#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/world/asia-pacific/40020990

North Korea says it has deployed ‘nuclear-capable’ cruise missiles

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2022

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un oversaw the launch of two long-range strategic cruise missiles, state media reported on Thursday, calling it a test to confirm the reliability and operation of nuclear-capable weapons deployed to military units.

The test was conducted on Wednesday and was aimed at “enhancing the combat efficiency and might” of cruise missiles deployed by the Korean People’s Army “for the operation of tactical nukes”, state media Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

Stressing that the test was another clear warning to its “enemies”, Kim said the country “should continue to expand the operational sphere of its nuclear strategic armed forces to resolutely deter any crucial military crisis and war crisis at any time and completely take the initiative in it”, according to KCNA.

On Monday, KCNA said Kim had guided nuclear tactical exercises targeting South Korea over the past two weeks in protest over recent joint naval drills by South Korean and US forces involving an aircraft carrier.

KCNA reported that the two missiles test-fired on Wednesday flew for “10,234 seconds to clearly hit the target 2,000km away”.

North Korea first tested a strategic cruise missile in September 2021, seen by analysts at the time as possibly the country’s first such weapon with nuclear capability.

Wednesday’s test confirms that nuclear role and that it is now operational, although it is unclear whether North Korea has mastered the technology needed to build warheads small enough to be carried on a cruise missile.

The cruise missiles are among a number of smaller weapons recently developed by North Korea seen as being able to fly low and manoeuvre in order to better evade missile defences.

Kim said last year that developing smaller bombs is a top goal, and officials in Seoul have said that if the North resumes nuclear testing for the first time since 2017, developing smaller devices could be among its goals.

North Korea’s cruise missiles usually generate less interest than ballistic missiles because they are not explicitly banned under UN Security Council resolutions.

Cruise missiles and short-range ballistic missiles that can be armed with either conventional or nuclear bombs are particularly destabilising in the event of conflict as it can be unclear which kind of warhead they are carrying, analysts said.

US President Joe Biden’s administration rolled out a long-delayed national security strategy on Wednesday with only a lone reference to North Korea, underscoring limited options to contain its nuclear and missile programmes.

Daniel Russel, the top US diplomat for East Asia under former president Barack Obama, said this was striking, “not only because it passes so quickly past a persistent and existential threat, but also because it frames the strategy as ‘seeking sustained diplomacy toward denuclearisation’, when North Korea has so convincingly demonstrated its utter rejection of negotiations”

The Japan Times

Asia News Network

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/world/asia-pacific/40020989

S Korea lost track of missile fired in response to N Korean IRBM launch: officials

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2022

South Korea lost track of a missile fired during last week’s drills held in response to a North Korean intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) launch, Seoul officials said on Thursday, in a failure that raised questions over the missile’s performance.

It was one of the two Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) rockets the South Korean military fired into the East Sea following the North’s IRBM launch on October 4. US Forces Korea also fired two ATACMS missiles in the combined drills.

The missile went “out of contact”, meaning it remained unknown whether it hit the intended target. The three other missiles accurately hit mock targets, according to informed sources.

After the drills, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missiles were fired for precision strikes at the targets, and that the allies demonstrated their combined force to deter additional North Korean provocations.

Also in response to the North’s IRBM launch, the South Korean military sent aloft a Hyunmoo-2C ballistic missile.

But it fell inside a military base after an abnormal flight. Its warhead was found around 1km from the launch point and just 700 metres away from the nearest civilian home, a JCS official said, requesting anonymity.

The Korea Herald

Asia News Network

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/world/40020975

Charting new pathways inspired by the Bio-Circular-Green Economy

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2022

Thailand, Apec’s host in 2022, has put forward the bio-circular-green economy as a cross-cutting, interconnected, and collaborative way of approaching environmental challenges.

Climate change is worsening. We can feel this in the recent onslaught of Typhoons Hinnamnor and Noru when they devastated communities and disrupted industries in Asia, or of Hurricane Ian when it flooded cities across America. We can sense this in the rising seawater, slowly encroaching on our coastal communities. In fact, about 167 million people in the Apec region are at risk of being displaced.

Indeed, climate change is a common concern, and rightly so, because many of our other challenges are connected to climate change—the rising cost of living, creeping hunger, or deepening inequalities, among others. This tells us at least one thing: our solutions cannot be siloed. We need them to be cross-cutting, interconnected, and collaborative.
 
One way of developing such solutions is through the bio-circular-green (BCG) economy. It integrates policies across the bioeconomy, the circular economy, and the green economy and, by doing so, BCG economy solutions synergize the individual strengths of all three. To illustrate, economies produce waste as a consequence of economic activity, but the impact of these residuals on the environment can be mitigated or eliminated by using cleaner inputs (bioeconomy), reusing or recycling (circular economy), or incorporating ecosystem services into the production system itself (green economy).

BCG economy solutions put an emphasis on improving the quality of policy design and implementation, which allows interventions to close existing policy loopholes. For example, gains from cleaner production can be offset when the circular economy is overwhelmed by increased consumption and production patterns, thereby causing a rebound effect. What the BCG economy can do here is to then incorporate behavioural interventions through education programs. Ultimately, the BCG economy becomes empowered to guide us in three important ways. 

First, it helps us reframe how we approach development. We traditionally confine development mostly within continuous economic growth (GDP), but climate change necessitates us to reframe this idea. In this context, the BCG economy invites us to look at development as improving socioeconomic welfare that goes together with environmental sustainability.
 
Second, it encourages us to rethink how we use our resources. For instance, Apec generates about 364 million tons of food waste each year, and more than half of this comes from households. Clearly, transforming this food waste into something productive is important because waste is socially unacceptable when millions of people are hungry, and because it contributes to climate change. One way to transform waste is by converting it into renewable electricity using biogas or by upcycling it into innovative solar panels, examples that point out two important ideas for being more resourceful: circularity and innovation.

Third, it continuously reminds us that inclusive and active participation is important. The BCG economy naturally involves the active participation of stakeholders, even across borders. Within this context, the growing role of the private sector must be emphasized. In fact, the International Energy Agency highlighted that around 70 per cent of the USD 3.9 trillion global clean energy investment required to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 needs to come from private investment, underscoring the need for low-cost financing. But participation also includes the broader community (e.g., sectoral coalitions, civil society, and government). In other words, BCG economy solutions require a whole-of-society approach.
 
However, the success of BCG economy solutions depends on our support for its key drivers: the regulatory environment; technology and innovation; and stakeholder participation. 
 
We can support these key drivers by addressing their challenges.  For example, a common issue in the regulatory environment is policy silos, which are formed when communication and coordination among policymakers are weak. Applying BCG economy principles of inclusive and active participation would strengthen institutions by connecting policymaking and policy-enforcing entities, thereby promoting good governance. This could take the form of regular channels for coordination and idea-sharing across agencies, or sound regulatory instruments such as carbon budgeting and ex-ante environmental impact assessments, or even an economy-wide coordinating strategy, among others. 
 
Another way to support the BCG economy’s key drivers is by leveraging international cooperation and collaboration. There is reasonable value in creating networks that connect multiple stakeholders across economies. Apec itself, as a regional forum, can incubate new ideas and advance discussions on BCG economy solutions. Much of this work will be done in 2022 under the host year of Thailand, which has made promoting the BCG economy its flagship priority.  
 
At the end of the day, everyone plays a key role in resolving climate change. Policymakers, academia, businesses, civil society organizations, the youth, and other stakeholders can jointly contribute to ensuring that Apec can chart new pathways inspired by the BCG economy and secure a future where succeeding generations can live better.

Sylwyn Calizo Jr.
 
Sylwyn Calizo Jr. is a researcher for the Apec Policy Support Unit and author of the policy brief, “Charting New Pathways for Apec: A Sustainable Future Inspired by the Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) Economy.”

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/world/asia-pacific/40020969

No decision yet on Putin attending Apec Summit, Russian ambassador clarifies

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2022

Russia’s Ambassador to Thailand Evgeny Tomikhin on Wednesday denied news that Russian President Vladimir Putin would attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Summit, saying that Moscow will make the best decision on this issue later.

His clarification came after a source from a security agency said that Putin would attend the Apec Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Bangkok on November 18-19.

“We will make the best decision on whether Russia will send a representative to attend the summit or not,” he said, adding that the decision would be made when the summit is near.

He expected the upcoming summit to help relieve tensions among the global community.

Tomikhin added that Russia is eager to cooperate with Apec on digitalisation as digital technologies are necessary for promoting connection in the Asia-Pacific region, such as infrastructure, transportation and logistics.

“It is necessary for Apec members to work on internet and digital economy roadmaps,” he said, adding that the business sector should be allowed to participate in this issue as well.

He said Russia is interested to cooperate with Apec members in many fields, such as digitalisation, climate change, Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) economy model and free-trade agreements.

He added that Russia is ready to support Thailand on BCG and travel facilitation in the post-Covid-19 era.

“As an Apec member, we will continue promoting long-term cooperation with Thailand in various fields, such as agriculture, nuclear power, industry and medical supplies,” he said, adding that Russia is ready to cooperate with other Apec members as well.

He also hoped other Apec members would work in a creative way to get the best results.

Tomikhin advised Apec members not to rely solely on information from western media outlets, saying that geopolitical issues are complicated and cannot be solved with easy solutions.

“I hope Thais pay more attention to information from media outlets in Russia, Asia and the Middle East, which is the only way to create unbiased ideas,” he said.

He also wished good luck to Thailand for hosting the Apec Summit, adding that it is an opportunity and challenge at the same time.

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/world/asia-pacific/40020962

Australia still feels the pain on 20th anniversary of Bali bombings

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2022

Australia’s Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, on Wednesday marked the 20th anniversary of the gruesome bombings in Bali, Indonesia, that left 202 people dead, including 88 Australians and 38 Indonesian citizens.

“Twenty years ago, an act of malice and calculated depravity robbed the world of 202 lives, including 88 Australians. Twenty years on, the ache does not dim,” Albanese said at the commemoration event, which took place in Coogee, a suburb of Sydney.

“That night, the terrorists could not achieve their aim. What they struck they could not defeat, because what they struck at was the idea of ‘us’…they struck at humanity,” he added.

To symbolise the Australians who lost their lives in the 2002 bombings, 88 white doves were released into the sky.

The two, almost simultaneous blasts on Bali’s Kuta strip late at night on October 12, 2002 — one at Paddy’s Bar, the other at the Sari Club — devastated the resort island’s tourist industry.

The attacks, blamed on Southeast Asian Islamic militant group Jemaah Islamiah, were intended to scare away foreigners so that Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, could eventually become part of a larger Islamic caliphate.

Instead, the series of bomb attacks in Bali and Jakarta pushed Indonesia into a closer security and intelligence relationship with the United States and Australia as the government sought help in tackling Islamic militants.

Security forces detained nearly 600 militants, most of whom were jailed, since the attack.

REUTERS

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/world/us-canada/40020961

Biden warns S Arabia of ‘consequences’ after Opec+ move to cut production

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2022

US President Joe Biden promised Saudi Arabia on Tuesday that “there will be consequences” after the Middle East nation with Opec Plus agreed to go in for a large oil production cut despite pleas by the United States against doing so.

The US accused Riyadh of kowtowing to Russia.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre gave no timeline for any possible action but made it clear the United States would be watching the situation closely “over the coming weeks and months”.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Bob Menendez had said the US must immediately freeze all cooperation with Saudi Arabia, including arms sales.

Opec Plus, which also groups Russia, announced plans for an oil production cut, ignoring lobbying by US officials against such a move, especially amid an increase in oil prices, which has hit people hard.

US officials had earlier tried to persuade Saudi Arabia not to go in for the production cut, but de factor ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was reportedly not convinced.

Bin Salman and Biden had clashed when the latter visited Jeddah in July and brought up the death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, according to a source.

The prince had denied ordering the killing but reportedly acknowledged it took place under his watch. Biden said in July he told the prince he thought he was responsible.

White House National Security spokesperson John Kirby said Biden would work with Congress “to think through what that relationship [with Saudi Arabia] ought to look like going forward”.

Kirby added: “And I think he’s going to be willing to start to have those conversations right away. I don’t think this is anything that’s going to have to wait or should wait, quite frankly, for much longer.”

Source: Reuters

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/world/asia-pacific/40020959

Why South Korean chaebol chief calls K-food the next big thing

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2022

In a surprising move, SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won recently stepped up as an evangelist for hansik, or Korean food, even though his sprawling energy-to-chip business has no food subsidiary.

Last month he hosted a banquet at a fancy hansik restaurant in New York to invite a dozen UN ambassadors and introduced them to Korean cuisine and its unique ingredients.

He even appeared in a TV show as a main host to discuss ways to nurture K-food as a potent industry that appeals to the global audience like K-pop and K-drama.

“If there are enough ideas and systems to support the industrialisation of hansik, the potential seems almost unlimited,” Chey said during the show titled “Sikja Summit”.

Sikja can be roughly translated into “food meets knowledge” in Korean.

The market potential actually looks strong enough.

According to industry data compiled by the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corp, the global food market is expected to exceed $9 trillion (342.5 trillion baht) in 2024. Last year’s $8 trillion is more than 13 times larger than the market for semiconductor chips, Korea’s biggest export item.

Its ripple effect is also huge. A local think tank run by Kyunghee University estimates the nation’s hansik business generates about 23 trillion won (609 billion baht) in economic impact per year, the equivalent of selling 520,000 vehicles.

But the potential has not yet been nurtured into a full-fledged industrial push. Rather, the country’s whole hansik industry faces an existential crisis now.

Cho Hee-sook, a renowned hansik chef, pinpointed a talent shortage as the most urgent issue to tackle.

“It is a chronic issue that actually started decades ago,” she said during the show. “There has been no progress in the training system for hansik talent.”

In a recent survey conducted by Hansik Promotion Institute, only 23 per cent of culinary students said they wanted to pursue a career in hansik. For those not choosing to do so, 43.8 per cent said they are not just attracted to hansik, while 13.7 per cent cited the harsh work environment.

Establishing an elite cooking school like France’s Le Cordon Bleu and Ferrandi may be a solution to attracting more talent into the hansik industry, but more fundamentally investments should be made to change the industrial structure drastically, said Kwon Woo-joong, the owner chef of KwonSookSoo, a Michelin two-star hansik restaurant in Seoul.

“More investments can change the industrial structure and pave the way for hansik’s premium strategy,” he said. “Like in the fields of art and sports, investments should be made to nurture culinary chefs, which would speed up the industrialisation of K-food.”

Industry watchers agree that globalising K-food is a different story from industrialising it.

While globalisation is about raising awareness about hansik, turning Korean food into a competitive industry is about crafting the culture that works globally.

Chey who doubles as chairman of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, seems to have a good understanding on the need to nurture hansik as one of the nation’s future growth drivers, according to industry watchers.

Based on discussions made throughout the TV show, Chey appears to have asked the KCCI to come up with more concrete ideas to facilitate hansik’s growth and its global reach ultimately.

“There have been numerous failed attempts to globalise K-food. Food is an essence of our culture but has not yet been fully embraced globally despite the recent frenzy about K-pop and K-drama,” said Oh Il-sun, head of market tracker Korea CXO Institute.

Saying he was pleasantly surprised to see a chaebol leader appearing in a TV show, Oh added Chey could play a role in speeding up the overall discussions on hansik’s industrialisation.

“Chey is a distinctive chaebol leader who openly communicates with the public. His friendly image could help renew awareness about K-food and its global potential.”

Other industry watchers say that he seems to be wanting to be more than a business tycoon – someone who could contribute in economic growth and cultural prosperity of South Korea.

In the final episode of “Sikja Summit”, which aired on September 20, Chey made it clear that his push for hansik’s industrial success was not a one-time event.

“It is my mission to nurture hansik as an industry that plays the country’s future growth driver,” he said.

The Korea Herald

Asia News Network

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/pr-news/world/china/40020956

Hoteliers in China tap into rising interest in stargazing with astronomy-themed events

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2022

As stargazing becomes increasingly popular in Beijing, the city’s suburban areas, where there is a better natural environment and clearer skies than downtown, are seeing flocks of visitors, happy to pay big money for the experience of being blanketed by stars at night.

Yang Dong, general manager of Daxishui Xiyuan Homestay in northeastern Pinggu district, has been running such a business for nearly two years.

“I started to realise that stargazing has become a hot trend last summer when our hotel rooms were booked up for the whole of July and August,” Yang explained.

“Most of our guests came to the homestay for camping and enjoy the astronomy-themed events.”

Yang, who has worked in the commercial real estate industry for 10 years, took up his current management position in early 2021.

The homestay, which was transformed from a previous high-end hotel, opened to the public in 2020, aimed at providing a natural environment with mountains and lakes for guests.

Seeing the soaring demand for stargazing in the capital, the homestay swiftly seized the opportunity by raising 20 “star tents” in its open outdoor area last year.

“In fact, we already have four loft rooms themed around stargazing, where people can see the night sky through a glass ceiling,” Yang said. “However, they are always booked when the demand is high. So, we added well-equipped tents to meet the needs of guests.

“Also, the rate of the loft room is around 3,500 yuan (THB18,000) per night on weekends and during holidays, it is a bit high,” he said.

The average price of each tent per night ranges from 600 to 800 yuan.

Despite being called tents, they are similar to hotel rooms, replete with insulating layers, thick rugs, a sofa, a queen-sized bed, clothes hangers and lamps.

Since the tents are near Jinhai Lake, people can enjoy both the view of the lake and the stars at the same time.

“Sometimes, we receive guests carrying professional telescopes and cameras. Such guests make up around one-fifth of our clientele. Most of the time, people enjoy the night sky with the naked eye,” Yang added.

“The air quality is perfect in Pinggu since it’s far from the urban downtown. People can see starry skies most nights.”

“Business is pretty good,” Yang said. “I discovered the other day that several other hotels have also adopted an astronomy theme this year.”

Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism published a list of stargazing tourism destinations and homestays, covering villages in many suburban districts including Huairou, Yanqing, Fangshan and Shunyi.

Yang expects that the stargazing business will be long-lasting, saying that “with the burdens and stresses of daily life, people always have a desire to look up at the beauty of the night sky”.

China Daily

Asia News Network

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/world/americas/40020954

At least 100 may have been killed as floods ravage Venezuelan city

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2022

Hundreds of Venezuelans roamed the streets of the small town of Las Tejerias on Tuesday, digging and searching for missing relatives amid a rising death toll from devastating weekend floods that swept through the town about 67km southwest of the capital Caracas, leaving many wondering where they will live.

Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said 43 people had been confirmed killed in the disaster, while President Nicolas Maduro said earlier on state television that as many as 100 may have died. Some 56 people were still reported missing, Maduro said.

A local, Nataly Matos, is still searching for her mum. The last time Matos heard from her, her mum had called to say she was drowning in her kitchen.

Matos said she and her friends are checking in hospitals and dispensaries, as she posted pictures of her mother on social media networks, with no news yet.

Though electricity and cellphone coverage have been restored to the town of 73,000 people, it remains without running water, according to Reuters witnesses.

The floods carried mud, rocks, trees and other debris into the town in Venezuela’s Aragua state, destroying houses and businesses.

Government officials who visited Las Tejerias promised to help rebuild all the houses and businesses affected.

More than 1,000 homes were destroyed or damaged, officials said on Monday

Reuters

#SootinClaimon.Com : ขอบคุณแหล่งข้อมูล : หนังสือพิมพ์ The Nation.

https://www.nationthailand.com/world/europe/40020948

King Charles III Coronation on May 6

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2022

The Coronation ceremony for His Majesty King Charles III will be held on May 6 next year, Buckingham Palace announced.

It will take place at Westminster Abbey in London and be conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

At the ceremony, King Charles III will be crowned alongside his Queen Consort Camilla.

The ceremony will reflect the current monarch’s role while being rooted in longstanding traditions and pageantry, the palace said, adding that further details would be announced in due course.

King Charles III acceded to the throne on September 8 following Queen Elizabeth II’s death. Her reign spanned 70 years, 214 days.