RFA in the News (June 2020)

2020-07-14

ZME SCIENCE

June 30China discharges floodwater from one of the world’s largest dams amid heavy rain season”

Radio Free Asia (RFA) cited Zhang Jianping, a Chinese human rights activist based in Jiangsu, as saying that those who had opposed the construction of the monstrous dam were right.

DAILY MAIL

June 30 “Tibetan teacher vanishes in China after using Facebook to share western reports about Tibet, source claims

… The report claimed that Ms Mei used Facebook to share Chinese-language stories about Tibet from US-based Radio Free Asia and Norway-based Voice of Tibet.

FOREIGN POLICY

June 29 “China’s Online Warriors Want More Gates in the Firewall

… Many commented that the use of a virtual private network (VPN) couldn’t be illegal, as the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s frequent use of Twitter attests, reported Radio Free Asia.

WORLD MAGAZINE

June 26 “Delayed sanctions for China’s Uighur atrocities”

… It creates greater protection for the Uighur diaspora in the United States, expands the capacity of Uighur language service for Radio Free Asia (which has been vital in exposing the crisis), and calls for the government to link its China policy with the situation in Xinjiang.

DAILY MAIL

June 26 “Chinese state-run newspaper is punished after publishing stories deemed 'misleading' by officials about Beijing's new coronavirus outbreak

… The article's title was amended after being criticised by the public for allegedly missing out information, according to US-based media Radio Free Asia.

EXPRESS

June 25 “Kim Jong-un PANIC: North Korea SEALS OFF major city in shock move

… But sources told Radio Free Asia’s Korean Service officials have shut down the country’s third-largest city, Chongjin following COVID-19 outbreaks at two major factories.

KOREA HERALD

June 25 “S. Korea, US say effort to disarm NK goes on

… The US State Department told Radio Free Asia it was ready to reach a “balanced agreement” on all of the commitments exchanged at the Singapore summit, adding Washington was keen to negotiate with Pyongyang for its “brighter future.”

EXPRESS

June 23 “North Korea launches bold policy to stop those who ‘betray’ Kim Jong-un

… A source told Radio Free Asia: “A few days ago, the security department in southern Sinuiju has been re-investigating travellers who left for China on relative-visit visas.

ASIA NEWS

June 23 “Coronavirus: Blogger Zhang Zhan charged for her reports on Wuhan”

According to Radio Free Asia, the forty-year-old lawyer was charged last Friday for “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble”.

ASIA TIMES

June 23 “Real cause of North-South Korea crisis: Covid-19

… According to a May 11 report by Radio Free Asia, the state banned the use of foreign currency for most transactions.

BITTER WINTER

June 23 “Tibet: The CCP Launches a Campaign Against Prayer Flags

The campaign started in Qinghai’s Golog (Guoluo) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and in Tengchen (Dingqing) county in the Chamdo municipality, Tibet Autonomous Region, and is now extending elsewhere, as reported by Radio Free Asia.

ASIA TIMES

June 23 “Who actually funds the Cambodian military?

Radio Free Asia reported that, at the ceremony to mark the distribution of the trucks, the vehicles were swathed with signs saying they were donated by Hun Sen and his wife, Bun Rany.

EU OBSERVER

June 22 “China accused of intimidating Uighur refugees in Europe

… Gulchehra Hoja, a senior Uighur journalist with Radio Free Asia (RFA), a US-funded news agency, also said the EU should be asking tough questions.

38 NORTH

June 22 “Defectors matter for the North Korean economy

… But this Radio Free Asia article highlights an interesting point, namely that for many North Koreans, remittances from family members abroad constitutes a significant source of income.

VOICE OF AMERICA

June 22 “China Sends Ship as Warning to Vietnam: No Court Case, No Oil Drilling

… Tracking tools showed China’s 105-meter-long, 58-person survey ship Haiyang Dizhi 4 moving toward Vietnamese waters on June 14, Radio Free Asia reported.

EXPRESS

June 20 “Kim Jong-un PANIC: The shock truth behind North Korea's furious rallies

… But after parades, a North Korean source has told Radio Free Asia the protestors are secretly envious of the families of those who have defected to the south.

NEWSWEEK

June 18 “Trump Defends Kim Jong Un Going 'Ballistic' After Bolton's 'Libya Model'

… Bolton first alluded to a "Libya model" toward North Korea during a Radio Free Asia interview in late March 2018 but North Korean officials began to hit out in May as the renewed relationship between two nations hit its first hiccup.

EXPRESS

June 17 “Kim Jong-un cruelty: North Korea's sick punishment for children born out of wedlock

… A source in the area told Radio Free Asia that to get a vaccine as part of the annual "UN shots" programme a child would need a birth certificate - something which those born outside of marriage are not entitled to.

COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS (Also in VOICE OF AMERICA)

June 15 “Journalist Le Huu Minh Tuan arrested on anti-state charge in Vietnam

… In May, authorities arrested journalists Nguyen Tuong Thuy, a reporter with the U.S. Congress-funded Radio Free Asia, and Pham Chi Thanh, a freelance reporter, both members of the Independent Journalists Association of Vietnam, and charged them both under Article 117, as CPJ documented at the time.

BURMA NEWS INTERNATIONAL

June 15 “Facebook Discrimination?: Tatmadaw resurfaced after two years of absence from social media”

… The Military opened two Burmese-language Facebook accounts called “Tatmadaw True News Information Team” and “Zaw Min Tun,” military spokesman Brigadier General Zaw Min Tun told Radio Free Asia (RFA) on June 10 Wednesday.

INQUISITR

June 15 “North Koreans Have Gone Without Food Rations For 3 Months In Conditions Not Seen Since Last Famine

… Meanwhile, food markets — which had previously been rare — are now popping up despite the fact that most North Koreans have little disposable income, with a majority surviving on a salary of less than $5 USD per month, according to Radio Free Asia.

PERSECUTION

June 14 “105,000 Kachin IDPs Trapped in Myanmar Camps

… The director of the Humanity Institute in Kachin’s capital of Myitkyina, Francis Saw Htoo, told Radio Free Asia, “It is still not a good time for us to return according to the situation on the ground. There is no systematic plan to clear landmines, and the government army and the KIA have no plan or agreement for the IDPs to return home.”

NEWS LIVE (Also in INDIA BLOOMS)

June 13 “Vietnam Objects to China’s Undersea Cable Construction in Paracel Island”

Radio Free Asia (RFA) quoted the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry saying the country deployed a coastguard vessel into another contested island chain in the South China Sea, the Spratlys, in an apparent response to the presence of Chinese maritime militia around a Vietnamese outpost there.

ASEAN TODAY

June 13 “Wanchalearm Satsaksit’s abduction in Cambodia: How they covered it

… The next day, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported that the Cambodian police claimed his disappearance was “fake news”.

BRINKWIRE

June 11 “North Korea declares ‘sexual immorality’ treason

… Party bureaucrats see promiscuity as ‘a treasonous act that helps the enemy to destroy our society’, a source in the country told Radio Free Asia.

DAILY STAR

June 9 “North Korea to cut all communication with South Korea in defector propaganda clash

… A source told Radio Free Asia (RFA): “Law enforcement authorities have launched an investigation because some of the South Korean-style speech is being used to criticise the highest dignity.”

BITTER WINTER

June 9 “Gulshan Abbas Found—In Detention

Now Radio Free Asia Uyghur Service reports they managed to interview a Han Chinese employee of the Nurbagh Petroleum Hospital’s CCP Cadres Office.

EXPRESS

June 9 “North Korea chaos: Furious demonstration BACKFIRES on Kim - regime teeters on brink

… The resident told Radio Free Asia: “The fact that the North Korean defectors’ groups in South Korea frequently send propaganda leaflets criticising the North Korean regime shows how South Korean society guarantees freedom in their activities.

EXPRESS

June 8 “June North Korea emergency: Kim Jong-un forces government officials to carry out BIZARRE task”

A North Korean source told Radio Free Asia: "On May 8, the Korean Workers' Party declared a period of ‘mobilization’ to run from May 10 through June 10, and sent senior officials to support the Changchon Vegetable Cooperative Farm in Pyongyang.”

ASIA NEWS

June 6 “World Environment Day: Ecologists risk arrest in Cambodia
… According to reports from Radio Free Asia (Rfa), the police of Koh Kong interrupted the path of the 21 activists of the movement "Mother nature" when they were in the district of Trapaing Roung, threatening them with arrest.

KBS WORLD RADIO

June 6 “UN to Provide $5 Mln of Emergency Aid to Vulnerable N. Koreans

Radio Free Asia reports the United Nations will provide five million dollars worth of emergency assistance for vulnerable North Korean citizens including infants and pregnant women.

KBS WORLD RADIO

June 5 “UN Chief Hopes for Resumption of Inter-Korean Dialogue

… U.S.-based Radio Free Asia (RFA) said on Thursday that the UN chief gave the response when asked to comment on North Korea's warning that it could scrap an inter-Korean military agreement unless South Korea stops defectors from sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border.

GUARDIAN

June 5 ”First Covid-19 case recorded among persecuted Rohingya in Myanmar”

… The 38-year-old man in Rakhine state had returned to Myanmar from Bangladesh, officials told Radio Free Asia.

TAIWAN NEWS

June 5 “Xi Jinping's rule increases press restrictions in China

“Compared to Xi, the days under his predecessor Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) were arguably a golden era,” he said at an online symposium on Wednesday (June 3), held by the U.S.-Asia Law Institute of New York University School of Law, reported Radio Free Asia.

DAILY STAR (Also in INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES, EXPRESS)

June 3 “Sarcasm banned in North Korea after Kim Jong-un didn’t find 'general' joke funny

… A source told Radio Free Asia (RFA): “Law enforcement authorities have launched an investigation because some of the South Korean-style speech is being used to criticise the highest dignity.”

VOICE OF AMERICA

June 3 “Three Years On, Persecution of Former Opposition Members Continues Unabated

… CNRP leadership overseas has documented at least another four arrests in the past six weeks and Radio Free Asia reported in May that at least 16 people linked to the party have faced physical violence since August 2019.

DAILY NK

June 3 “Corn prices in North Korea are surging as demand rises

Radio Free Asia (RFA) recently analyzed a report released by China’s General Administration of Customs containing statistics on exports to North Korea from January to February, finding that Chinese exports of corn and rice to North Korea had fallen by around 90% compared to the period stretching from November to December last year.

GLOBAL NEWS NETWORK

June 3 “Beijing arrests three activists against Hong Kong security law

… According to sources quoted by Radio Free Asia, Wang is now under house arrest with the rest of the family and faces a subversion indictment.