Day: April 26, 2023

U.S. President Joe Biden warned North Korea on Wednesday that any nuclear attack on the United States or its allies would result in an end to the isolated regime while promising closer cooperation with South Korea on deterring the nuclear threat.

“Look, a nuclear attack by North Korea against the United States or its allies or partisans or partners is unacceptable and will result in the end of whatever regime [takes] such an action,” Biden said during a press conference following a summit with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who arrived in Washington on Monday for a six-day official state visit.

During their meeting, the two leaders recognized the importance of the South Korea.-U.S. Alliance, now in its 70th year, which Biden called a “linchpin” of security in the Indo-Pacific region, and “an alliance of values based on [Seoul and Washington’s] shared universal values of freedom and democracy.”

“Our mutual defense treaty is ironclad, and that includes our commitment to extended deterrence, and — and that includes the nuclear threat and — the nuclear deterrent,” Biden said.

Yoon and Biden also signed the Washington Declaration, which acknowledged Seoul and Washington’s close relationship and commitment to strengthen mutual defense agreements.

The declaration said that Seoul had full confidence in U.S. deterrence commitments, and that Washington would make “every effort” to consult with South Korea on any “employment” of nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula.

Through the declaration, the two sides also formed a new Nuclear Consultative Group, or NCG, which will “strengthen extended deterrence, discuss nuclear and strategic planning, and manage the threat to the nonproliferation regime posed by North Korea.” 

The two presidents also restated that they are open to dialogue with North Korea without preconditions in order to achieve the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

“Sustainable peace on the Korean Peninsula does not happen automatically,” said Yoon, through an interpreter, at the press conference. “Our two leaders have decided to significantly strengthen extended deterrence of our two countries against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats so that we can achieve peace through the superiority of overwhelming forces and not a false peace based on the goodwill of the other side.”

‘Enhances credibility’

The NCG is an important contribution to strengthening the alliance, Gary Samore, the former White House Coordinator for Arms Control and Weapons of Mass Destruction, told RFA’s Korean Service.

“By greater consultation and simulation and exercises to deal with the North Korea nuclear threat … it shows that Seoul and Washington are not ignoring the changes that are taking place and recognize they have to do something to respond to it.” he said. “It enhances credibility, I think the most important element of credibility is the presence of US military forces.”

Because the NCG gives South Korea more input on nuclear deterrence, it is a nuclear power sharing agreement short of sharing the weapons themselves, said Patrick Cronin, Asia-Pacific security chair at the Hudson Institute. 

“At least Seoul will have a much better window into the U.S. thinking about potential responses to aggression. Deterrence is already strong but even the Kim regime will have to be a bit more cautious about even thinking about the use of force,” he said. 

The NCG obliges Washington to consider Seoul’s views in nuclear decision making on multiple levels, said Michael O’Hanlon of the Brookings Institution.

“It may be even more key for alliance reassurance than for deterrence of North Korea and it reinforces the idea or truth that the two allies are co-equals,” he said.

Trade matters

Biden and Yoon also discussed trade issues during their talks, including what Biden characterized as “economic influence being leveraged in coercive ways.”

To that end, the two sides agreed to strengthen technological cooperation.

“So, that is about really strengthening the competitiveness of our two countries.  And it will enhance productivity and create added value — high added value,” said Yoon. “These are the types of products that are going to be produced.”

Biden said Washington supports a prosperous South Korea.

“It’s overwhelmingly in our interests for Korea to do well [economically],” said Biden. “It’s very much in America’s interest that Korea do well … because they are one of our most valued partners.”

Yoon will attend a state dinner at the White House on Wednesday, and will address a joint session of Congress on Thursday. 

Additional reporting by Sangmin Lee. Edited by Malcolm Foster.

Illegal gold mining has increased ten-fold in Myanmar’s Kachin state since the military seized power in a coup more than two years ago, a new report and sources said, amid a decrease in federal oversight in the region.

Illegal mining of gold, as well as jade and rare earth minerals, is rampant in Kachin state, where successive governments have failed to regulate the industry for generations. However, the number of unsanctioned operations has ballooned since the military’s Feb. 1, 2021, takeover amid conflict between junta troops and armed resistance forces in the region.

The number of gold mining rigs on the Ayarwaddy River in Kachin’s Myitkyina township jumped to more than 1,000 in 2021 and more than 800 in 2022 from just over 70 in 2020, according to a report released Sunday by the Kachin State Accountability Resource Governance group, or K-SAG, which began monitoring the use of resources in the state prior to the coup.

“There weren’t many, but some arrests and inspections took place [mainly] in Puta-O township before the coup,” K-SAG’s head of research, who gave her name as Alice, told RFA Burmese.

However, in the 26 months since, authorities have yet to carry out an inspection or make an arrest in connection with illegal mining in Kachin, allowing the problem to proliferate in the region, she said.

“Now that illegal gold mining has increased more than 10 times, the situation is very bad here,” Alice said. “The businesspeople who started illegal mining in 2021 as a test to the legal system under the new military regime are now digging freely and greedily. The situation got worse in 2022 and we are sympathetic to the voices of the local residents.”

Without measures in place to combat the problem, it will only become worse in 2023, she said.

Surge in resource exploitation

The report, which was published based on surveys and interviews with 330 residents from nine townships in Kachin between June and November last year, found that the exploitation of natural resources – including rare earth minerals, amber, gold and timber – had increased overall in the state since the coup.

“Areas of Hpakant [township] were already damaged [by mining] even before the military coup, but since then, all remaining areas have also been damaged,” the report said. “Both private and large-scale mines were operating there before the coup, but in accordance with government guidelines. These days, they operate without following any regulations or guidelines, which is the reason for the destruction.”

Despite the overall increase in resource exploitation in Kachin, gold mining had seen the largest increase since the takeover, K-SAG said, noting that such operations are approved and taxed by the Kachin Independence Army, the military regime, and local anti-junta paramilitary groups – depending on which faction controls the territory.

According to K-SAG, entrepreneurs setting up a one-acre gold mining operation can expect to pay fees of 5 million kyats (U.S.$2,380) each to the KIA and local paramilitary groups and 4 million kyats (U.S.$1,900) to the junta each season, in addition to fees for machinery.

By comparison, entrepreneurs who acquire a 100-square-foot plot for mining jade in the Kachin township of Hpakant must pay 150-200 million kyats (U.S.$71,400-95,200) to the KIA and 200-300 million kyats (U.S.$95,200-142,800) to the junta, the report said.

According to the Kachin State Mining Department, authorities collected more than 500 million kyats (U.S.$238,000) in taxes in 2020. However, while the number of mining operations in Kachin has skyrocketed, authorities collected only 238 million kyats (U.S.$113,300) in 2021 and 325 million kyats (U.S.$154,700) in 2022, the report noted.

Loose regulations

Win Ye Tun, the junta’s social affairs minister and spokesman for Kachin state, confirmed to RFA that no official mining rights had been granted since the military takeover.

“The government has not officially permitted any mining rights for natural resources such as jade and raw earth minerals,” he said.

But he rejected K-SAG’s claim that the junta had failed to police the industry in Kachin.

“Since the number of illegal mining operations has increased, the government is continuously making arrests and taking legal action [against violators],” he said.

Residents and environmental activists told RFA that mining companies pay bribes to both the junta and the rebel Kachin Independence Organization to look the other way as they operate illegally.

Col. Naw Bu, the information officer for the KIO’s armed wing, the Kachin Independence Army, also took issue with K-SAG’s findings, telling RFA that resource mining in Kachin state is being done “in accordance with regulations” set by the Kachin Independence Organization political group.

“They prohibit mining in populated areas, on civilian farms and at historical sites,” he said. “The KIC [Kachin Independence Council] has laid down guidelines. Local administrations have to decide whether or not to issue mining permits in accordance with those guidelines.”

Chinese entrepreneurs

K-SAG’s report also found that the gold mining industry in Kachin state, which borders southwestern China’s Yunnan province, has become increasingly driven by Chinese entrepreneurs since the coup. It said some 19% of gold mining in the region is now controlled by Chinese interests.

A resident of Chipwi township, one of five townships in Kachin – along with Shwegu, Myitkyina, Wingmaw and Tanai – with the highest concentration of Chinese-led mining operations, told RFA that gold mining is virtually unchecked in the region.

“The mines are digging in the areas too close to the town along the May Kha River – something that had never been done before,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to security concerns. “The number of illegal mining operations has exploded since the military coup.”

The resident said that entrepreneurs and experts at the gold mines in the area “are Chinese nationals,” adding that rare earth mining had also increased in Chipwi since the takeover.

According to statistics released by China’s Customs Department in January 2023, the value of rare earth minerals exported from Myanmar to China increased to more than U.S.$800 million in 2021 from only U.S.$387 million a year earlier, before decreasing to more than U.S.$600 million in 2022.

K-SAG researcher Alice told RFA that resource exploitation in Kachin is in “urgent need of regulation” by whichever party is receiving money to approve it, in order to halt environmental degradation in the region.

“The [junta] and all other stakeholders are responsible, in my opinion,” she said. “People here wish to protect the environment but they are not in the position to do so and even the areas that had previously benefited from regulation are now at risk.”

Translated by Myo Min Aung. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.

The death of a Uyghur detainee held in a refugee detention center in Thailand has intensified calls from human rights organizations for Thai authorities to provide better living conditions and health services for Uyghur inmates and to allow them to apply for asylum. 

Mettohti Metqurban, 40, a Uyghur refugee from China’s Xinjiang region, died in the Bangkok facility last week due to suspected liver failure — the fifth Uyghur to perish in a Thai immigration detention center since 2018, and the second one to die this year. In February, Abdul’eziz Abdulla died reportedly of pneumonia at the same refugee facility after nearly nine years in detention in Thailand.

Rights organizations have demanded that the Thai government resettle the other nearly 50 Uyghur refugees held at the Suan Phlu Immigration Detention Center in Bangkok in a refugee-hospitable country while they improve conditions at the detention center.

Chalida Tajaroensuk, director of the People’s Empowerment Foundation in Thailand, a human rights organization, said the living and health conditions of Uyghur refugees in the country’s detention centers should be cause for concern because many fall ill there but are refused medical treatment.

Metqurban died as soon as the hospital discharged him, though the details of his death and illness remain unknown, though authorities are aware of them, she told Radio Free Asia on Tuesday. 

“Because local Muslim organizations demanded [that they be allowed] to send physicians to treat the sick and examine their health status, the detention center did not permit them [to do so],” she said.

Conditions ‘scary and inhumane’

The status of Uyghur refugee issue is a delicate issue in Thailand, overseen by the nation’s State Security Committee, Tajaroensuk said.

“They treat the Uyghur issue as a top secret and high-level sensitive issue,” by controlling information on detainees and deciding who can visit them, she said. “Therefore, we cannot know what is happening inside the detention centers.” 

RFA contacted the Thai Embassy in Washington, D.C, for information on Metqurban’s death, but did not receive a response.

Maya Wang, senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch, called on Thai authorities to comply with international law, release detained Uyghur refugees, and create conditions so they can easily apply for political asylum.

“Unfortunately, they are now in crowded detention centers,” she said. “The conditions there are scary and inhumane. Therefore, there must be a way for them to apply for political asylum.”

Thailand, like many other countries in Southeast Asia, has not ratified the U.N.’s refugee convention. Uyghurs, considered a special group, are managed by national security agencies, and are prevented from registering for the refugee status determination process. 

Pleaded for medical treatment

Metqurban had been reportedly suffering from severe stomach pains and vomiting over the last few weeks, and his condition worsened with symptoms of jaundice, the World Uyghur Congress, or WUC, and the Uyghur Human Rights Project, or UHRP, said in a statement issued Wednesday.  

He was transferred to the hospital on April 21 and is believed to have died there, though Thai authorities have not yet publicly confirmed his death, the organizations said.

Metqurban had pleaded with police at the detention center for medical treatment, but they ignored his request and gave him some sleeping pills and headache alleviation pills instead, said Elijan, a former inmate at the detention facility who now lives in Turkey and had kept in touch with Metqurban. 

“How many more deaths will take place before Thai authorities act with humanity to release these innocent people who are merely seeking safe haven?” Omer Kanat, UHRP’s executive director, said in a statement. “Uyghurs around the world are filled with anguish that these refugees have been left in misery for nine years and the world has not lifted a finger to rescue them.”

Metqurban was among the 350 Uyghurs who fled from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in 2011, fearing Chinese persecution of the mostly Muslim minority, and were arrested and detained by Thai authorities, according to WUC and UHRP. They were locked up in the refugee detention center, where Metqurban had been held since March 2014. 

In 2015, the authorities transferred some 170 Uyghurs, including Metqurban’s wife and three children, to Turkey, while more than 100 other men and women were deported to China, drawing condemnation from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the two organizations said.  

Human rights groups have issued previous calls for Thai authorities to take action on Uyghur refugees, with more than 50 Uyghur organizations in 2022 calling for an end to the prolonged detention of Uyghurs in Thailand. 

Translated by RFA Uyghur. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Matt Reed.

Mining is one of the top drivers of deforestation globally, with up to one-third of the world’s forest ecosystems affected by its indirect impact, a new environmental report said.

China is the biggest driver of forest destruction through mining for raw materials, with about 18% of mining-related global forest destruction attributable to it, according to “Extracted Forests,” prepared by the Vienna University of Economics and Business, WWF Germany and other organizations, released this month.

The European Union came second with 14%, and the United States stood third with 12%. 

The report said gold contributes 33% and coal another 24% to the total demand-driven mining-related deforestation in China, which also has the largest bauxite deforestation footprint at 13%.

“Mining is currently considered to be the fourth largest driver of deforestation. However, this statistic only considers the direct impacts of mining,” Tobias Kind-Rieper, the head of mining and metals research for WWF Germany, said in the report.

Apart from excavation pits, large swathes of forest are cleared for access roads and workers’ settlements, as mining’s role in deforestation increases significantly considering its indirect impacts with such infrastructure development, as well as other related issues like water and soil contamination and illegal logging.

The report said up to 33% of the world’s forests may be affected by these indirect impacts of mining, as “the indirect impacts of mining on forests are often not only greater than direct impacts, but can also be more extensive.”

The report, released on April 18,  said mineral extraction has doubled since 2000 and is accelerating at an “alarming” rate.

Forest loss and degradation can occur within a 70 kilometer (43 mile) radius of the mining activity itself, in addition to effects on biodiversity, the report said, adding that 77% of all mines exist within a 50 kilometer (31 mile) radius of key biodiversity areas.

“Metals are important for the development of human civilization and the life we live today. But the footprint left by the extraction of these commodities has a heavy toll on ecosystems,” Kind-Rieper said in a separate statement.

According to the Global Forest Watch 2022 report, tree cover worldwide decreased by 11% between 2011 and 2021, blamed mainly on human-driven deforestation, including agriculture, infrastructure, urban expansion, and mining.

Demand by just six countries, often located far from the mines, is responsible for more than half of mining-related deforestation, the report said, adding the resource demand is primarily concentrated in developed Global North nations and emerging economies in Asia, though mining was destroying the forests mainly in the Global South. 

Indonesia and Myanmar in top 10

Some 84% of the deforestation for the extraction of raw materials in the last 20 years took place in just 10 countries, the report said.

Indonesia led the chart with 3,537 square kilometers (1,366 square miles) being destroyed for mining purposes, equivalent to 43,914 soccer pitches and more than double its nearest competitor Brazil.

The report said 61.5% of the deforestation occurred after 2010, with 38% between 2011 to 2015. The rates have slowed down since 2018, it said.

In Myanmar, the ninth highest in the list of mining-related deforestation, 529 square kilometers (204 square miles) of forest were destroyed for mining between 2001 and 2020.

The report said that most of the mining-related deforestation in Indonesia was due to coal, accounting for 1,924 square kilometers (743 square miles) of forest cover being lost between 2000 and 2019. That accounts for 57% of the total global forest area lost due to the expansion of coal mining.

The EU’s global mining deforestation footprint was highest in Indonesia (20%), mainly due to coal extraction.

Coal and gold caused the most significant destruction, with 71% of all global deforestation directly caused by mining, which can be traced back to these two raw materials, resulting in an estimated 6,877 square kilometers (2,655 square miles) of forest loss over the last two decades. 

Some negative consequences for wildlife and ecosystems due to mining-related deforestation include the drastic decrease in Indochinese tigers in the Greater Mekong region. Experts say this is due primarily to habitat fragmentation caused by infrastructure development.

The WWF report said tropical rainforests suffered the most damage as more than one-third of the mining-related deforestation in the last 20 years occurred in just the last five years, which is “particularly worrying” for biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation efforts.

“The dimensions of the forest destruction caused by global mining are alarming,” Stefan Giljum, Professor of Ecological Economics at the Vienna University of Economics and Business, said in a statement.

“The loss, particularly of rainforests, has accelerated rapidly due to the growing demand for raw materials. The main responsibility for this lies with our unsustainable production and consumption patterns.”

In many such countries, protected areas have been downgraded and downsized to allow for more mining, which the WWF report called a “worrying trend.”

According to Conservation International, such downgrading and downsizing have impacted 130 million hectares (321.2 million acres) of protected land in nearly 70 countries, including Cambodia, which downgraded about a dozen protected areas, and Indonesia that downsized 19 places.

The WWF report called for increased funding for research into the indirect impacts of mining-related deforestation and for environmental impact assessments (EIAs) ahead of the start of the mining project to account for such indirect factors.

“China, the EU and USA must take concrete steps towards bringing down overall demand for mineral products and set targets for the reduction of primary mineral commodities across all economic policies and strategies,” the report said.

Edited by Mike Firn.

Several opposition Cambodian political parties have not registered to participate in July’s general election and will wait until the last minute to take action because intimidation, threats and attacks have made it dangerous to do so, domestic civil society groups said.

Seven parties, including Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party, or CCP, already have registered and submitted their candidate lists for the July 23 election to elect members to the National Assembly, which is currently dominated by the CCP.

Political parties can submit candidate lists to the National Election Committee from April 24 to May 8. 

The main opposition Candlelight Party is having difficulty recruiting candidates because of intimidation and physical assaults against its activists. Some supporters are afraid of publicly campaigning for candidates. 

“Activists, especially those in Phnom Penh, were physically attacked,” said Candlelight Party spokesman Kim Sour Phirith. “They are being threatened emotionally. It is not good for our country that one party is discriminating against its opponent.”

He said the party is reviewing candidates and will try to register them with the NEC before the May 8 deadline.

Other parties also are experiencing difficulties recruiting and registering candidates due to political discrimination, said Sam Kuntheamy, executive director of the Neutral and Impartial Committee for free and fair Elections in Cambodia, an organization that monitors elections.

Attacks on activists have tarnished Cambodia’s election environment, he said.

“I don’t want to see any violence against political activists because at this stage, the parties are preparing to participate in the election,” said Sam Kuntheamy. “Political violence should be avoided.”

Recent attacks

Over the weekend, four assailants on motorbikes assaulted a Candlelight Party activist as he was traveling to the capital of Phnom Penh, striking him several times with a metal baton. Another party activist said her car was intentionally rammed by an unknown assailant. Six other opposition party members have reported attacks in the past months. 

Hang Puthea, spokesman for the NEC, which oversees voting in the country, told Radio Free Asia that the body is reviewing the applications submitted by the seven political parties and will notify them of their status after May 8. 

The NEC has created an app for all parties to register their candidates to avoid duplication and to prevent fraud, he said. 

So far, more than 40 political parties have been officially recognized by the country’s Ministry of Interior, which regulates the formation of parties. 

Translated by Samean Yun for RFA Khmer. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.

Police in Ho Chi Minh City have prosecuted 65 people in a drug smuggling investigation that began last month when customs officers discovered MDMA, ketamine and cocaine hidden inside 153 toothpaste tubes in the baggage of Vietnam Airlines crew members.

Ho Chi Minh City police’s Investigation Agency said on Tuesday that they have seized a total of nearly 50 kilograms of drugs in an expanded investigation that found other instances of drug smuggling. 

Four flight attendants arriving on an international flight from Paris were arrested on March 16. The crew members told authorities that someone in France paid them more than 10 million dong, or about U.S.$425, to help transport “some goods” to Vietnam.

The flight attendants were carrying 112 toothpaste tubes containing 8.4 kilograms (18.5 lbs.) of gray tablets and 42 toothpaste tubes containing 3 kilograms (6.7 lbs.) of white powder. They said they were unaware of the narcotics and didn’t know the identity of the person who asked them to transport the tubes. 

No drugs were found during searches of their homes, and they were released due to lack of evidence.

The agency said on Tuesday that the crew members were merely “being used” to carry the drugs into Ho Chi Minh City’s airport.

Authorities have discovered six other cases in which a Vietnamese resident of France paid Vietnamese people studying or living in France to bring drugs hidden in toothpaste tubes and dietary supplement boxes into Vietnam through Hanoi’s airport. 

Upon arrival, the drugs were shipped to a recipient in the southern province of Dong Nai and then divided into pieces to be delivered to addresses in Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Duong province. From there, the drugs were divided further and distributed to other cities and provinces, authorities said.

Authorities confirmed that the four flight attendants were not involved in those activities.

A Vietnam Airlines representative said last month that the flight attendants were all fairly young and only have about one year of work experience with the airline. He said they may have believed that they were helping friends transport legitimate goods to Vietnam.

Translated by Anna Vu. Edited by Matt Reed.