The week-long war games dubbed “Vostok-2018” (East-2018), “have kicked off” in far eastern Russia and on the Pacific Ocean, the defence ministry said in a statement.

It released video footage of military vehicles, planes, helicopters and ships getting into position for the initial stage of the drills.

The drills, which include the Chinese and Mongolian armies, have been condemned by NATO as a rehearsal for “large-scale conflict”.

President Vladimir Putin is expected to attend Vostok-2018 after hosting an economic forum in Russia’s far eastern city Vladivostok where his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping is one of the prominent guests.

The military exercises come at a time of escalating tensions between Moscow and the West over accusations of Russian interference in western affairs and ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.

The Russian army has compared the show of force to the USSR’s 1981 war games that saw between 100,000 and 150,000 Warsaw Pact soldiers take part in “Zapad-81” (West-81) — the largest military exercises of the Soviet era.

But Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said these exercises are even larger, with 300,000 soldiers, 36,000 military vehicles, 1,000 planes and 80 warships taking part in the drills.

“Imagine 36,000 military vehicles moving at the same time: tanks, armoured personnel carriers, infantry fighting vehicles — and all of this, of course, in conditions as close to a combat situation as possible,” Shoigu said.

Latest hardware

The Russian army is rolling out all of its latest additions for the event: Iskander missiles that can carry nuclear warheads, T-80 and T-90 tanks and its recent Su-34 and Su-35 fighter planes.

At sea, the Russian fleet is deploying several frigates equipped with Kalibr missiles that have been used in Syria.

Wednesday will see games featuring anti-aircraft technology, while the main event will be on Thursday, the defence ministry told journalists covering the event in eastern Siberia.

NATO said that Vostok-2018 “demonstrates Russia’s focus on exercising large-scale conflict”.

“It fits into a pattern we have seen over some time — a more assertive Russia, significantly increasing its defence budget and its military presence,” the alliance’s spokesman Dylan White said late August.

Last month, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia’s “ability to defend itself in the current international situation which is often aggressive and unfriendly to our country is justified, essential and without alternative”.

Relations between Russia and the West declined sharply in 2014 with Moscow’s annexation of Crimea and the subsequent conflict in eastern Ukraine.

The Kremlin has also accused NATO of expanding westwards and threatening Russian national security.

Moscow has increased the number of its large-scale military exercises in the Caucasus, the Baltic and the Arctic in recent years.

Russia’s previous military exercise in the region, Vostok-2014, was almost half the size, with 155,000 soldiers participating.

The country’s war games in Eastern Europe last year, Zapad-2017, saw 12,700 troops take part according to Moscow. Ukraine and the Baltic states said the true number was far bigger.

The 69-year-old told Australian television broadcaster Channel Seven that doctors had discovered a tumour at the base of her spine.

She has since undergone radiation treatment, and is also treating the disease with natural therapies such as the use of cannabis oil.

“I’m still treating it, and I’m treating it naturally and doing really well, yeah,” she told the network late Sunday from her home in California.

Newton-John was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1992, but beat the disease. In 2013, she found out that she had cancer in her shoulder.

The entertainer said she has moments of despair but is keeping positive.

“There are moments. I’m human. So if I allow myself to go there, I could easily create that, you know, big fear,” she added.

Newton-John, a supporter of cancer charities since her first diagnosis, said she was also hopeful growing cannabis for personal medicinal use would become legal in Australia, like in California.

“In California it’s legal to grow a certain amount of plants for your own medicinal purposes. So he (husband John Easterling) makes me tinctures. It’s hard to say, they help with pain,” she said.

“I’m very lucky that I live in a state where it’s legal and that I have a husband that is a plant-medicine man.

“My dream is that, in Australia soon, it will be available to all the cancer patients and people going through cancer that causes pain.”

In Australia, medicinal cannabis is legal by prescription from doctors for certain illnesses, although the laws governing its use varies from state to state.

“It was a very warm, very positive letter,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said, adding that the message showed Pyongyang’s “continued commitment to focus on denuclearization” on the Korean Peninsula.

“The primary purpose of the letter was to schedule another meeting with the president, which we are open to and are already in the process of coordinating,” she said Monday at the first White House press briefing in nearly three weeks.

Sanders added that the letter was “further evidence of progress” in Washington’s relationship with Pyongyang.

Trump and Kim held a historic summit in Singapore in June that raised prospects of a breakthrough on curtailing North Korea’s nuclear program.

South Korea’s dovish President Moon Jae-in, who brokered the June meeting, vowed to continue playing the role of a mediator to facilitate dialogue between Trump and Kim.

“The complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula is an issue that should fundamentally be resolved between the US and North Korea through negotiation,” Moon told a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

 – ‘Bold decision’ –

“A big vision and a bold decision between the leaders of North Korea and the US are needed again in order to advance to a higher level in discarding Pyongyang’s existing nuclear weapons,” he added.

Moon will fly to Pyongyang next week for his third meeting with Kim this year.

Despite follow-on negotiations on denuclearizing the peninsula hitting a snag leading to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo canceling a planned trip to the North late last month, the new letter showed signs that the discussions remain alive after weeks of apparent deadlock.

“We think it’s important and we’re glad that we’re making progress,” Sanders said, adding that Trump deserves the “credit” for bringing the two parties to the table.

“At the end of the day, ultimately, it’s always going to be best when you can have the two leaders sit down,” she added.

The White House has pointed to a series of accomplishments in recent months, including a release of US hostages, the repatriation of war remains believed to be of US service members and a pause in North Korea’s missile and nuclear tests, to suggest progress between the foes.

Stephen Biegun, the new US special envoy for North Korea, stressed the importance of maintaining the momentum of dialogue with Pyongyang and said the back-to-back summits created “a tremendous opportunity”.

In a meeting with his South Korean counterpart Lee Do-hoon in Seoul, Biegun called the current diplomatic process the beginning, adding: “So what we need to do is to finish the job.”

And on Sunday, North Korea refrained from displaying its intercontinental missiles — long a bone of contention in its nuclear tensions with Washington — in a massive parade through Pyongyang celebrating the country’s 70th birthday.

– ‘Still waiting’ –

The latest parade “for once was not about their nuclear arsenal,” Sanders said.

Trump thanked Kim for the gesture, saying on Twitter: “This is a big and very positive statement from North Korea.”

Sanders was asked whether the next Trump-Kim meeting would take place in Washington, but she demurred, saying, “we’ll let you know when we have further details.”

The letter’s arrival was confirmed as Trump’s top security advisor said the White House was looking to North Korea for next steps.

“We’re still waiting for them. The possibility of another meeting between the two presidents obviously exists,” said National Security Advisor John Bolton.

“But President Trump can’t make the North Koreans walk through the door he’s holding open. They are the ones that have to take the steps to denuclearize. And that’s what we are waiting for.”

Bolton said in a speech to the Federalist Society that during the Singapore meeting with Trump in June, Kim committed to getting rid of his nuclear weapons, and later agreed with South Korean President Moon Jae-in that it could be done in one year.

After his speech, Bolton told reporters “it’s entirely possible” for the two leaders to meet by year’s end.

In a letter to staff members, Ma cited his reason as giving way to younger generations to take over the tech juggernaut, which also owns the South China Morning Post.

An eloquent and animated public speaker who has attracted a large following with inspirational speeches, the tech mogul has talked about his retirement plans with candour and humour at various events over the past few years.

Here is how Ma envisions his retirement, in his own words.

“Die on the beaches, not in the office”

Ma has repeatedly talked about his hectic travel schedule since retiring as chief executive officer of Alibaba to become executive chairman.

“When I retired from the CEO position, I told the CEO team (in 2013) I should have more time playing golf on the beach.

“But I find, oh my God, spent 870 hours in the air last year, and this year, 1,000 hours,” said Ma, in an interview with American talk show host Charlie Rose at a conference in Detroit in June 2017.

“The thing is, I don’t want to die in my office. I want to die on the beach.”

While Ma is no longer in charge of managing Alibaba’s daily operation, he remains the company’s public face, travelling the world to meet heads of governments and preach on the benefits of globalisation and technological advancement, according to SCMP.

Video clips showing a tired Ma dozing off at a conference made the rounds on social media in January.

Social media users found out he was sitting in the audience at a forum about artificial intelligence, after attending a public event in Hong Kong at 10pm the day before and meeting with the French president in the morning.

“Regret founding Alibaba”

As Alibaba has grown into one of the world’s most valuable companies, joining the ranks of Apple, Microsoft and Amazon, Ma has remarked about his mixed feelings towards the company he co-founded in 1999.

He famously said his “biggest mistake was I made Alibaba”, because of the enormous pressure and responsibility he has had to shoulder to steer the US$420 billion company with more than 86,000 employees.

“I was just trying to do a small business and [not] grow that big, take that many responsibilities and get so much trouble.

“Every day is like being as busy as a president, and I don’t have any power. I don’t have my life,” Ma said at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum in June 2016.

“If I still can have a next life, I will never do a business like this. I will be my own self; I want to enjoy my life,” he continued.

To head such a company also requires political awareness and calculation, as maintaining a good relationship with the government is vital to a large company’s success in China.

Ma has also become increasingly fluent in the Communist Party lingo over the years, having held lectures about the party’s principles and visited historic sites related to the party’s revolution in Yan’an, Shaanxi province.

Passion for teaching

Ma has brought up his longing to return to teaching multiple times in public. He said on a talk show last year that his “happiest moment in life was when I was making just 91 yuan (US$13.26) per month as a poor schoolteacher”.

Ma taught English at a college in China’s eastern city of Hangzhou for six years after graduating from Hangzhou Teacher’s Institute in 1988. He outperformed his peers with lively classes and humorous teaching, and was recognised as one of the “10 outstanding young teachers” at the school in 1994.

“I was never trained in commerce, never been an accountant or programmer. The only thing I do is to learn and share. I work as an entrepreneur in the same way as being a teacher,” Ma told a conference in November.

Ma often referred to himself as the “Chief Education Officer” of Alibaba, and said he would like the next generation of executives to replace him just like “a teacher always wants the students to exceed himself”.

Some 52 per cent of the under-35 generation across the region said they believed technology would increase the number of jobs available, while 67 per cent said it would increase their ability to earn higher incomes.

The survey, taken in partnership with Internet firm Sea, covered 64,000 citizens through users of Garena, Sea’s online games site, and Shopee, its e-commerce platform.

The majority of respondents were in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and the Philippines.

The degree of optimism about the impact of technology on the future of work varied strongly by country.

The youth of Singapore and Thailand were much more pessimistic in their responses, while the youth of Indonesia and the Philippines were much more optimistic.

In Singapore, only 31 per cent said they believed technology would increase the number of jobs, compared to 60 per cent in the Philippines.

The results also varied by level of education. Among those who stated they have no schooling, 56 per cent said they believed technology would increase jobs. Among those with a university degree or higher, only 47 per cent felt the same way.

“Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies like artificial intelligence, advanced robotics and self-driving vehicles will bring significant disruption to the job market,” said Justin Wood, head of Asia Pacific and member of the executive committee at the World Economic Forum. “No one knows yet what impact these technologies will have on jobs and salaries.

“Globally there is concern that technological change may bring rising inequality and joblessness. But in Asean, the sentiment seems to be much more positive.”

The survey also asked young people to reveal what type of company they work for today and where they would like to work in the future.

Today, 58 per cent work for small businesses – either for themselves, for their family business, or for a small or medium-sized enterprise (SME). One in four aspire to work for themselves and start their own business.

However, many working for SMEs said that they would like to work for a different organisation. Today, 17 per cent work in an SME, but only 7 per cent said that they would like to work in an SME in the future.

In contrast, the results show a strong preference to work for foreign multinational companies (10 per cent work for one today, but 17 per cent want to work for one in future) and for governments (13 per cent today compared to 16 per cent in future).

These results suggest a preference for income stability, given the more unpredictable nature of employment in small organisations versus large ones.

But there are nonetheless some countries that show a rising appetite for entrepreneurialism and the associated risk-taking it involves. In Thailand, for example, 26 per cent of young people work for themselves today, but 36 per cent said they would like to in future.

Santitarn Sathirathai, Group Chief Economist at Sea, said, “It is encouraging to see such strong entrepreneurial drive among Asean’s young population, with one-quarter of respondents wanting to start their own business. However, the findings also suggest that SMEs may struggle for talent in the future, with a smaller share of the region’s youth willing to work for SMEs.

“Looking ahead, it will be important to continue to enhance SME adoption of digital technologies to ensure young entrepreneurs and small businesses have the resources they need to succeed.”

The survey also reveals that, across Asean, youth spend an average of six hours and four minutes online every day, with 61 per cent of that time spent on leisure, and 39 per cent spent on work activities.

Among the countries surveyed, the youth of Thailand spend the most time online – an average of seven hours and six minutes. The youth of Vietnam spend the least time online – an average of five hours and 10 minutes.

The commission, to be co-hosted by the Global Center on Adaptation, hosted by the Netherlands in partnership with the World Resources Institute, seeks to “convince countries across the globe to take measures to arm themselves against the consequences of climate change,” the Dutch minister for infrastructure and water management said.

World Bank CEO Kristalina Georgieva will also oversee the Rotterdam-based commission, which styles itself as a ‘solutions broker’ to speed climate reform linking governments and inter-governmental bodies, the private and public sectors according to the announcement which came two days after global climate protests.

“We hope that the need to adapt to climate change may be felt on a global scale,” said the minister, Cora van Nieuwenhuizen, who added a plan of action would be unveiled on protecting the zones most vulnerable to climate change in September of next year.

“Today’s announcements by the Government of the Netherlands is a critical step forward to set in motion more vigorous attention to and action around climate adaptation,” said Ban, who said the commission was embarking on a “worldwide mission to accelerate adaptation”.

Ban, Microsoft founder Gates and Georgieva will be in the Netherlands on October 16 for a conference officially launching the commission.

The launch comes with a coalition of 17 US states having vowed to challenge President Donald Trump after his decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris Accord on climate change and bind themselves by climate change regulations introduced under predecessor Barack Obama.

Thousands of delegates are meanwhile converging on San Francisco for this week’s three-day Global Climate Action Summit designed to take support for the Paris Accord to a new level.

White House National Security Advisor John Bolton called the Hague-based rights body “unaccountable” and “outright dangerous” to the United States, Israel and other allies, and said any probe of US service members would be “an utterly unfounded, unjustifiable investigation.”

“If the court comes after us, Israel or other US allies, we will not sit quietly,” Bolton said.

He said the US was prepared to slap financial sanctions and criminal charges on officials of the court if they proceed against any Americans.

“We will ban its judges and prosecutors from entering the United States. We will sanction their funds in the US financial system, and we will prosecute them in the US criminal system,” Bolton said.

“We will do the same for any company or state that assists an ICC investigation of Americans.”

Bolton made the comments in a speech in Washington to the Federalist Society, a powerful association of legal conservatives.

Investigation into detainee abuse

Bolton pointed to an ICC prosecutor’s request in November 2017 to open an investigation into alleged war crimes committed by the US military and intelligence officials in Afghanistan, especially over the abuse of detainees.

Neither Afghanistan nor any other government party to the ICC’s Rome Statute has requested an investigation, Bolton said.

He said the ICC could formally open the investigation “any day now.”

He also cited a recent move by Palestinian leaders to have Israeli officials prosecuted at the ICC for human rights violations.

“The United States will use any means necessary to protect our citizens and those of our allies from unjust prosecution by this illegitimate court,” Bolton said.

“We will not cooperate with the ICC. We will provide no assistance to the ICC. We certainly will not join the ICC. We will let the ICC die on its own.”

The ICC defended itself, noting it has the support of 123 member states and that even the United Nations Security Council has found it valuable, asking it in 2005 to investigate genocide in Darfur, Sudan.

“The ICC, as a judicial institution, acts strictly within the legal framework of the Rome Statute and is committed to the independent and impartial exercise of its mandate,” it said in a statement.

‘Threat’ to US sovereignty

Bolton said the main objection of President Donald Trump’s administration is to the idea that the ICC could have higher authority than the US Constitution and US sovereignty.

“In secular terms, we don’t recognize any higher authority than the US Constitution,” he said.

“This president will not allow American citizens to be prosecuted by foreign bureaucrats, and he will not allow other nations to dictate our means of self-defense.”

He also condemned the court’s record since it formally started up in 2002, and argued that most major nations had not joined.

He said it had attained just eight convictions despite spending more than $1.5 billion, and said that had not stemmed atrocities around the world.

“In fact, despite ongoing ICC investigations, atrocities continue to occur in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Libya, Syria, and many other nations.” he added.

Bolton was strongly criticized by rights groups. Liz Evenson, associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch, said Bolton’s threats “show callous disregard for victims of atrocity crimes.”

“The slaughter of civilians in Syria, Myanmar and elsewhere shows the ICC is needed more than ever to act where it can,” Evenson added.

She said a move to block the complaints against US soldiers in Afghanistan and against Israel would show the US “more concerned with coddling serial rights abusers… than supporting impartial justice.”

“Making Asean into a community requires consensus, unity and agreement,” Mr Phuc said in an e-mailed reply to questions from The Straits Times. “Asean needs to maintain this spirit in its activities and relationships with others.”

Intra-Asean trade is about a quarter of Asean’s total trade, he pointed out. “To enhance (the bloc’s) economic potential, Asean countries need to increase integration, trade and investment within the bloc, and at the same time expand economic cooperation with partners and promote the leading role of Asean in regional economic integration,” he said.

More than 1,000 participants from 43 countries are attending the three-day forum. Speakers include Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and China’s Vice-Premier Hu Chunhua, as well as 80 specially selected South-east Asian start-ups.

These fledgling businesses, which are developing products and services like syariah-compliant bitcoin and fertilisers that reduce the emission of global-warming contributor nitrous oxide, have their own programme to share their stories of disrupting traditional commerce and exchange tips on funding and growing their businesses.

This is the second time the regional event is in Vietnam. The first was in Ho Chi Minh City in 2010.

Since then, Vietnam’s economy has been one of the strongest performers in South-east Asia. In the first half of this year, its gross domestic product grew 7 per cent, as it maintained the momentum from its 6.8 per cent full-year growth last year. Foreign direct investment inflows also hit a record US$17.5 billion (S$24 billion) last year.

But like the rest of Asean, it faces several headwinds. While increasing automation threatens to take away many of the labour-intensive jobs that continue to drive regional economies, the ongoing trade spat between China and the United States could threaten supply chain networks woven through the bloc. Meanwhile, US interest rate hikes have put downward pressure on regional currencies, especially in Indonesia and the Philippines.

Vietnam has a booming digital economy but bloated bureaucracy that Mr Phuc’s government has been trying to trim. “Policies have to create motivation and opportunities for people and entrepreneurs to do business,” he said. “At the same time, we use the satisfaction of people and entrepreneurs as the measure to evaluate the effectiveness of policies.”

Mr Phuc pledged to accelerate digitalisation in areas like agricultural management, logistics and health. “This will promote quality and efficiency in service industries and increase competitiveness of our industries while creating a big market to grow our digital economy,” he said. “This will let Vietnam take a big step towards the future.”

South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster told up to one million residents of the state’s eastern coast to leave their homes ahead of the storm’s possible arrival on Thursday.

The governor of neighboring North Carolina ordered an evacuation of the Outer Banks, a popular tourist destination, and parts of coastal Dare County, while a state of emergency was declared in Virginia.

“This is a very dangerous hurricane,” McMaster said, adding that the evacuation order for coastal counties was “mandatory, not voluntary.”

“We do not want to risk one South Carolina life in this hurricane,” the governor told a press conference. “We’re liable to have a whole lot of flooding.”

Hurricane Florence has the potential to bring catastrophic flooding to areas of the eastern United States already soaked by heavy rain and may be the strongest storm to hit the region in decades.

A Category 4 on the five-level Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale, Florence was 525 miles south-southeast of Bermuda and the center of the hurricane was forecast to pass between Bermuda and the Bahamas on Tuesday and Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in its 5:00 pm (2100 GMT) advisory.

Florence is currently moving west at around 13 miles per hour.

“Florence has continued to rapidly strengthen,” the NHC said. “Florence is expected to be an extremely dangerous major hurricane through Thursday.”

President Donald Trump tweeted out a message to residents in the storm’s path, urging them to heed the warnings of state and local officials.

“To the incredible citizens of North Carolina, South Carolina and the entire East Coast – the storm looks very bad!” wrote the president, who cancelled a planned rally Friday in Jackson, Mississippi, in light of the approaching storm.

“Please take all necessary precautions. We have already began mobilizing our assets to respond accordingly, and we are here for you!”

Storm surge and hurricane watches

At a hardware store in downtown Charleston, South Carolina, store manager John Johnson said the rush on batteries, flashlights, plastic tarps and sandbags began Friday.

“From eight o’clock ’til two we were slammed,” said Johnson, who sold scores of bags of sand over the weekend, saving just a few to barricade the store’s own doors.

“We were nonstop.”

On Monday afternoon, nurse Barbara Mack was using a small shovel to fill sandbags at a public works facility in Charleston — but she saw a silver lining in the hurricane preparations.

“This is good exercise,” she quipped. “This is probably the only exercise I get this week.”

Storm surge and hurricane watches may be issued Tuesday morning for portions of southeastern US states, the NHC said.

On its current track, Florence is expected to slam the Carolinas and Virginia the hardest.

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam’s office warned of “catastrophic inland flooding, high winds and possible widespread power outages,” cautioning that the deadliest risk would come from flooding.

The US Navy said it was preparing to send about 30 ships stationed in Virginia out to sea.

The vessels will get underway from Naval Station Norfolk and Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek to avoid potential damage from winds and tidal surges, said Colonel Rob Manning a Pentagon spokesman.

Heavy rain in the Washington area over the weekend has already led to flooding in historic Alexandria, Virginia, and the National Weather Service issued a flood watch for part of the Potomac River.

Two more hurricanes

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper’s office said Florence is already being felt along the state’s coast, with large sea swells resulting in life-threatening rip currents and surf.

“This is a huge storm,” said Robert Woodward, chairman of the Dare County Board of Commissioners, predicting 15 to 20 inches (38 to 50 centimeters) of rain.

“Never have we seen quite this type of a storm approach us.”

At this height of the Atlantic hurricane season, Florence was being trailed on east-to-west paths by two other hurricanes, Helene and Isaac.

Helene — 475 miles west of the Cape Verde islands off the African coast — had winds up to 105 miles per hour, and was expected to continue moving west-northwest for another couple of days, the NHC said.

Hurricane Isaac — which late Sunday became the fifth hurricane of the season — is heading west toward the Caribbean.

Isaac, which the NHC called a small hurricane, was about 1,090 miles east of the Lesser Antilles — a region still recovering from last year’s powerful Hurricane Maria — with maximum sustained winds of 75 miles per hour.

Maria — which killed at least 3,057 people, most in Puerto Rico — is believed to be the third-costliest tropical cyclone on record.

Hurricane Katrina was a Category 3 storm when it made landfall on the Gulf Coast in August 2005 — claiming an estimated 1,833 lives.

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea on Monday said the Labor Ministry has accepted its recommendation to allow such changes.

Female migrant laborers who work at Korean farms are especially vulnerable to sexual harassment at the workplace, according to a report by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea.

About 30 percent of them are estimated to have been sexually assaulted by superiors at work, while the figure for female migrant workers in other sectors, such as factories and restaurants, stands at about 10 percent.

Some 324,000 foreign-born migrant women were working in Korea as of 2016, accounting for 33.7 percent of all migrant workers in the country, according to the report. The largest proportion of female migrant workers were employed at restaurants, manufacturing businesses and farms.

More than 50 percent of all foreign-born women who work at Korean farms, whose accommodations are provided by employers, live in either containers or vinyl greenhouses, often without locks, making them vulnerable to sexual harassment and other forms of violence, the report said.

In a 2016 study that surveyed 87 foreign-born female farm workers living in vinyl greenhouses or containers, 55 percent said they had no choice but to share their accommodation with male migrant workers. Fifty percent said their Korean superiors at work had access to their accommodation and would make unannounced visits.

The human rights agency advised the Korean Labor Ministry to come up with measures to ensure housing safety for all female migrant workers.

It has also advised the ministry to allow female migrant workers who are sexually harassed at work to change employers within the sector.