KOREAS
Kim revamps security: Seoul
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has replaced three top officials in charge of his personal security, the South Korean Ministry of Unification said yesterday, a sign that he might increasingly fear assassination plots. The reshuffle was spotted during a military parade in October, the ministry said. The changes at the Bodyguard Command in particular, which handles security measures against drone or electronic attacks, could be linked to Kim’s decision to send troops to aid Russia’s war in Ukraine, Korea Institute for National Unification analyst Hong Min said. “He could have judged there could be an assassination attempt against him involving Ukrainians amid heightened international spotlight due to the deployment,” he added. Seoul’s spy agency previously said Kim had upgraded the level of security around him due to the risk of attempts on his life. Kim’s office sought to obtain equipment capable of jamming communications and drone detection gear in response, the agency said.
HONDURAS
Vote recount rejected
Electoral authorities on Monday rejected an order by outgoing President Xiomara Castro to recount November’s election results. Nasry Asfura, a conservative businessman, was declared the winner of the presidential election on Dec. 24, weeks after a tight race marred by delays and allegations of fraud. Castro, who finishes her term on Jan. 27, last week called for a meeting with US President Donald Trump, saying his public backing of Asfura “negatively influenced” the election and demanded a vote recount. The head of the National Electoral Council said in a statement on X that the recount decree was “unconstitutional and illegal,” adding that it attempted to “usurp” the electoral body’s independence. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Asfura in Washington on Monday where they discussed “the importance of combating transnational crime, strengthening regional security, attracting new investment opportunities, and ending illegal immigration,” the state department said.
AUSTRALIA
Writers’ festival boss quits
The director of a leading Australian writers’ festival yesterday resigned in protest after the board canceled an appearance by a Palestinian-Australian author. Scores of participants, including former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern, have boycotted the Adelaide Festival over a decision to exclude Randa Abdel-Fattah. Writers’ Week director Louise Adler joined the exodus, blaming the “extreme and repressive efforts of pro-Israel lobbyists.” “The arts have allegedly become ‘unsafe’ and artists are a danger to the community’s psycho-social wellbeing,” she wrote in an open letter published by the Guardian newspaper. “But let’s be clear, the routine invocation of ‘safety’ is code for ‘I don’t want to hear your opinion’... In this instance, it appears to apply only to a Palestinian invitee.” Adler said the board had made the decision despite her “strongest opposition.” Abdel-Fattah has faced criticism over some statements, including a post on X in October 2024 saying: “The goal is decolonisation and the end of this murderous Zionist colony.” The festival board said it was “shocked and saddened” by the Dec. 14 mass shooting at a Jewish festival on Bondi Beach, which killed 15 people, and its decision to exclude Abdel-Fattah was not taken lightly. But the shunned author and academic said in a statement that it was a “blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism.... a despicable attempt to associate me with the Bondi massacre.”
Tens of thousands of Filipino Catholics yesterday twirled white cloths and chanted “Viva, viva,” as a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ was paraded through the streets of Manila in the nation’s biggest annual religious event. The day-long procession began before dawn, with barefoot volunteers pulling the heavy carriage through narrow streets where the devout waited in hopes of touching the icon, believed to hold miraculous powers. Thousands of police were deployed to manage crowds that officials believe could number in the millions by the time the statue reaches its home in central Manila’s Quiapo church around midnight. More than 800 people had sought
DENIAL: Pyongyang said a South Korean drone filmed unspecified areas in a North Korean border town, but Seoul said it did not operate drones on the dates it cited North Korea’s military accused South Korea of flying drones across the border between the nations this week, yesterday warning that the South would face consequences for its “unpardonable hysteria.” Seoul quickly denied the accusation, but the development is likely to further dim prospects for its efforts to restore ties with Pyongyang. North Korean forces used special electronic warfare assets on Sunday to bring down a South Korean drone flying over North Korea’s border town. The drone was equipped with two cameras that filmed unspecified areas, the General Staff of the North Korean People’s Army said in a statement. South Korea infiltrated another drone
COMMUNIST ALIGNMENT: To Lam wants to combine party chief and state presidency roles, with the decision resting on the election of 200 new party delegates next week Communist Party of Vietnam General Secretary To Lam is seeking to combine his party role with the state presidency, officials said, in a move that would align Vietnam’s political structure more closely to China’s, where President Xi Jinping (習近平) heads the party and state. Next week about 1,600 delegates are to gather in Hanoi to commence a week-long communist party congress, held every five years to select new leaders and set policy goals for the single-party state. Lam, 68, bade for both top positions at a party meeting last month, seeking initial party approval ahead of the congress, three people briefed by
Cambodia’s government on Wednesday said that it had arrested and extradited to China a tycoon who has been accused of running a huge online scam operation. The Cambodian Ministry of the Interior said that Prince Holding Group chairman Chen Zhi (陳志) and two other Chinese citizens were arrested and extradited on Tuesday at the request of Chinese authorities. Chen formerly had dual nationality, but his Cambodian citizenship was revoked last month, the ministry said. US prosecutors in October last year brought conspiracy charges against Chen, alleging that he had been the mastermind behind a multinational cyberfraud network, used his other businesses to launder
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