held, the Hong Kong-based newspaper adds.
Hm. Well.
Yeah, that's kind of a ballsy play in the international sphere just to settle some domestic shit. I mean I know all politics is local but seriously, China couldn't have waited 2 more years?
Xi is apparently purging. Has been since before the Congress last year. Might become an ongoing fixture.
He has been purging since his first appointment with his "anti-corruption" campaign.
This is a bit of a step beyond the normal due to the international high visibility and also the fact he was picked up in Hong Kong and not Beijing or Shanghai.
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BroloBroseidonLord of the BroceanRegistered Userregular
Meng's disappearance was first reported to authorities by his wife, Grace, who went to police in Lyon on Thursday, according to the French Interior Ministry.
She told police that she last heard from him 10 days prior and had received threats on social media and by telephone, according to the statement.
Speaking to reporters at a hotel in Lyon, France, Grace said that that her last contact with her husband came via a WhatsApp text message with a knife emoji and the instructions, "Wait for my call."
MayabirdPecking at the keyboardRegistered Userregular
After months of denying that the Uighur minority population was being forced into 're-education' concentration camps (where they were detaining a million people, 10% of the Uighur population), China has now officially legalized the use of re-education camps against the Uighur. They claim it's something something excuse against 'extremism.' Xi is concentrating his power in more ways than one.
China’s been out and out genociding Uyghurs. Pretty much no one in a position of power cares either. The current administration probably wants to imitate China and most of the EU and ME countries don’t want to jeapordize their trade relation.
I still wish Nixon had left China in the dark ages.
I wouldn't exist since I'm Chinese-American of mainland descent, but whatever. We've empowered and enabled a totalitarian nightmare as bad as Imperial Japan, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
Jephery on
}
"Orkses never lose a battle. If we win we win, if we die we die fightin so it don't count. If we runs for it we don't die neither, cos we can come back for annuver go, see!".
I still wish Nixon had left China in the dark ages.
I wouldn't exist since I'm Chinese-American of mainland descent, but whatever. We've empowered and enabled a totalitarian nightmare as bad as Imperial Japan, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
This is in no way reflects the reality that has built modern China or the modern CCP. And ignores the momentous shifts that occurred in domestic politics between 1972-1976. Modern China, the CCP, and its oppressive control does not exist do to the US who has crashed its economy more than once since the opening but due to an overall shift in the world and a major shift in domestic policy and focus under the CCP starting under Deng in the late 70's and carried through till now.
Ever since the Sino-Soviet split I think an independent, assertive China was inevitable. China suffered 100 years of being a play thing for Europe, and the Japanese invasion. The days where China sat in their own corner we're over ever since the end of WW2.
Yeah sure, but we didn't have to make them the backbone of our technological industry, thus giving them access to all of the fruits of that industry.
}
"Orkses never lose a battle. If we win we win, if we die we die fightin so it don't count. If we runs for it we don't die neither, cos we can come back for annuver go, see!".
Yeah sure, but we didn't have to make them the backbone of our technological industry, thus giving them access to all of the fruits of that industry.
Well it was a mix of pretty much the global economy.
The early investment again wasn't the US in this it was Taiwan and Japan. Foxconn? Taiwanese. The reason China became the backbone is that it can do produce and manufacture at costs and scale that no other country in the world can do. Between the ports, the factories, the population, the infrastructure underlying it there are 30 years of investment mostly by non-US countries that built that.
And now it is also moving away from them as the Japanese are spending to build up Vietnam and a lot of SE Asia due to political tensions.
Top it off there was an going consensus, the Washington Consensus, that liberalization of economies could lead to liberalization and expansion of Democracy through the 90's. Though now Beijing has its own version which is liberalize the economy to a point but focus on stability and government control at any cost.
China has the world's largest population. Has the education system and infrastructure to build out a massive economy and that leads to a lot of influence and ability to avoid internal scrutiny. One of the old refrains isn't that China is a rising power, China is a returning power. Which for a large part of human history, it was the top economic power by a good amount of estimates.
Also don't get me wrong this doesn't excuse the Uighur problem. Or the fact we as a group lump about 29-30 different cultural and social groups under the title Uighur which was created using Stalinist classification system in the 1950's. But also the actions in Xinjiang are not new. And the US has been more complicate since 9-11 as it is a majority Muslim area or was. China has spent a good amount of resources moving Han there and shifting the demographics just like they do in Tibet.
None of China's population and resource advantages would have mattered, if it wasn't for Western markets and investment. They were the most populous country for centuries, but the Europeans stomped all over the Chinese coast because of their backwardness.
Now the world rallies around the Beijing Consensus instead of the Washington Consensus. How great for the world.
Jephery on
}
"Orkses never lose a battle. If we win we win, if we die we die fightin so it don't count. If we runs for it we don't die neither, cos we can come back for annuver go, see!".
None of China's population and resource advantages would have mattered, if it wasn't for Western markets and investment. They were the most populous country for a century while the Europeans stomped all over the Chinese coast, because of their backwardsness.
Now the world rallies around the Beijing Consensus instead of the Washington Consensus.
They lost out because they got invaded by a "mongol" like group who were actually the last dynasty. Top it off with a major civil war in the 1800's. The Taipeng Rebellion had more people die than most modern wars.
The 100 years of shame is a pretty big driving force derived from colonialism, which your past seems to be very much endorsing that period?
Most investment in China from 1976-1990 was from Japan not the West. The majority of infrastructure and construction projects were from Asian partners and global investment firms and Taiwan. The belief that 1.6 billion people deserve less due to their government isn't great either.
I think maybe take a step back. I have some good readings if you want but a lot of what you are posting have some tones of focusing on some propaganda from specific current Western leaders more so than the really complex reality that has led China to its current position.
Also the Washington Consensus killed itself, it wasn't China it was the fact the West collapsed into itself in the late-2000's. China wasn't the cause, the West's own systems were.
None of China's population and resource advantages would have mattered, if it wasn't for Western markets and investment. They were the most populous country for a century while the Europeans stomped all over the Chinese coast, because of their backwardsness.
Now the world rallies around the Beijing Consensus instead of the Washington Consensus.
They lost out because they got invaded by a "mongol" like group who were actually the last dynasty. Top it off with a major civil war in the 1800's. The Taipeng Rebellion had more people die than most modern wars.
The 100 years of shame is a pretty big driving force derived from colonialism, which your past seems to be very much endorsing that period?
Most investment in China from 1976-1990 was from Japan not the West. The majority of infrastructure and construction projects were from Asian partners and global investment firms and Taiwan. The belief that 1.6 billion people deserve less due to their government isn't great either.
I think maybe take a step back. I have some good readings if you want but a lot of what you are posting have some tones of focusing on some propaganda from specific current Western leaders more so than the really complex reality that has led China to its current position.
Also the Washington Consensus killed itself, it wasn't China it was the fact the West collapsed into itself in the late-2000's. China wasn't the cause, the West's own systems were.
Japan and Taiwan are integral parts of post-WW2 Western economics. They would not have invested without go ahead from the Nixon administration.
If those 1.6 billion people can't keep their government from committing genocide, then they do deserve less, to the point of an economic or military intervention that deprives them until that government cannot continue its genocide. I would apply that same standard to any country.
Oh and if you're accusing me of listening to Trump or Sanders or some economic anti-Chinese stuff, I don't. I don't like the PRC because they're totalitarian, genocidal scum, not because I think the US should get a better trade deal from them.
Jephery on
}
"Orkses never lose a battle. If we win we win, if we die we die fightin so it don't count. If we runs for it we don't die neither, cos we can come back for annuver go, see!".
After months of denying that the Uighur minority population was being forced into 're-education' concentration camps (where they were detaining a million people, 10% of the Uighur population), China has now officially legalized the use of re-education camps against the Uighur. They claim it's something something excuse against 'extremism.' Xi is concentrating his power in more ways than one.
And, apparently, it looks like the number/size of those "re-education" centers has exploded massively in the past couple years. Sounds like families being broken up, children removed from parents, and (nearly) all the other genocidal behaviors involved in wiping out a culture are all part of the normal everyday operation at the camps.
For years, I heard high-ranking North Korean officials indulged in sexual misconduct and abuse but these accounts from defectors are worse than that; even market guards and police take advantage of women.
Human Rights Watch interviewed 54 North Koreans who had left the country after 2011 ... Twenty-one women traders said they experienced sexual violence and unwanted sexual advances by police or other officials as they traveled for their work.
In a country where cost of living is high and the chances of getting a credit card are relatively low, this new form of e-commerce has opened up a world of possibilities for a whole lot of Chinese millennials. Because it’s 2018, though, there’s also a dark side to the system. Sure, you can get a 475 gram box of Oreos and pay it back in monthly instalments of 41 cents over three years, or go jetski-shopping with peanuts to your name. But first you might have to send some nudes.
A number of dodgy lenders have realised that young shoppers are desperate for loans, and are demanding that customers hand over naked selfies as collateral. If the repayments aren’t made on time, the money lenders threaten to leak those selfies to the individual’s family and friends. Many also charge interest on the original loan, thus burying their victims further in debt and forcing them to send more pictures and videos. These kinds of services are known in China as "naked loans."
In 2016 a total of 10 gigabits of nudes from 161 young women—all of who were holding their photo IDs—were leaked online by microlenders. Most of the victims were aged between 19 and 23, and typically borrowed sums of money between $1,000 and $2,000, according to state media outlet China Youth Daily. Others were reportedly given the option to do sex work in order to pay off their loan.
The House of Representatives on Tuesday approved on second reading a proposal to shift to a federal government.
The proposal, Resolution of Both Houses 15, was approved through voice voting, where lawmakers vote with "ayes" or "nays." Unlike in nominal voting, where lawmakers are called and asked to vote on a proposed measure, there are no records on how each member of the House voted.
I have not dug into the documents myself, and the article does not have details. Via reddit, these are apparently the primary changes:
term extension of incumbent officials; "first election under the Proposed Constitution shall be held on the second Monday of May 2022"
removes term limits
removes prohibition on political dynasties
institutionalizes the pork barrel system
adds "lawless violence" as a ground for the declaration of martial law when the public safety requires it
sponsors liberalization of public utilities
allows 100% foreign ownership of educational institutions, mass media and advertising
deletes Section with the State guaranteeing full respect for human rights
contains frontal attacks on labor rights; removes right to participate in policy and decision-making
Eh, we both have and are testing them. They’re a more efficient method of shore bombardment but don’t do anything missiles and rockets couldn’t. Just more cheaply.
The House of Representatives on Tuesday approved on second reading a proposal to shift to a federal government.
The proposal, Resolution of Both Houses 15, was approved through voice voting, where lawmakers vote with "ayes" or "nays." Unlike in nominal voting, where lawmakers are called and asked to vote on a proposed measure, there are no records on how each member of the House voted.
I have not dug into the documents myself, and the article does not have details. Via reddit, these are apparently the primary changes:
term extension of incumbent officials; "first election under the Proposed Constitution shall be held on the second Monday of May 2022"
removes term limits
removes prohibition on political dynasties
institutionalizes the pork barrel system
adds "lawless violence" as a ground for the declaration of martial law when the public safety requires it
sponsors liberalization of public utilities
allows 100% foreign ownership of educational institutions, mass media and advertising
deletes Section with the State guaranteeing full respect for human rights
contains frontal attacks on labor rights; removes right to participate in policy and decision-making
privatization of healthcare and housing
Which sounds....not good.
Should probably clarify that this is the Philippines since there's no mention of the country in question in this post.
So it is the eastern side of Japan away from China but still the plan will probably be near impossible to find and no one would be surprised if Chinese "fishing" boats start showing up in the area. Still a big issue and the pilot's fate is currently unknown.
So, as you may or may not know, today (and tomorrow) is a major event for Japan, as the Japanese emperor, Akihito, is abdicating the throne to his eldest son Naruhito, who will become the Emperor Reiwa. His decision to step down is a simple one - he and his wife are no longer in good enough health to perform the role, and as such would prefer to hand the mantle over.
The abdication has been several years in the making, with the Emperor making his wishes known to the Japanese government and people after surgeries to remove cancerous tumors early in the decade. The government passed a law allowing abdication in response, and the process was set for May 1, 2019 to give lead time to prepare (which included a mostly Japan only version of the Y2K bug, as software has to be prepared for the new reign (including Unicode, which recently allocated symbol space for the Reiwa era mark.)) This has also extended Golden Week, Japan's countrywide spring break, to 10 days for the coronation festivities.
So, as you may or may not know, today (and tomorrow) is a major event for Japan, as the Japanese emperor, Akihito, is abdicating the throne to his eldest son Naruhito, who will become the Emperor Reiwa. His decision to step down is a simple one - he and his wife are no longer in good enough health to perform the role, and as such would prefer to hand the mantle over.
The abdication has been several years in the making, with the Emperor making his wishes known to the Japanese government and people after surgeries to remove cancerous tumors early in the decade. The government passed a law allowing abdication in response, and the process was set for May 1, 2019 to give lead time to prepare (which included a mostly Japan only version of the Y2K bug, as software has to be prepared for the new reign (including Unicode, which recently allocated symbol space for the Reiwa era mark.)) This has also extended Golden Week, Japan's countrywide spring break, to 10 days for the coronation festivities.
This is a big thing. I can't underplay how huge the stepping down of the Emperor is.
The family are no longer "divine" but they are central and still a major factor in Japanese culture and identity. The Royal Palace is kind of a fucked up place but the shift to Reiwa(令和). And the Y2K bug as a TLDR is because officially after a law passed in the 1960's Japan swapped back to counting years by Imperial reign. So all the official dates reset to 0 today. Which is not something most systems are built for.
I'm going to go ahead and say the dream of Taiwan and China peacefully reuniting has died in Hong Kong.
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ObiFettUse the ForceAs You WishRegistered Userregular
Yeah, I'm surprised I'm not seeing more conversation around here about what happening over there right now.
A big post on Reddit made by a current resident of HK is calling it The Purge because the state are allowing thugs to roam and beat up people, while the Police literally avoid doing anything and going so far as actually disabling their emergency call numbers during these beatdowns.
Posts
So if this follows the old play book of maintaining the Kim regime above all that would make sense.
To me though is just setting up an impossible situation and the Kim's come out looking domestically like roses when Trump fucks it up but there really was never a chance anyway of a real peace treaty here.
This could very much be the all politics are domestic and Kim is finding a way to shore up that regime power due to numerous external factors and is using Trump as the pawn.
I don't think anybody knows what's going on here. Or if they are, they're staying mum about it. Which is part of the problem with these talks: North Korea knows exactly what the US wants, but not the other way around. Maybe someone in State or CIA's got the scoop though, and it's just not public.
At the least, Un gets international attention and one of these photo ops for himself.
Unending waves crashing against the unyielding rocks in the background, seated side by side next to the former leader of a world superpower. Spreading around a similar photo in his country could keep Un's stock up for years.
Basically this. NK's goal for the longest time for these talks has simply been an air of legitimacy
The difference is, we now have a US administration that ALSO needs this.
Switch - SW-7373-3669-3011
Fuck Joe Manchin
Hm. Well.
Yeah, that's kind of a ballsy play in the international sphere just to settle some domestic shit. I mean I know all politics is local but seriously, China couldn't have waited 2 more years?
Xi is apparently purging. Has been since before the Congress last year. Might become an ongoing fixture.
Probably did not kidnap so much as "Ominously Ordered Home."
He has been purging since his first appointment with his "anti-corruption" campaign.
This is a bit of a step beyond the normal due to the international high visibility and also the fact he was picked up in Hong Kong and not Beijing or Shanghai.
I'm not really sure what to make of this.
https://www-m.cnn.com/2018/10/07/europe/missing-interpol-president-china-meng-hongwei/index.html
It sucks.
I wouldn't exist since I'm Chinese-American of mainland descent, but whatever. We've empowered and enabled a totalitarian nightmare as bad as Imperial Japan, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
"Orkses never lose a battle. If we win we win, if we die we die fightin so it don't count. If we runs for it we don't die neither, cos we can come back for annuver go, see!".
This is in no way reflects the reality that has built modern China or the modern CCP. And ignores the momentous shifts that occurred in domestic politics between 1972-1976. Modern China, the CCP, and its oppressive control does not exist do to the US who has crashed its economy more than once since the opening but due to an overall shift in the world and a major shift in domestic policy and focus under the CCP starting under Deng in the late 70's and carried through till now.
"Orkses never lose a battle. If we win we win, if we die we die fightin so it don't count. If we runs for it we don't die neither, cos we can come back for annuver go, see!".
Well it was a mix of pretty much the global economy.
The early investment again wasn't the US in this it was Taiwan and Japan. Foxconn? Taiwanese. The reason China became the backbone is that it can do produce and manufacture at costs and scale that no other country in the world can do. Between the ports, the factories, the population, the infrastructure underlying it there are 30 years of investment mostly by non-US countries that built that.
And now it is also moving away from them as the Japanese are spending to build up Vietnam and a lot of SE Asia due to political tensions.
Top it off there was an going consensus, the Washington Consensus, that liberalization of economies could lead to liberalization and expansion of Democracy through the 90's. Though now Beijing has its own version which is liberalize the economy to a point but focus on stability and government control at any cost.
China has the world's largest population. Has the education system and infrastructure to build out a massive economy and that leads to a lot of influence and ability to avoid internal scrutiny. One of the old refrains isn't that China is a rising power, China is a returning power. Which for a large part of human history, it was the top economic power by a good amount of estimates.
Also don't get me wrong this doesn't excuse the Uighur problem. Or the fact we as a group lump about 29-30 different cultural and social groups under the title Uighur which was created using Stalinist classification system in the 1950's. But also the actions in Xinjiang are not new. And the US has been more complicate since 9-11 as it is a majority Muslim area or was. China has spent a good amount of resources moving Han there and shifting the demographics just like they do in Tibet.
Now the world rallies around the Beijing Consensus instead of the Washington Consensus. How great for the world.
"Orkses never lose a battle. If we win we win, if we die we die fightin so it don't count. If we runs for it we don't die neither, cos we can come back for annuver go, see!".
They lost out because they got invaded by a "mongol" like group who were actually the last dynasty. Top it off with a major civil war in the 1800's. The Taipeng Rebellion had more people die than most modern wars.
The 100 years of shame is a pretty big driving force derived from colonialism, which your past seems to be very much endorsing that period?
Most investment in China from 1976-1990 was from Japan not the West. The majority of infrastructure and construction projects were from Asian partners and global investment firms and Taiwan. The belief that 1.6 billion people deserve less due to their government isn't great either.
I think maybe take a step back. I have some good readings if you want but a lot of what you are posting have some tones of focusing on some propaganda from specific current Western leaders more so than the really complex reality that has led China to its current position.
Also the Washington Consensus killed itself, it wasn't China it was the fact the West collapsed into itself in the late-2000's. China wasn't the cause, the West's own systems were.
Japan and Taiwan are integral parts of post-WW2 Western economics. They would not have invested without go ahead from the Nixon administration.
If those 1.6 billion people can't keep their government from committing genocide, then they do deserve less, to the point of an economic or military intervention that deprives them until that government cannot continue its genocide. I would apply that same standard to any country.
Oh and if you're accusing me of listening to Trump or Sanders or some economic anti-Chinese stuff, I don't. I don't like the PRC because they're totalitarian, genocidal scum, not because I think the US should get a better trade deal from them.
"Orkses never lose a battle. If we win we win, if we die we die fightin so it don't count. If we runs for it we don't die neither, cos we can come back for annuver go, see!".
And, apparently, it looks like the number/size of those "re-education" centers has exploded massively in the past couple years. Sounds like families being broken up, children removed from parents, and (nearly) all the other genocidal behaviors involved in wiping out a culture are all part of the normal everyday operation at the camps.
BBC has some words on the subject.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/10/31/north-korea-sexual-violence-against-women-officials
For years, I heard high-ranking North Korean officials indulged in sexual misconduct and abuse but these accounts from defectors are worse than that; even market guards and police take advantage of women.
I have not dug into the documents myself, and the article does not have details. Via reddit, these are apparently the primary changes:
Which sounds....not good.
well christ that's a scary development
Should probably clarify that this is the Philippines since there's no mention of the country in question in this post.
So it is the eastern side of Japan away from China but still the plan will probably be near impossible to find and no one would be surprised if Chinese "fishing" boats start showing up in the area. Still a big issue and the pilot's fate is currently unknown.
The abdication has been several years in the making, with the Emperor making his wishes known to the Japanese government and people after surgeries to remove cancerous tumors early in the decade. The government passed a law allowing abdication in response, and the process was set for May 1, 2019 to give lead time to prepare (which included a mostly Japan only version of the Y2K bug, as software has to be prepared for the new reign (including Unicode, which recently allocated symbol space for the Reiwa era mark.)) This has also extended Golden Week, Japan's countrywide spring break, to 10 days for the coronation festivities.
This is a big thing. I can't underplay how huge the stepping down of the Emperor is.
The family are no longer "divine" but they are central and still a major factor in Japanese culture and identity. The Royal Palace is kind of a fucked up place but the shift to Reiwa(令和). And the Y2K bug as a TLDR is because officially after a law passed in the 1960's Japan swapped back to counting years by Imperial reign. So all the official dates reset to 0 today. Which is not something most systems are built for.
A big post on Reddit made by a current resident of HK is calling it The Purge because the state are allowing thugs to roam and beat up people, while the Police literally avoid doing anything and going so far as actually disabling their emergency call numbers during these beatdowns.