For years there have been calls for Asia – which is home to some of the world's biggest carbon dioxide (CO2) emitters – to ditch fossil fuels to help tackle climate change.Countries in the region – including its three biggest economies China, Japan and India – were criticised last year for not making a bigger commitment at the COP26 global climate change conference.But six months on, there is another, arguably more immediate reason for Asia to make the transition away from oil, gas and c

North Korea is grappling with the spread of COVID-19 in an unvaccinated population, without access to effective anti-viral drugs.In early 2020, the country sealed its borders to try to insulate itself from the pandemic.Its leadership has so far rejected outside medical support.And state media has recommended traditional treatments to deal with what is referred to as "fever".Hot DrinksFor those not seriously ill, ruling-party newspaper Rodong Simnun recommended remedies including gin

"How old are you"? It's a simple question with a clear answer. But for those in South Korea, answering this question is anything but straightforward.In South Korea, when a baby is born they are considered a year old. Come New Year's Day, they gain another year.

North Korea has condemned the South Korean defence minister’s remarks about its ability to strike against the North and warned it would destroy major targets in Seoul if the South takes any “dangerous military action” such as a pre-emptive strike.Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said in a statement on Sunday that the South Korean defence minister’s remarks “further worsened the inter-Korean relations and military tension on the Korean peninsula,” according to state

The opposition conservative Yoon Suk-yeol has won South Korea's presidential election, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported early Thursday, propelling a political novice and avowed anti-feminist to the helm of Asia's fourth largest economy.After a bitter, hard-fought election campaign, Yoon, formerly a top government prosecutor who has never held elected office, was declared winner early Thursday after rival Lee Jae-myung from the incumbent Democratic Party conceded defeat.&quot

When Deng Xiaoping launched China’s strategy of “reform and opening up” in 1978, economists in the West had their doubts. In their view, a vibrant market economy was fundamentally incompatible with China’s authoritarian political system. But many in the East – including Koreans like me, who witnessed the East Asian miracle while living under developmental dictatorship – were hopeful.

United States (US) Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Japanese and South Korean counterparts declared their unity on confronting security threats in the Asia-Pacific Saturday, even as Washington was intensely occupied by the possibility of war in Eastern Europe.Blinken, South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong, and Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa met in Honolulu for a day of talks focused on North Korea's nuclear threat as well as the China challenge.Washington org

It's all very different from August 2017 when Japan awoke to the sound of air raid sirens. Without warning North Korea had fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) over the top of Japan into the Pacific Ocean. It was an audacious act.This time North Korea's missiles have all been short range, and have landed in the sea, well away from the Japanese coast. Kim Jong-un appears to be holding back, for now.

Persistently high levels of ozone pollution in Asia are costing China, Japan and South Korea an estimated US$63 billion annually in lost rice, wheat and maize crops, a new study says.While ozone forms a protective layer around the Earth in the upper atmosphere, it is a harmful pollutant at ground level.It is created by a chemical reaction when two pollutants, often emitted by cars or industry, combine in the presence of sunlight and it can interfere with plant photosynthesis and growth.The re

5 June was World Environmental Day (WED). It is an annual celebration and the springboard of the United Nations (UN) in facilitating awareness and action for the protection of the environment.