Month: May 2023

On the heels of a failed spy satellite launch on Wednesday, North Korea vowed that a second launch would come soon, state media reported.

Taking off from the Sohae Satellite Launching ground at 6:27 a.m., the Malligyong-1 satellite mounted on the new-type Chollima-1 rocket lost thrust over the Yellow Sea, the state-run Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA reported.

The second stage of the rocket engine did not ignite properly, the report said, citing remarks made by a spokesperson from the National Aerospace Development Administration.

“Scientists, technicians and experts concerned [will] start discovering concrete causes,” KCNA said. After determining them, the scientists will “take urgent scientific and technological measures to overcome them and conduct the second launch as soon as possible through various part tests.”

Had the launch been successful it would have been the first time North Korea managed to place a reconnaissance satellite in its proper orbit. In seven attempts, only two satellites have reached orbit but both failed shortly after, U.S.-based satellite imagery expert Jacob Bogle told RFA’s Korean Service.

“It’s a cliché to say that ‘space is hard’, but that’s because it is. Failures commonly happen in both government-led space programs like the ESA as well as in privately-funded programs such as SpaceX,” said Bogle. 

Bogle said it was very likely that North Korea would try again.

“The launch window was from May 31 to June 11, and they launched on the very first day of that window. We don’t know what the internal decision-making process was but this could have been a rushed launch,” he said. “North Korea is the only country in the region without a reliable spacefaring capability, and Kim Jong Un has placed a lot of importance on acquiring it. … North Korea will likely try another satellite launch in the near-term.”

North Korea’s account of the failed launch is likely true, the Rand Corporation’s Bruce Bennett told RFA.

“This is possible, but other failures could also have happened. Kim has already promised to try again, so I think we can expect it,” said Bennett.  

The goal of the launch was to put the spy satellite in a polar orbit, optimal for spy satellites, he said.  

“A polar satellite travels roughly over the North Pole and the South pole as it circles the Earth. It flies at a much lower altitude, usually 200 to 1,000 km,” said Bennett.  A polar orbit is usually used for reconnaissance … [and] lets them see areas all over the Earth as the Earth turns, and the altitude is low enough for relatively good pictures on a periodic basis (weekly) for any given location.”

Renewed condemnation

Despite its failure, members of the international community reminded North Korea that the launch, even despite its failure, violated U.N. resolutions meant to limit Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear capabilities.

“The EU strongly condemns the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) launch using ballistic military technology that occurred on 31 May,” Nabila Massrali, the regional bloc’s Spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy said in a statement. “The EU calls on the DPRK to cease all actions that raise tensions and instead choose the path of dialogue with the main parties.”

The International Maritime Organization’s Maritime Safety Commission adopted a resolution that condemned North Korea for conducting the launch without proper notification and for not adhering to UN resolutions, and called for North Korea to “cease unlawful and unannounced ballistic missile launches across international shipping lanes.”

Lawmakers Anne-Marie Trevelyan of the U.K. and Young Kim of the U.S. also wrote tweets condemning the launch.  

“Kim Jong Un’s consistent & rogue aggression must be taken seriously by the United States & our Indo-Pacific allies,” Rep. Kim (R-Calif.) said. “We must stand firm in holding him accountable & working toward complete, verifiable, & irreversible denuclearization of North Korea.”

Reported by Lee Sangmin and Kim Soyoung for RFA Korean. 

Disaster has once again hit a community in northwestern Myanmar’s war-torn Sagaing region.

Junta troops on Monday burned down 17 homes in Mon Taing Pin village in Ye-U township, a former local lawmaker and resident said. 

It was the same army battalion that massacred 29 villagers and torched more than 70 homes there in May 2022.

Other Myanmar troops and supporting militias torched 30 homes in Kyunhla township on May 29 and 30, forcing more than 3,000 residents to flee, according to villagers. 

Sagaing has been an anti-junta stronghold and cradle of resistance to the country’s brutal military rule since the army seized power in a February 2021 coup.

In the latest incident, soldiers from the army’s Light Infantry Battalion 708 based in Ye-U burned the houses after local pro-junta informers took them to the homes of civilians they accused of being democracy activists, they said.

“The military did it to suppress a village that has unity, honor and great revolutionary strength,” said Myint Htwe, an elected parliamentarian representing Ye-U township before the coup and a leader of the local People’s Defense Force operating under Myanmar’s parallel government.

“We can see it because they chose to destroy only this village again and in particular with malice among all villages that they entered,” he said.

Myint Htwe said he requested photo evidence of the latest torching incident, and that the shadow National Unity Government has given 50,000 kyats (US$24) in humanitarian aid to each affected family.

Nowhere to live

Junta forces have swept through villages across Sagaing region, sometimes more than once, to find and punish suspected resistance fighters belonging to People’s Defense Forces and their civilian supporters.

A Mon Taing Pin resident told Radio Free Asia on condition of anonymity for safety reasons that families who lost their homes now have nowhere to live.

“Since we have lost our houses, we have to stay in other people’s houses,” the villager said. “My house, my daughter’s and my brother-in-law’s were among the houses burned down.” 

Junta forces torched not only the houses of families they suspect of being revolutionaries, but also those of teachers who participated in the nationwide civil disobedience movement following the coup.

Myanmar soldiers and members of the pro-regime Pyu Saw Htee militia also raided and set ablaze 30 homes in Koke Ko Kone and Hlut Taik village tracts in Kyun Hla township, prompting thousands to flee to safety, though some returned after the forces left the area, a resident said. 

“They came in an area-clearing strategy,” the villager said. “They attacked places along the river banks and burned down huts and buildings there. They also carried away civilian property on their vehicles. Some villagers could return to their homes, but others are still in hiding.”

RFA could not reach the junta spokesman for Sagaing region for comment. 

Between Feb. 1 2021 — the date of the coup — and this Feb. 28, junta forces burned an estimated 60,000 houses, of which between 50%–75% were in Sagaing region, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA.

Translated by Myo Min Aung for RFA Burmese. Edited by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.

Military junta authorities are threatening – and sometimes arresting – people who display photos of Myanmar’s former leader Aung San Suu Kyi in their homes, residents in Yangon, Mandalay and the Ayeyarwaddy region told Radio Free Asia. 

In Ayeyarwady, soldiers and police often make surprise visits to civilian homes to check for any unregistered guests. If they see pictures of prominent politicians, including Suu Kyi, hanging on walls or stored on mobile phones, they threaten them with arrest, residents said.

“Of course they have malice toward her,” said a resident of Mandalay, where home inspections have also taken place. “Their brainless heads cannot accept the idea of Mother Su or Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. In fact, we the people never like the dictator. We never like the dictator by any means,” referring to junta chief Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing.

Suu Kyi is often referred to with the honorific “Daw,” which means aunt. 

During her 35-year political career, she has been repeatedly arrested and prosecuted by successive military governments. The Nobel laureate is currently being held in solitary confinement at a prison in the capital, Naypyidaw.

Similar arrests of civilians for keeping photos of Suu Kyi happened under previous military dictatorships. Photos of her reappeared in homes after she was released from house arrest in 2010. 

Landslide victory

The practice became more popular after the National League for Democracy formed a civilian government following a landslide victory in the 2015 national elections.

Suu Kyi served as Myanmar’s de facto leader after 2015, and some homes also displayed photos of her father, Gen. Aung San, who led the country to independence from British rule in the 1940s and is regarded by many as the father of modern Myanmar. 

The NLD also won the 2020 national elections, but the military staged a coup on Feb. 1, 2021 and arrested civilian leaders of the national and state governments, including Suu Kyi, Myint and several dozen other senior officials who were in Naypyidaw for the convening of the newly elected lower house of parliament.  

Since the coup, Myanmar has fallen to the bottom of international rankings for freedom of speech. 

Residents in Ayeyarwady, where support for Suu Kyi and the deposed National League for Democracy party is strong, have been living in fear because of the inspections and threats from the military, according to Sin Yan Shin, who heads the local Pathein Guerrilla Force.

“Not many people hang the photos of State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi or President Win Myint in their homes as of late,” he said, referring to another former leader arrested by the junta.

‘Under any law that they name’

A resident of Yangon, the former capital and the country’s largest city, had to sign a promissory petition recently because she was found to have hung a photo of Suu Kyi at home, according to a man close to the resident.

“They took him to the police station,” he said. “I heard that he had to sign a confession there and come back.”

The resident refused to answer many of RFA’s questions, saying she was concerned about her  personal security. 

“They can visit your home by surprise at any time to check if there are any guests,” the resident said. “They can take action against you under any law that they name if they see something they don’t like.”

This week, most of the civilians who experienced threats or arrests over their involvement with photos of Suu Kyi refused to answer RFA’s questions as they were too concerned for their security. 

“Please keep this confidential,” said one person. “Or else, I’ll be in trouble.”

RFA called a military junta spokesperson to ask about the arrests and threats over the photos, but there was no response. 

Instilling fear

“They are insane,” said veteran lawyer Kyee Myint. “Power craziness is the worst. They will do anything to stay in power.”

The junta is trying to rule the country by instilling fear in peoples’ minds, he said.

“Fear is very bad for people. The military showed many examples of terror to put fear in the people’s mind. They suppress people who are scared even more.”

Renowned artist Nu Yin, who is famous for her portraits of Suu Kyi, said the lack of freedom of expression was one of the reasons she fled the country following the coup.

“I could guess what they would do to me if I stayed,” she told RFA. “They see democracy and democracy activists as their opponents or enemies. They don’t know better than to respect human rights. They don’t cherish the truth.”

Translated by Myo Min Aung. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.

Performance artist and social media personality Chen Shaotian, also known as Brother Tian, is hoping to apply for political asylum in the United States this week after documenting his hazardous trek through the Central American rainforest.

“Ladies and gentlemen! I have arrived in Quito!” the bearded, cigarette-smoking Chen tells his online audience in a video clip dated May 17 as he arrived in the Ecuadorian capital to embark on the overland leg of his journey to the United States, known in China as “walking the line.” 

Chen, who has previously served a 14-month jail term for criticizing the Chinese Communist Party on social media, proceeded to upload video clips along every stage of his trip, including a hazardous trek led by people-smugglers across a rainforest that took two days.

“I was lucky – it took some people four-and-a-half days,” Chen, who also sports a massive medallion emblazoned with the Chinese character for “dream,” a likely satire on President Xi Jinping’s slogan “the Chinese dream,” said after emerging from the jungle. 

“One old lady had to be carried out of there on a stretcher after paying US$120 to the snakehead [people smugglers],” he said.

‘From all over the world’

Tian arrived in Quito via Turkey, joining around 200 other fellow travelers from China who had chosen to “walk the line.”

“There were families, single people, from Fujian, Shandong … Xinjiang, people from all over [China],” he said. “There were also … people from all over the world.” 

Chen’s trip took him through bus stations, border checkpoints, refugee camps and other facilities that have sprung up to serve the constant stream of people heading for the United States through Central America.

“We ran into some corrupt police en route between Quito and Colombia, Nicaragua,” he said. “They wanted money from us … There were six of us Chinese, and we each gave them US$500.”

Chen said he was offered the option to pay US$1,100 more for a “luxury” route during which horses and camps were provided, as opposed to camping in the rainforest.

He said a lot of people were robbed along the way.

“Some people had more than US$1,000 stolen,” he said. “They told me there would be more robberies in Guatemala and Honduras, and some were saying that the Chinese were partnering up with the locals to rob [Chinese refugees].”

“They go for people with families – one guy had his credit card swiped and lost more than 200,000 yuan, (US$28,000)” he said.

The route Chen took, flying to Turkey, then to Ecuador, then northwards along the coast through Peru and Venezuela, is a common one. Many of Chen’s videos showed long lines of people lining up for buses, or to be admitted into refugee facilities along the way.

Freedom to speak out

Chen said he is hoping to apply for political asylum in the United States for one reason only: to live somewhere where there is freedom of expression.

He was jailed in March 2021 by a court in his home province of Henan after being found guilty of “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble,” a charge frequently used to target critics of the regime.

Chen’s sentence was based on more than 50 posts he made to Twitter that were deemed to be “hype about major sensitive events in China” and “political attacks.”

One video showed him astride a moped, speeding down a road wearing a face-mask blazoned with the words “evil” and “understand,” and yelling: “Understand this! Our evil government is far worse than any virus!”

Chen’s tweets had “attacked China’s political system, insulted employees of the state, caused serious damage to China’s national image and endangered its national interests,” as well as “creating serious disorder in a public place,” the court judgment said.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.