Asia - South China Morning Post

Multiple South Korean brands have pulled or quietly sidelined advertising campaigns featuring actor and K-pop star Cha Eun-woo amid allegations that he may have avoided 20 billion won (US$13 million) in taxes via a shell entity under his mother’s name.

Banks and consumer brands including Shinhan Bank and skincare label Abib have set advertisements featuring Cha to private on their social media accounts, while wellness firm BodyFriend is considering replacing him in its promotional campaigns,...

Tim Leissner, the former Goldman Sachs banker who admitted his role in one of the largest financial frauds in history, is seeking a presidential pardon before he surrenders to a federal prison in the US.

Leissner filed his pardon application to the US Justice Department last year, according to a notice on the DOJ website. It was submitted between September 3 and November 18, according to archived copies posted on lawyeroyer.com.

Leissner, Goldman’s former Southeast Asia chairman, pleaded guilty...

In the predawn cold of a northern Seoul neighbourhood, hundreds of people line the street in padded coats, stamping their feet to keep warm. Adults, students and young children wait patiently for the same thing: a Dubai chewy cookie.

Known in Korean as dujjonku, the dessert has triggered queues that begin before sunrise and sell out within minutes. At one bakery, demand grew so intense that sales were reportedly limited to certain days, before in-store purchases were halted altogether to keep...

The recent drama surrounding US action in Venezuela, its renewed interest in Greenland and tariff threats on governments that object, along with comments on Cuba, Colombia and Mexico, appear disjointed – part diplomacy, part law enforcement, part political theatre.

Like many observers, I rely on the news to try to make sense of the policy logic and what it may mean for those who have to live with its consequences.

Washington’s rationale for its actions in Venezuela was initially framed as law...

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr said on Thursday that he was recovering from a condition in the digestive system and assured the public that it is not life-threatening.

His office released a video where Marcos said he was diagnosed with diverticulitis, an inflammation of small pouches in the wall of the large intestine. He said his condition was common among people who are heavily stressed and who are ageing.

“It’s not a life-threatening condition,” the president said in the video...

The Philippines’ first natural gas discovery in more than a decade has raised hopes of reviving the fossil fuel’s role in the nation’s energy mix and uncovering further resources near the ageing Malampaya field, as Manila seeks to cut dependence on coal and imported oil.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr announced on Monday that a “significant natural gas discovery” had been made at a well known as Malampaya East-1, or MAE-1, about 5km (3.1 miles) from the existing Malampaya gas field off the coast...

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has used his Davos debut to drive home a message to global investors that his country intends to stamp out corruption and “greedanomics”, while positioning itself as a rare pocket of stability in an unsettled world economy.

Speaking during a special address at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos on Thursday, Prabowo argued that trade integration, if conducted fairly, should not be seen as a threat to sovereignty but as a tool for shared...

The restart of the world’s largest nuclear power plant was suspended in Japan on Thursday just hours after the process began, its operator said, but the reactor remains “stable”.

Operations to relaunch a reactor at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata province, closed since the 2011 Fukushima disaster, began late on Wednesday after it received the final green light from the nuclear regulator despite divided public opinion.

But its operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), said that...

India and the European Union are stepping up a long-delayed push for a free-trade agreement as New Delhi prepares to host the bloc’s top leaders later this month, with both sides signalling urgency amid mounting pressure from US tariffs and a shifting global order.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, in a speech at the World Economic Forum on Tuesday, said she would be travelling to India after the conference, adding that the two sides were “on the cusp of a historic trade...

A declining number of dog meat farms in South Korea, driven by government efforts to root out the centuries-old practice of dog meat consumption, has raised questions about what will happen to the dogs currently in the system between now and when the ban takes effect in February 2027.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs has confirmed that at least 468,000 dogs are currently kept on farms in cages nationwide, or at some 5,900 related businesses, including slaughterhouses,...