4 h. ago Japan’s new PM talks up ties with South Korea but her past casts a long shadow

As Japan’s new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office, she wasted no time extending an olive branch to South Korea, calling it an “important neighbour” and praising its culture. But how long will the goodwill last? Concerns linger in South Korea that Takaichi, known for her nationalist leanings, may eventually adopt a more hawkish stance, risking again straining ties over long-standing issues such as Japan’s wartime history and territorial disputes. “I would say there is optimism about the...

Politics

13 h. ago US, China trade officials to meet in Malaysia amid escalating rare earths dispute

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Wednesday that he and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent would travel to Malaysia later that day as scheduled to meet with Chinese officials over what he called Beijing’s “incredibly aggressive” measures to curb rare earth exports. The meeting is seen as a stepping stone to a sit-down in South Korea next week on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at a time of...

Politics

13 h. ago Trump’s meeting with China’s Xi ‘scheduled’ to take place in South Korea

After repeated on-again, off-again signalling in recent weeks, US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he has a “pretty long meeting scheduled” in South Korea with Chinese President Xi Jinping to ensure that “we can work out a lot of our questions and our doubts”. This followed comments by Trump on Tuesday that the meeting between himself and Xi might not take place. The mercurial US president has a history of teasing events for publicity and in order to extract last-minute concessions from...

Politics

15 h. ago China pushes trilateral currency swap, new drone sighted: SCMP daily highlights

Catch up on some of SCMP’s biggest China stories of the day. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. China eyes currency swap with Japan and South Korea amid trade tensions: source China is in talks with Japan and South Korea – both US allies – about a possible trilateral currency swap to bolster the region’s financial safety net and deepen economic cooperation amid US President Donald Trump’s trade war, according to a source familiar with the issue. 2....

Events

24 h. ago North Korea prepares for Apec – with a ballistic missile launch

With the Apec summit in South Korea just days away, the nuclear-armed North fired a ballistic missile on Wednesday in an apparent bid to remind the world of its growing arsenal. The launch, occurring against the backdrop of deepening military ties between North Korea and Russia, has reignited fears of escalating provocations and their implications for global stability. Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff reported that the missile, presumed to be a Hwasong-11da-4.5, was launched from North Hwanghae...

Events

27 h. ago South Korea trade envoy seeks removal of China curbs on Hanwha Ocean's US units

South Korea trade envoy seeks removal of China curbs on Hanwha Ocean's US units  Reuters

Politics

28 h. ago Why South Korea’s Gen Z are falling prey to the scam gangs of Southeast Asia

A growing number of young South Koreans are vanishing into Southeast Asia’s criminal underworld, lured by the promise of high-paying jobs – only to end up trafficked, tortured or killed. Many, fleeing a stagnant labour market at home, are being deceived by transnational crime syndicates into running online scams and illegal gambling operations. Others join willingly in search of easy money. But all eventually find themselves exploited, victims of criminal enterprises that span the lawless border...

Events

31 h. ago Can Trump’s gut instinct win over Xi Jinping at Apec summit?

US President Donald Trump is expected to approach his coming summit with Xi Jinping by relying on personal chemistry and his “gut”, but his ability to charm the Chinese leader will be limited at best, analysts and former government officials in Washington said on Tuesday. The first meeting in six years between the heads of the world’s two largest economies is expected to take place shortly before the October 31-November 1 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in South Korea. Among the topics...

Politics

31 h. ago Can Donald Trump’s gut instinct win over Xi Jinping at Apec summit?

US President Donald Trump is expected to approach his coming summit with Xi Jinping by relying on personal chemistry and his “gut”, but his ability to charm the Chinese leader will be limited at best, analysts and former government officials in Washington said on Tuesday. The first meeting in six years between the heads of the world’s two largest economies is expected to take place shortly before the October 31-November 1 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in South Korea. Among the topics...

Politics

43 h. ago Chipmaker CXMT eyes US$42 billion Shanghai listing, sources say

Chinese memory chipmaker ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) plans an initial public offering (IPO) in Shanghai as soon as the first quarter of next year, eyeing a valuation of up to 300 billion yuan ($42.12 billion), according to two sources briefed on the matter. Founded in 2016 with government backing, CXMT leads China’s strategic push to build a foothold in a global DRAM market long dominated by companies from Japan, South Korea and the United States. China’s leading manufacturer of dynamic...

Economics

51 h. ago Chinese mum dies saving baby from South Korea fire caused by woman’s pest hunt

A woman in her 30s died after saving her two-month-old baby from a fire accidentally started by a neighbour attempting to kill a cockroach using a lighter and spray in Osan, South Korea’s Gyeonggi province, police said on Monday. According to Osan police station, the fire broke out around 5.35am on Monday in a mixed-use building where a woman in her 20s, identified only by her surname A, lived on the second floor. She tried to catch a cockroach by spraying flammable mist and igniting it with a...

Events

3 d. ago ‘An impossible dream’? South Korea wants to be among top 4 defence exporters

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung said on Monday that the country would devote a “larger-than-expected budget” in defence and aerospace research until 2030 as it sought to build the world’s fourth-largest defence industry. Lee was speaking at South Korea’s largest-ever arms fair, the Seoul International Aerospace & Defence Exhibition 2025, where companies showed off new unmanned and artificial intelligence-enhanced weapons from howitzers to suicide drones in pursuit of more global defence...

Politics

3 d. ago Flu’s spread across Asia prompts Hong Kong groups to join vaccination appeal

Medical organisations and politicians in Hong Kong, Macau and other parts of Asia have issued a joint appeal to take preventive steps against the spread of influenza across the continent, with a local expert calling on residents to get vaccinated early. Dr Mike Kwan Yat-wah, president of the Asian Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases, said on Sunday that influenza was spreading not only in Hong Kong, but in countries such as Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and Singapore. “After the Covid-19...

Politics

4 d. ago Battery fire aboard Air China flight to South Korea forces emergency landing

An Air China flight from Hangzhou to Seoul was forced to make an emergency landing in Shanghai on Saturday after a lithium battery caught fire in the plane’s cabin. In a statement on social media, Air China confirmed the incident. “On October 18, on flight CA139 from Hangzhou to Incheon, a lithium battery in a passenger’s carry-on luggage stored in the overhead compartment spontaneously ignited,” the airline said. The crew handled the situation quickly, it added, and “to ensure flight safety”,...

Events

5 d. ago 64 South Korean ‘pig butchering’ suspects return home from Cambodia

Sixty-four South Koreans who had been detained in Cambodia for alleged involvement in cyberscam operations returned home Saturday. South Korea had sent a team to Cambodia on Wednesday to discuss cases of fake jobs and scam centres involved in kidnapping dozens of its nationals. “A total of 64 nationals just arrived at Incheon International Airport on a chartered flight,” a police official said. Seoul had said around 60 South Koreans had been detained by authorities in Cambodia over the alleged...

Politics

5 d. ago 64 South Korean cyber scam suspects repatriated from Cambodia

Sixty-four South Koreans who had been detained in Cambodia for alleged involvement in cyberscam operations returned home on Saturday and were under arrest, police said. South Korea had sent a team to Cambodia on Wednesday to discuss cases of fake jobs and scam centres involved in kidnapping dozens of its nationals. “A total of 64 nationals just arrived at Incheon International Airport on a chartered flight,” a police official said. Seoul had said around 60 South Koreans had been detained by...

Politics

5 d. ago Trump calls 157% China tariffs 'not sustainable' ahead of planned Xi meeting in South Korea

Trump calls 157% China tariffs 'not sustainable' ahead of planned Xi meeting in South Korea  Fox Business

Politics

5 d. ago Trump confirms Xi meeting, retreats on 100% tariffs: ‘not sustainable’

In a turnaround from the tough stance he took a week ago, US President Donald Trump said Friday that he planned to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea in two weeks and suggested that imposing an additional 100 per cent tariff on all Chinese goods appeared unworkable. But he also blamed China for the latest stand-off in trade talks. The mercurial president called into question his planned sit-down with Xi seven days ago and threatened the draconian tariff increase in addition to...

Politics

5 d. ago Turbulent Japanese politics could slow progress with China, South Korea: analysts

Japan’s unstable political landscape is expected to cast doubt over its diplomatic commitments and could hinder progress in its trilateral summit with China and South Korea, analysts have observed. Uncertainties are mounting as the path to the Japanese premiership for recently elected Liberal Democratic Party leader Sanae Takaichi has been complicated by the abrupt exit of the LDP’s junior coalition partner, Komeito. Takaichi, aiming to be Japan’s first female prime minister, remains short of...

Politics

6 d. ago Kidnapped, trapped, forced to scam: inside Cambodia’s Chinese

Rows of grey buildings with thick iron bars line the streets of Sihanoukville, about 250km (155 miles) southwest of Phnom Penh. Near the city’s Chinatown stands Cambodia’s largest so-called yuanqu – a slang term in Chinese criminal circles meaning “scam compound”, derived from yuanqu, or industrial estate. Inside these complexes, online crimes such as voice phishing and romance scams are part of daily life. Young people from South Korea and other countries are kidnapped or lured by Chinese-run...

Events