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1 month ago | 
straitstimes.com | Walter Sim |Wendy Z.W. Teo
TOKYO/SEOUL – Chinese buyers are snapping up land from American farms to Japanese islands to prime Seoul real estate, raising questions over whether the trend portends a security risk. These “land grabs”, by individuals and entities from a socialist country that bans private land ownership, are being eyed with suspicion as geopolitical rivalry escalates between the United States and China.
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1 month ago | 
straitstimes.com | Walter Sim |Wendy Z.W. Teo
Japanese warships Bungo (left) and Etajima dock at Ream Naval Base in Preah Sihanouk province, Cambodia, on April 19. PHOTO: EPA-EFE– Will ships, like chips, become a major battleground for great power supremacy? The United States, whose shipbuilding industry now has a virtually non-existent global market share of 0.1 per cent, desperately wants to make up lost ground on China. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
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2 months ago | 
thestar.com.my | Walter Sim |Nirmala Ganapathy |Wendy Z.W. Teo
TOKYO/NEW DELHI/SEOUL: No accord was signed, and a yawning gap still remains between the two countries. But to all intents and purposes, the first round of trade talks between the US and Japan on Wednesday (April 16) is seen in Tokyo as a relative success. Not that US President Donald Trump moved even a millimetre on any of his positions on tariffs.
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2 months ago | 
straitstimes.com | Walter Sim |Nirmala Ganapathy |Wendy Z.W. Teo
TOKYO/NEW DELHI/SEOUL – No accord was signed, and a yawning gap still remains between the two countries. But to all intents and purposes, the first round of trade talks between the US and Japan on April 16 is seen in Tokyo as a relative success. Not that US President Donald Trump moved even a millimetre on any of his positions on tariffs.
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2 months ago | 
straitstimes.com | Walter Sim |Wendy Z.W. Teo
TOKYO/SEOUL – They are not household names, but the nuts and bolts they manufacture are used in vehicles bearing the logos of Japan’s Toyota, South Korea’s Hyundai, and America’s General Motors (GM). These businesses, many of which are small-and-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the industrial heartlands of Japan and South Korea, are invisible to car buyers but crucial in firing up the engines of the auto industries.
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2 months ago | 
straitstimes.com | Walter Sim |Mara Cepeda |Wendy Z.W. Teo
TOKYO/MANILA/SEOUL – The United States is not going anywhere and stands shoulder to shoulder with its Indo-Pacific allies in facing down regional threats, especially from China. That was the key message that US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth sought to convey to Japan and the Philippines on his maiden tour of the region ended on March 30 that, however, skipped South Korea.
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Jan 15, 2025 | 
straitstimes.com | Wendy Z.W. Teo
SEOUL – Things came full circle when South Korea’s anti-graft agency finally succeeded on its second attempt to arrest President Yoon Suk Yeol on Jan 15. There is no love lost between the two. When the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) was created in Jan 2021 by then-president Moon Jae-in to curb the authority of the country’s powerful prosecution service, Mr Yoon, who was then chief prosecutor, had vocally opposed his decision and then resigned in protest.
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Jan 14, 2025 | 
straitstimes.com | Wendy Z.W. Teo
SEOUL – The first impeachment trial hearing for South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol ended in minutes, after he failed to turn up. The session had started promptly at 2pm on Jan 14 with the Constitutional Court’s acting chief, Justice Moon Hyung-bae, taking the attendance of those present. Noting the absence of Mr Yoon, Justice Moon then announced that the hearing would not proceed, adding that the second hearing scheduled for Jan 16 will proceed regardless of Mr Yoon’s attendance.
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Dec 3, 2024 | 
straitstimes.com | Wendy Z.W. Teo
SEOUL - Hours into the shock declaration of emergency martial law by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, not a single political ally appeared to be left standing with the embattled leader. Mr Yoon had dropped the bombshell at 10.21pm on Dec 3, during an apparently unannounced TV address. Less than three hours later, all 190 lawmakers in the National Assembly voted to reject his declaration at an emergency plenary session, while troops blocked entry to the parliament building.
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Nov 24, 2024 | 
thestar.com.my | Wendy Z.W. Teo
SEOUL (The Straits Times/ANN): At K-beauty brand Ma:nyo, employees can take time off from work to look after their children, run errands, or pop out for a yoga class or tennis lesson – during office hours. They are free to manage their work schedules, as long as they complete the mandatory number of working hours stipulated each month, which averages about 171 hours. This works out to roughly 8½ hours a day.
