KOREAS
N Korean defectors triple
The number of North Korean defectors making it to the South tripled last year to 196 after a run of COVID-19-pandemic-linked lows, the South Korean Ministry of Unification said yesterday, with more elite diplomats and students seeking to escape. The number of successful escapes dropped significantly from 2020 after Pyongyang sealed its borders to prevent the spread of COVID-19. In 2021, only 63 people made it to the South, down more than 90 percent from 2019. Just 67 people arrived in 2022. Last year, 196 defectors made it to the South, the ministry said, still below the pre-pandemic average. Women accounted for more than 80 percent of the defectors, with most defectors traveling via a third country, it said, adding that “last year’s defections by the elite class were the highest in recent years.”
THAILAND
Factory explosion kills 23
Rescue workers yesterday carried out the grim task of recovering the remains of the 23 apparent victims of a fireworks factory explosion. Only part of the building frame stood at the site of the devastated factory in an otherwise-empty rice field in rural Suphan Buri Province the day after the blast. The damage to the site and the condition of the bodies made the number of victims difficult to determine. Provincial Deputy Governor Don Samitakestarin said the death toll was 23 and not expected to rise. National police chief General Torsak Sukvimol said 22 bodies had been found and one more person was considered missing, but presumed dead. Don said it would take time to investigate the cause of the blast as there were no survivors. He said the area was sealed off as officers were not done clearing hazardous materials.
JAPAN
Minor gets death sentence
A court yesterday sentenced to death a man who was a minor at the time of his crime three years ago, in the first capital punishment case since the legal age of adulthood was lowered, public broadcaster NHK and other media said. Yuki Endo was 19 years old in 2021 when he stabbed the parents of a love interest and set fire to their home in Yamanashi Prefecture, the reports said. It was the first death sentence to be given since the nation lowered the legal age of adulthood to 18 from 20 in April 2022, they said. The nation and the US are the only G7 nations that carry out capital punishment. Unlike in the US where execution dates are set in advance and made public, inmates in Japan are notified on the morning of their execution. The UN Committee against Torture has criticized Tokyo for “the psychological strain” on inmates and their families.
UNITED STATES
Capitol rioter sentenced
A Florida man described by prosecutors as one of the most violent rioters who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was on Wednesday sentenced to five years in prison, court records show. Kenneth Bonawitz, a member of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group’s Miami chapter, assaulted at least six police officers as he stormed the Capitol with a mob of supporters of then-president Donald Trump. He grabbed one of the officers in a chokehold and injured another so severely that the officer had to retire, federal prosecutors said. Bonawitz carried a 20cm knife in a sheath on his hip. Police seized the knife from him in between his barrage of attacks on officers. US District Judge Jia Cobb sentenced Bonawitz to five years in prison followed by three years of supervised release, court records showed.
Yemen’s separatist leader has vowed to keep working for an independent state in the country’s south, in his first social media post since he disappeared earlier this month after his group briefly seized swathes of territory. Aidarous al-Zubaidi’s United Arab Emirates (UAE)-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces last month captured two Yemeni provinces in an offensive that was rolled back by Saudi strikes and Riyadh’s allied forces on the ground. Al-Zubaidi then disappeared after he failed to board a flight to Riyadh for talks earlier this month, with Saudi Arabia accusing him of fleeing to Abu Dhabi, while supporters insisted he was
The Chinese Embassy in Manila yesterday said it has filed a diplomatic protest against a Philippine Coast Guard spokesman over a social media post that included cartoonish images of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tarriela and an embassy official had been trading barbs since last week over issues concerning the disputed South China Sea. The crucial waterway, which Beijing claims historic rights to despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal basis, has been the site of repeated clashes between Chinese and Philippine vessels. Tarriela’s Facebook post on Wednesday included a photo of him giving a
‘MOBILIZED’: While protesters countered ICE agents, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz activated the state’s National Guard to ‘support the rights of Minnesotans’ to assemble Hundreds of counterprotesters drowned out a far-right activist’s attempt to hold a small rally in support of US President Donald Trump’s latest immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Saturday, as the governor’s office announced that National Guard troops were mobilized and ready to assist law enforcement, although not yet deployed to city streets. There have been protests every day since the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ramped up immigration enforcement in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul by bringing in more than 2,000 federal officers. Conservative influencer Jake Lang organized an anti-Islam, anti-Somali and pro-US Immigration and Customs Enforcement
NASA on Saturday rolled out its towering Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft as it began preparations for its first crewed mission to the Moon in more than 50 years. The maneuver, which takes up to 12 hours, would allow the US space agency to begin a string of tests for the Artemis 2 mission, which could blast off as early as Feb. 6. The immense orange and white SLS rocket, and the Orion vessel were slowly wheeled out of the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and painstakingly moved 6.5km to Launch Pad 39B. If the
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