Category Archives: Asia

Dr. Takeshi Kasai Fired from WHO’s Western Pacific Regional Director Position

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The World Health Organization (WHO) fired one of its top officials, Dr. Takeshi Kasai (57) after the AP reported last January that dozens of staffers accused him of being racist, abusive, and exhibiting unethical behaviors that may have been problematic operation of the U.N health agency’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Associated Press.

Dr. Takeshi’s termination has been issued on Wednesday through an email to its employees after an internal investigation found his “misconduct.” It is the first kind of decision that the WHO has made. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated that “This has been an unprecedented and challenging journey for all of us,” and the incoming new director will start next month.

Kasai previously denied acting in a racist, abusive, and unethical manner. The Japanese government supported Dr. Takeshi as one of the top officials to be nominated in 2019 but has not commented on the matter at this time.

According to the summary of the internal WHO investigation presented at a meeting of the agency’s executive board this week in Geneva, “Kasai regularly harassed workers in Asia, including engaging in “aggressive communication, public humiliation, and making racial comments.”

More than 30 unidentified WHO staffers have sent out their written complaints about Kasai’s misconduct after holding off for an extended period in fear of Kasai’s retaliation.

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M 7.5 Earthquake hits Turkey and Syria leaving more than 4,300 people dead

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Photo from USGS

On February 6, 2023, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake occurred in southern Turkey near the northern border of Syria. The earthquake occurred approximately nine hours after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake located 95 km to the southwest. According to USGS, this earthquake ruptured either a near vertical left-lateral fault striking east-wast or a right-lateral fault striking north-south.

The preliminary location of the magnitude 7.5 earthquake place was the vicinity of a triple junction between the Anatolia, Arabia, and African tectonic plates. The first shock of a magnitude 7.8 earthquake occurred at the broad East Anatolia fault zone that accommodates the westward extrusion of Turkey into the Aegean Sea.

The region where M 6 or larger earthquakes occurred since 1822 has occurred in the vicinity of the East Anatolia fault. Still, on Feb. 6, 2023, the magnitude 7.5 earthquake was active. In the past, earthquakes ruptured the region of southern Turkey and northern Syria, especially, Aleppo, Syria. Aleppo was struck by an estimated magnitude 7.1 earthquake in 1138 and an estimated magnitude 7.0 earthquake in 1822. Fatality estimates for the 1822 earthquake were 20,000-60,000.

An M7.5 earthquake hit the vicinity of Turkey and Syria leaving more than 4,000+ people killed on Monday. Millions of people from Syria had migrated to southern Turkey due to war and had been left in unstabilized apartment buildings with little heating and without adequate or safe shelters.

IRC (Internation Rescue Committee) went on rescue missions in the region after the major earthquake occurred. Thousands were injured and an unknown number are still trapped in the rubble. The early-morning quake and dozens of aftershocks brought down entire apartment blocks in Turkey and heaped more destruction on Syrian communities already devastated by over a decade of war.

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Modi’s Question by BBC Prohibited in India

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The Indian government is oppressing people who watch a documentary called “Modi’s Question” released by the BBC. Many students, activists, lawyers, and members of rival parties have been watching multiple YouTube videos, and Twitter accounts have shared the links to the BBC’s new two-part documentary film, which have been blocked by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB).

According to Yahoo Finance, “Videos sharing @BBCWorld hostile propaganda and anti-India garbage, disguised as ‘documentary’, on @YouTube and tweets sharing links to the BBC documentary have been blocked under India’s sovereign laws and rules,” Kanchan Gupta, senior adviser at MIB, tweeted on Jan. 21—four days after the first part released on TV in the UK. The second aired there yesterday (Jan. 24) on its news website.

The Modi’s Question documentary shows the event of Gujarat riots in 2002 which was three days of inter-communal violence related to the burning of an express train. The coach number S-6 was set on fire, killing 59 passengers, including 27 women and 10 children.

The three days of riots left 1044 killed, 223 missing, and 2,500 injured. More than 75% of the dead were Muslim. By the time of the riots, Narendra Modi (72) (Oct.7, 2001-May, 22, 2014 incumbent at the office) was the chief minister of the Gujarat government, and critics have arisen against Modi since then.

A Special Investigation Team operated by the Supreme Court of India has been investigating Modi’s involvement in the three days riots and the death of many. However, despite all the efforts to investigate Modi, they were unable to find any evidence to initiate a prosecution proceeding against Modi in 2012.

However, the BBC is now covering an event and showing evidence of Modi’s involvement, which is seen as having a huge impact on his reelection in 2024 as Prime Minister. A secret UK department report pins Modi as being directly responsible for the event. According to Yahoo, widespread sexual attacks toward Muslim women in the Hindu region had also been occurring at the time, and considered the event as part of ethnic cleansing activities.

Now the Indian government detained the viewers as protestors. Even Elon Musk has allowed the removal of the links in the Twitter accounts as requested by the PM in India.

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100th Anniversary of the National Museum of Asian Art Begins November

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The National Museum of Asian Art announced on October 6, the plans for its 100th anniversary. Beginning in November and continuing through 2023, the museum will celebrate its centennial with a year-long series of events and programs that deepen the understanding of Asian arts, and cultures to expand its new audiences.

A Two-week festival, May 1, 2023-May 13, 2023 will celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month- the museum’s first large-scale festival in recognition of this heritage month, and a cornerstone of the centennial celebrations. For the past 100 years, the national museum has built one of the world’s most important museums of Asian arts and its history.

According to the National Museum of Asian Art, the museum’s rich holdings bring the arts of Asia into direct dialogue with an important collection of 19th-and early 20th-century American works, providing an essential platform for creative collaboration and cultural exchange between the United States, Asia, and the Middle East. New acquisitions are continually added to the collections, and the museum now showcases the richness of pre-modern Asian arts and evolving visual cultures of Asia in the 20th and 21st centuries.

“The museum’s centennial will serve not only as a milestone for the institution and the Smithsonian but as a catalyst for the century ahead,” said Chase F. Robinson, Dame Jillian Sackler Director of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and Freer Gallery of the Art, the National Museum of Asian Art. “Our vision is to transform the National Museum of Asian Art into a space where a wide range of visitors can come together to celebrate, learn about, and interact with Asian art and cultures, including their intersection with America. In our second century, we’re becoming a space to convene, learn, reflect and forge connections through art.

More plans and programs for the public, from May 1,2023-May 13, 2023, the museum and its surroundings on the National Mall will celebrate Asian arts and cultures with keynote speakers, headline performers, interactive experiences, culinary adventures, and community projects.

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37 Preschoolers Killed from a Daycare Rampage in Thailand

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An armed former police officer broke into a daycare center in northeastern Thailand on Thursday. He killed dozens of children and teachers. He fired at random people and escaped the scene. It is the deadliest rampage in the nation’s history. Police identified the suspect as 34 years old former police officer Panya Kamrap. He took his life after he killed his wife and child at home.

Police Major General Paisal Luesomboon told PPTV in an interview that he was fired from the force earlier this year because of drug-related offenses. During the attack, he used multiple weapons, a handgun, a shotgun, and a knife, Paisal added.

Most of the victims are 22 preschoolers, 2 adults, and teachers at the daycare. Thailand’s PM Prayut Chan-o-cha addresses “This shouldn’t happen,… I feel deep sadness toward the victims and their relatives,”

Police didn’t give a full breakdown of the death toll in the early stage. The motive of the crime and more details are under investigation. Drug-related crimes have been steadily climbing in most Asia countries except gun-controlled countries, South Korea, Singapore, and Japan.

Using data from several different sources, at the end of 2017, there were approximately 857 million civilian-held firearms in the world’s 230 countries and territories. Civilian firearms registration data was available for 133 countries and territories. Survey results were used to help establish total gun civilian holdings in 56 countries. The new figure is 32 percent higher than the previous estimate from 2006 when the Small Arms Survey estimated there were approximately 650 million civilian-held firearms. According to the Gunpolicy.org

After the pandemic, Firearms used extremely increased globally. In the U.S., 5 million people got guns as their first weapon during the pandemic according to USNews.com.

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Mary Peltola Seeks U.S. Congressional seat as First Native Woman in Incumbent Position

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Photo from Wikipedia

Mary Peltola (D-AK) won the special election to fill in U.S. Congressional seat last August. Now she is seeking the seat in November for a full term. She will be the first Alaskan Native to serve, as a representative for Democrats in the House since 1972.

Peltola is a member of the Yup’ik tribe and she has worked in salmon fishing as a career. The Yup’ik tribe is very well known on the western coast of Alaska with the highest population in the U.S. She started her politics at the early age of 26 as Alaska State House Representative. Peltola introduced herself as “adamantly Pro-Jobs, Pro-Fish, Pro-Family, and Pro-Choice.”

She advanced to the general election in first place, receiving 36.8% of the votes in the primary. Peltola is a tribal member of the Orutsararmiut Native Council. She is on the committee of Education, Labor, and Natural Resouces.

Peltola has continued to express the fishing industry’s strong ecological concerns. She advocated for regulation processes to include tribes and traditional knowledge in federal fishery management decisions.

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North Korea fires intermediate-range Ballistic Missile Over Japan

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North Korea tested an intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan on Tuesday, October 4, 2022. According to NPR, The Japanese prime minister’s office stated that at least 4,000 kilometers ranged missile was fired from North Korea over Japan and landed in the Pacific Ocean. Japanese PM Fumio Kishida expressed his anger toward North Korea to condemn the reckless act, and he will convene the National Security Council to discuss the situation.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said there has been no immediate damage after the missile landed in the waters outside of the exclusive economic zone. This test would be the response to the bilateral military drills between South Korea and the United States and its allies, especially Japan’s evolving on this drill last week.

North Korea has tested 40 different missiles in the 20 different launch events in 2022 and Kim Jung Un has expressed to expand his nuclear arsenal and refuses against the United State’s nuclear diplomacy. South Korean president Yoon said he called a National Security Council meeting to discuss this issue.

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Mid-Autumn Festival Concert at Tyson’s Corner Delights Many

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Chinese, Korean, Taiwanese, and Filipino folks gathered at the heart of Northern Virginia for an evening of vivacious celebration. They brought their traditional ceremonies comprised of songs and dances to show gratitude to their gods, families, and ancestors.

More than five hundred people came to enjoy this moment in the late summer night also known as the harvest festival in many Asian cultures.

Many bravos and applause were given to the performers on stage and to their origins. Chinese Culture Institute and Asian Chamber of Commerce hosted this tremendous collection of performances, providing the tense Asian American communities much-needed respite after the events of the Covid-19 Pandemic.

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Suspect of the Two Abandoned Children in NZ arrested in S.Korea

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A New Zealand citizen bought a storage unit that included a suitcase. A resident found two dead children in the suitcase. The two bodies were that of 5-year-old and 10-year-old children. According to the New Zealand Authorities, a suspect in this incident was a Korean-born woman who left for South Korea in 2018. New Zealand law enforcement, Interpol, and South Korean authorities made an effort to solve this incident.

Korean authorities have since arrested the 42 years old woman suspect and are waiting to complete the extradition process to New Zealand. The unidentified woman covered her face with her hooded coat, and she was escorted to the local Ulsan police station.

New Zealand authorities must submit the formal request for her extradition to the South Korean Justice Ministry within 45 days. New Zealand authorities said the South Korean warrant was in connection with two murder charges. South Korean authorities will keep the woman in jail until she is extradited.

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A Cup of Poem – 거울/ 김호천

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거울

김호천

거울 앞에 서면

호기심 어린 내가 있습니다.

얼굴이 갸름한

내가 고개를 오른쪽으로 돌리면,

그는 고개를 왼쪽으로 돌립니다.

거부의 몸짓에 바위가 뒤틀립니다.

그가 오른쪽으로 돌리면,

나는 어느새 왼쪽을 보고 있습니다.

그가 눈을 흘기며 얼굴을 붉힙니다.

내가 고개를 숙이면,

그때야 그도 나를 따라 고개를 끄덕입니다.

부드러운 눈빛으로.

내가 머리를 들어 하늘을 우러르면,

그도 이젠 나를 다라 흉내를 냅니다.

거룩한 기도의 몸짓으로.

드디어 내가 의미 잇는 웃음을 던지자

그가 환한 꽃송이로 다가와

가슴에 불을 밝힙니다.

행복한 추석 되세요. 코리일보 독자 여러분의 가정과 삶에 한가위만 같은 축북이 있기를 기원합니다.

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