Asia - South China Morning Post

When Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba announced on September 7 that he would step down after his party was trounced at the parliamentary polls earlier this year, the country was already staring at what could be an era of flux, marked by revolving door leaders who are slaves to approval ratings amid relentless electoral cycles.

And this trend, according to observers, is likely to persist, pulling Tokyo into a period reminiscent of the 1990s and 2000s when prime ministers were replaced...

The Apec Economic Leaders’ Meeting is just over a month away. Hosted in the ancient Korean capital of Gyeongju, the summit will bring together leaders from the 21 members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. With both the US and Chinese presidents expected to attend, the gathering is poised to serve as a significant diplomatic stage against the backdrop of mounting tensions on the Korean peninsula and growing uncertainty in global affairs.

After North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s...

Thailand’s prime minister said on Friday that his government will propose a referendum on whether to revoke two agreements on the demarcation of its border with Cambodia as part of a plan to address a simmering dispute with its neighbour.

Thailand and Cambodia have bickered for decades over undemarcated points along their 817km (508 mile) land border.

Tensions exploded into a deadly five-day conflict in July – the worst fighting between the two countries in over a decade – that killed at least...

Japan’s wildly popular Pokémon franchise distanced itself on Friday from a recent viral US government video that linked the brand’s “Gotta Catch ‘Em All” slogan to Washington’s immigration crackdown.

The US Department of Homeland Security posted a clip on social media this week that showed an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid.

The clip showed armed police and border patrol officers handcuffing what it portrayed as illegal immigrants, with Pokémon’s famous English-language theme...

A Choco Pie is at the centre of a workplace theft dispute.

The so-called “Choco Pie theft case” has turned into a heated legal and public debate, with a logistics company manager and a security guard clashing over whether a snack taken from an office refrigerator was theft or a long-standing workplace practice.

The incident occurred just after 4.00am on January 18 last year in the office of a logistics company in Wanju, North Jeolla Province. A security guard took a Choco Pie priced at 450 won...

Suicide has overtaken cancer as the main cause of death among South Koreans in their forties for the first time since records began in 1983, amid growing concerns that the country is facing a mental health crisis.

The country recorded 14,872 suicides last year – a 6.3 per cent rise from the previous year and the highest figure since 2011 – according to the latest “2024 Cause of Death Statistics” published by Statistics Korea on Thursday. That amounts to nearly 30 suicides per 100,000...

The Netherlands pledged on Friday to return to Indonesia the remains of “Java Man”, the first-ever “Homo erectus” unearthed by modern scientists, in a landmark discovery for human evolution.

The Dutch plan to hand back some 28,000 fossils of the “Dubois Collection” looted by anatomist and geologist Eugene Dubois in 1891, when Indonesia was still a colony of the Netherlands.

They include Java Man’s skull cap, molar and femur that form part of evolutionary history – providing the first established...

Calls for a temporary halt in President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship free meals programme across Indonesia continue to mount after more than 1,300 students recently fell ill from consuming food distributed under the initiative.

Officials have pledged to strengthen oversight but maintain that the programme – designed to combat child stunting and improve nutrition among vulnerable groups – will continue.

Analysts and civil society groups warn that the government’s push to expand the programme...

Thailand’s former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra is set to be assigned a role overseeing sewer-cleaning crews from Bangkok’s Klong Prem Central Prison, his daughter Paetongtarn said following a visit to the facility.

“The prison director said Dad will be assigned to supervise sewer cleaning,” she told reporters outside the prison on Thursday, according to Thai news outlet The Nation. She added that his health is “OK”.

If confirmed by authorities, the position would allow Thaksin, 76, to leave...

The presidents of Turkey and South Korea have become the latest leaders attending the UN’s signature diplomatic gathering to be forced to wait on the streets of New York City to let Donald Trump’s motorcade pass.

Videos shared on social media showed Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s delegation attempting to move past barricades before officers blocked them from crossing a street on Tuesday, leaving the Turkish president irked.

Erdogan was in the US city to take part in the annual United Nations General...