NK hackers attacked S Korean atomic energy think tank
An opposition lawmaker claimed on Friday that a hacking unit of the North Korean intelligence agency attacked the internal network of a South Korean state-funded atomic energy think tank which holds critical information on nuclear power plants and nuclear materials.
Rep. Ha Tae-keung of the People Power Party, who sits on the parliamentary intelligence committee, held a press conference Friday morning and disclosed information about the alleged cyberattacks on the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute.
According to the data, 13 unauthorized, external IPs accessed the internal network of KAERI on May 14.
A research group specializing in Pyongyang‘s cyberterrorist activities tracked the IPs and confirmed that some were connected to the server of a hacking unit called “kimsuky” under the North’s Reconnaissance General Bureau, Ha said.
Kimsuky is believed to have led hacking attacks on pharmaceutical companies such as AstraZeneca and Celltrion last year.
The research group also confirmed that some of the IP addresses had previously used the email address of Moon Chung-in, former special advisor to President Moon Jae-in on foreign affairs, which suggests that they are related to the hacking incident of Moon’s email in 2018, Ha said.
“Had the nation’s core technologies on nuclear power been leaked, it could be recorded as a mega security accident comparable to the hacking of the national defense network in 2016,” he said.
Ha also claimed that KAERI tried to cover up the recent hacking attempt by saying there was no such incident when he initially asked them.
“It is impossible to not know that it happened. The government should disclose what happened,” he said.
“Ever since the Moon Jae-in administration took office, the (South Korean) government is trying not to admit hacking (attempts) by North Korea.”
KAERI acknowledged that its internal network has been infiltrated by hackers, but said it was still looking into who was behind the attack, and whether they took certain data.
“We are still investigating which information (the hackers) accessed,” a KAERI official said.
“We tightened network security by setting up firewalls for the external network and updated our internal network.”
Pakistan will ‘absolutely not’ allow bases to US for action in Afghanistan: PM Imran
Prime Minister Imran Khan has categorically said that Pakistan would “absolutely not” allow any bases and use of its territory to the US for any sort of action inside Afghanistan.
“Absolutely not. There is no way we are going to allow any bases, any sort of action from Pakistani territory into Afghanistan. Absolutely not,” the prime minister told Axios on HBO in an interview.
In an excerpt of the interview, to be aired on Sunday, on the Axios website, the interviewer Jonathan Swan had questioned, “Would you allow the American government to have CIA here in Pakistan to conduct cross-border counterterrorism missions against Al-Qaeda, ISIS or the Taliban?”
Surprised over his clear-cut response of “absolutely not”, the interviewer interrupts the prime minister to reconfirm his words asking, “Seriously?”
Axios on HBO is a documentary-news programme that combines the reporting of Axios journalists with the expertise of HBO filmmakers to explore the collision of tech, media, business, and politics.
The series has featured interviews with former US president Donald Trump, Sundar Pichai, Elon Musk, Mary Barra, now US President Joe Biden, Andrew Yang and Kamala Harris, among others.
Recently, in his address in the Senate, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi ruled out the possibility of providing military bases to the United States for counterterrorism operations in Afghanistan.
He rejected as unfounded the reports to this effect and made it clear that the government would never provide military bases to the US, nor would allow drone attacks inside Pakistan.
In a cabinet briefing, Information Minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain also ruled out the possibility of any airbase of the United States in Pakistan saying all such facilities were under Pakistan’s own use.
He said it was the PTI-led government that ended ‘drone surveillance’ facility given to the US in the past.
“All the airbases are under the use of Pakistan. Right now, no negotiations in this regard are underway as Pakistan cannot give any airbase [to any country],” he said.
Car explodes near UN office and a highschool, injures at least one
A car exploded in Yangon near the United Nations office and No.1 Basic Education Highschool along Natmauk Road, injuring at least 1.
The injured was sent to the hospital and the civilian vehicle sustained major damages.
“As far as I know, the injured is being sent to the hospital. I don’t know anything else,” said a local that lived nearby.
The scene of the incident was closed to the Kandawgyi Garden. Natmauk Road, a road leading to the United Nations office, has been closed off since a few months back.
This story will be updated if investigations yield more results.
On June 18, two motorvehicles, including a military truck, had exploded in Tamwe Township on June 18.
‘UN resolution fails to adequately reflect on Rohingya crisis’
Bangladesh expressed deep disappointment during adoption of the resolution on the situation of Myanmar, which it said, failed to adequately reflect on the Rohingya crisis and in recommending any action to resolve that crisis.
The resolution on the ‘Situation in Myanmar’ was adopted by the UN General Assembly on June 18 with 119 votes in favour, 1 against and 36 abstentions. Bangladesh also abstained.
It focused on the current democratic crisis in the country, including the declaration of emergency, and detention of its political leader, calling for restoration of democracy, while recognizing the central role of ASEAN.
The resolution was initiated by a core group of member states including the US, EU, UK, and Canada among others. The core group finalised the resolution in consultation with ASEAN members, who recently held a Leaders’ Summit in Bangkok, which was also attended by the Myanmar military leader. The GA resolution welcomes the five-point consensus reached at the Leader’s Summit and calls for its swift implementation.
However, the resolution did not include any recommendations or actions on the issue of repatriation of the Rohingya Muslims to Myanmar. Neither does it recognize nor stress the need for creating a conducive environment in Rakhine for the safe, sustainable and dignified return, said Bangladesh’s Permanent Mission to the UN in New York.
“The resolution also lacks determination to address root causes of the Rohingya crisis through collective means. As such fundamental issues were not included in the resolution; therefore Bangladesh decided to abstain.”
Some key OIC members, including some ASEAN and SAARC members also abstained. A large number of countries spoke after the adoption of the resolution, and they all commended Bangladesh’s tremendous sacrifice and contribution in hosting the Rohingyas.
Bangladesh Ambassador to the UN Rabab Fatima, in her explanation of vote, expressed dismay at the resolution, which she said, fell short of expectations and would be sending a wrong message.
She said, “The failure of the international community in addressing the crisis, creates a sense of impunity in Myanmar.”
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It may be noted that, this UNGA resolution, which has been initiated under the agenda item “Prevention of Armed Conflict”, is separate from the annual 3rd committee “resolution on the situation of human rights of the Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar”.
The 3rd committee resolution on the Rohingya Muslims is spearheaded by Bangladesh along with the OIC and the EU. It is usually tabled in October during the annual session of the UN General Assembly, and enjoys strong support of the wider membership of the UN.
53,000 overseas visitors expected to travel to Japan for Games
The Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games expects about 53,000 officials and others to travel to Japan for the Games. The figure, which excludes athletes, is less than one-third of the original plan of about 180,000, and 25,000 fewer than a revised estimate announced last month.
Including members of the International Olympic Committee, their families, and executives of each international sports federation, about 41,000 visitors are expected to come to Japan for the Olympics and about 12,000 for the Paralympics.
The organizing committee had reduced the estimated number of officials to 78,000 in late May as part of efforts to simplify the Games.
It also announced that strict measures would be taken for athletes from India and other countries for which Japan has toughened border restrictions amid the spread of coronavirus variants.
Athletes from such countries will be required to undergo daily tests for seven days before departing for Japan and asked not to train with representatives of other countries and regions for three days after entering the country.
First time after abrogating Article 370, Modi to meet J&K opposition leaders on 24 June
The move is being seen as an olive branch to the alienated Kashmiri leaders most of whom were put under detention for more than a year after J&K’s special status was scrapped and the state split into two union territories on 5 August 2019.
For the first time after abrogating Article 370, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a bid to end the political impasse, is expected to chair an all-party meeting on 24 June with the leaders of the mainstream parties of Jammu and Kashmir.
The move is being seen as an olive branch to the alienated Kashmiri leaders most of whom were put under detention for more than a year after J&K’s special status was scrapped and the state split into two union territories on 5 August 2019.
Reacting to media reports about the meeting, National Conference (NC) chief Dr Farooq Abdullah told The Statesman over the phone from Srinagar on Saturday that he has yet to receive a formal invitation from New Delhi and once we get it then we will first sit down with other constituents of the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) to discuss the strategy.
Abdullah is the President of the PAGD and had said in its recent meeting that he was open to talks with the centre on the Kashmir issue.
PDP chief and former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said that she would first discuss the issue within her party. CPI(M) leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami said that he would be in a position to react only if he gets the invitation.
It is yet to be seen which parties and leaders of Jammu are invited for the PM’s meeting. The Jammu region has different grievances than that of Kashmir.
The development came a day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday reviewed the situation and development programmes in a high-level meeting. Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Home secretary Ajay Bhalla, IB Chief Arvind Kumar, J&K DGP Dilbag Singh and top officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs, IB and CRPF participated in the meeting that came days before the second anniversary of abrogation of the Article 370 and 35A.
There were speculations that restoration of statehood to J&K or holding assembly elections under the fresh delimitation might be on the agenda of the PM’s talks.
It is exactly three years today that Jammu and Kashmir has been without an elected government after Mehbooba Mufti as chief minister lost power on 19 June 2018 when the BJP withdrew support to her.
The central leadership, including Modi and Shah during this period, a couple of times met Altaf Bukhari who established J&K Apni Party after splitting from the PDP.
Việt Nam calls for early completion of ASEAN travel corridor framework
HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyễn Quốc Dũng suggested ASEAN soon finalise a travel corridor framework for the safe resumption of essential business travel.
The official was speaking while addressing the ASEAN Joint Consultative Meeting (JCM) on Thursday.
The event took place via videoconference chaired by Brunei, which holds the ASEAN Chairmanship in 2021.
Participants at the meeting recognised the progress in ASEAN Community building over the last six months despite the complex COVID-19 situation in the region.
They expressed their countries’ support for Brunei to promote the initiatives and priorities for the ASEAN Year 2021.
They agreed on the roadmap for building the ASEAN Community’s post-2025 vision and on the establishment of a high-level drafting group this year.
The meeting also concurred on building an ASEAN master plan on the Fourth Industrial Revolution and accelerating the Strategic and Holistic Initiative to Link ASEAN Responses to Emergencies and Disasters (ASEAN SHIELD).
Officials agreed to step up the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines via UNICEF and the COVAX Facility to supply member countries, asking ASEAN to promptly used US$10.5 million from its COVID-19 response fund to purchase vaccines.
Stressing the importance of sustainable recovery, the countries highlighted the need for the entire bloc’s engagement in implementing the ASEAN Comprehensive Recovery Framework, and for supporting enterprises, vulnerable groups, and remote areas in the region.
At the meeting, they welcomed and approved Việt Nam’s initiative to organise an ASEAN forum on sub-regional co-operation in the third quarter of this year to focus on narrowing the development gap among sub-regions for comprehensive recovery and sustainable development.
They also highly valued the outcomes of the regional conference on the implementation of the Initiative for ASEAN Integration for 2021 – 2025, held on May 19 and chaired by Việt Nam.
In his remarks, Deputy Minister Dũng said ASEAN should prioritise recovering and promoting connectivity by effectively implementing the ASEAN Comprehensive Recovery Framework and soon finalising an ASEAN travel corridor arrangement framework to facilitate travel within the bloc.
He also pointed out the COVID-19 pandemic’s impacts on the region, including the widened development gap among sub-regions in ASEAN.
The official called on member countries to assist remote areas, including the Mekong sub-region, to recover from the pandemic and keep up with the common development pace in the grouping. — VNS
Demand for overseas travel soars after more than a year of staying put
Travel agencies are rushing to come up with new products to satisfy changed needs of pandemic travels
Demand for travel is back in Korea.
Fueled by the government’s recent announcements that travel bubble partnerships with other countries could be in the cards, grounded travel-hungry individuals are anticipating a return of quarantine-free holidays.
So are businesses in the tourism industry that have been hit hard by a bruising pandemic since early 2020.
A leading Korean travel agency which offered a Europe vacation package on a TV shopping channel on June 16 saw some 52,000 people booking the trip within an hour.
This would not have been unusual before the pandemic when flights and hotels were fully booked months ahead of the peak summer and winter vacation seasons.
Pandemic standstill
Yellow Balloon tour, one of the major travel agencies in the country, recalls how the pandemic had brought business to an abrupt halt.
“Looking back, it was devastating. Travel agencies were hit directly by the pandemic, and everything we had planned for the year 2020 were put on hold,” Heo Youl, the agency’s public relations manager told The Korea Herald.
While many smaller travel agencies went out of business, at major players in the market, like Yellow Balloon tour, employee dismissals were followed by shortened work hours. That meant staff were subject to wage cuts for an indefinite period of time.
The number of employees at six listed travel agencies stood at 4,268 in March, down 15.4 percent from the same period last year, according to the Financial Supervisory Service’s electronic disclosure system.
For Urban Place, a startup travel agency which opened its doors in May 2019, the pandemic was especially hard.
“We had planned every detail of our tour packages, which differ from those offered by traditional agencies,” Urban Place Chief Director Lee Sang-bum told The Korea Herald.
“Just as our programs started to go viral on social media and were receiving good responses, two-thirds of the packages were immediately halted starting March 2020. There were zero bookings on our website. No one has called our office or paid attention (to our products) since then,” Lee said.
The company then had to scramble to apologize to the accommodations and rental car businesses with which the company had just formed partnerships with, he added.
Survival strategies
After the pandemic hit, shortening travel distances and durations to “maximize” customer convenience and safety has been one of the key strategies adopted by travel agencies big and small.
Online travel agency platforms were seen as desirable business models by many travel agencies, as it alleviates the burden of making reservations and payments for airlines, hotels, tours, activities, rental cars and others, but still allows flexible choices rather than having to select from package tours.
Such model is likely to take off as industry players predict holidaygoers are looking to seek destinations off the beaten track.
“The keyword that came up to the minds of those coming to work with no work to do, was ‘customization.’ The company started developing a step-by-step preference system for individual customers, instead of the existing package trips that had all the options built inside,” Heo said.
Especially as trips with big groups and families are not feasible nor safe in an era when social distancing is the new norm, it has spurred development of new business models that cater to individuals, Heo added.
Meanwhile, Frip, a social leisure activity travel platform, which has gained huge popularity among millennials and Generation Z in Korea in recent years, moved swiftly to set up a new group package in response to the pandemic situation.
“Sightseeing was not what we value as being central to traveling anymore, even before the pandemic. But since the pandemic, we have been reassured (of this),” Kim Chul-jin, a Frip public relations manager told The Korea Herald. “Special interest tours that cater to the needs of a specific target and ‘workation,’ was what we set as the main travel package when COVID-19 struck,” Kim said, referring to the term that combines the words work and vacation.
Targeting domestic travels for working MZ generation, those born between 1980 and the early 2000s, Frip’s concept was to offer a pleasant space to remote-work during the day and gather in small groups for activities in the evening. From Jeju to Gyeongju, “Fripgrounds” were set up, where Frip travelers can stay anywhere from weeks to months at the same place.
Safety still priority
“The Maldives, Hawaii, and Switzerland are top three places that people have rushed to book in recent days. The three destinations were not as popular before the pandemic,” said Cho Il-sang, chief manager of travel agency HanaTour.
“Guam, is another location we expect similar high reservation rates in the coming months, as talks of travel bubbles have emerged and airlines are preparing to resume flights. But before all of this happens, we are searching for locations and facilities and human resources on site that are able to follow strict up-to-date disease prevention guidelines.”
Last year, HanaTour teamed up with Uniquegood, a tech solutions company, and launched a virtual reality-based travel package tour. The history-themed game tour is set in Jeonju’s Hanok Village and involves finding out what happened in Jeonju during a specific historical moment, and carrying out missions throughout the stay at a hotel in the city.
Since large gatherings became unnecessary for the “travelers” who connect to the VR system at their own space in time, the package received positive reviews from the public for satisfying both the excitement of travel and safety.
Social media presence has become a crucial part of traveling as offline meetings are not held frequently in the pandemic era.
One example is the demand for hiking packages at Frip, which has seen a threefold jump since 2019. The program involves hiking alone or in groups of two, then certifying a successful hiking trip by posting photos and messages on the company’s online community board.
The travel industry is looking forward to a return to normalcy next year, hoping it will be the turning point for recovering sales profits to make up for past losses.
In the meantime, opportunities await both businesses and travelers who are ready to offer and experience alternative and new travel options.
Fernandes: Aviation industry likely to return to normal in 2022
KUALA LUMPUR: The aviation industry is likely to return to normal in 2022 with the gradual resumption of interstate travels and the reopening of international borders, said AirAsia group chief executive officer Tan Sri Tony Fernandes.
He also called for the implementation of better policies to avoid any disruptions for travelling, adding that the government should decide on what would be required to open up the borders, including the documents needed for travel purposes.
“I think that will be sorted out by September or October when we allow interstate travels and some international flying,” he said during the “Communication Organisational Change Across Culture” webinar today.
The webinar was organised by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. – Bernama
The global augmented reality market is expected to be worth $300 billion by 2025, as 5G is injecting new vitality into the cutting-edge technology and promoting its use in sectors like education, social networking and gaming, according to a white paper published by Huawei Technologies Co.
The tech giant’s AR Insight and Application Practice White Paper has called for a joint push across the entire industry to widen the application of AR in more sectors and build a vibrant ecosystem of 5G plus AR.
Bob Cai, chief marketing officer of Huawei’s carrier business group, said AR can truly enable the convergence of the physical and digital worlds, and it will see massive adoption in five prioritized industries: education, social networking, shopping, travel and navigation, as well as gaming.
Cai said the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated digital transformation and prompted more enterprises to embrace AR technologies. Huawei is making use of AR to demonstrate its leading products and solutions online, to make communication far more efficient during and after the pandemic. Huawei is also using AR to achieve the quick delivery of 5G base stations, greatly boosting delivery efficiency, the senior executive said.
According to the white paper, at present, due to the high price of professional AR headsets, it is difficult to popularize them in the consumer market, but they have already played their part in the medical, manufacturing and logistics industries, as professional AR equipment can free hands and create value in many work scenarios.
With technological advancements, the white paper forecast that AR headsets will become more popular in the consumer market. By 2026, products under $500 will dominate the sector and see explosive growth. At the same time, consumer AR headset shipments are forecast to exceed 53 million units.
He Chengjian, director of the Shenzhen Communication Management Bureau, said information communication technology services represented by AR can potentially be adopted across a wide range of industries, including industrial production, e-commerce, real estate, home decor, culture, sports, tourism, healthcare, and education.
“AR applications have become a key engine for digital transformation and will profoundly change production methods and how we live,” He said.
The comments come as wider use of 5G technology is expected to open up new possibilities for virtual reality and AR technologies, and the industry is now at the tipping point of growth.
Tuong Nguyen, senior principal analyst at research firm Gartner, said earlier that 5G will become a huge enabler of the VR and AR industries. It will open up many possibilities by providing high bandwidth, low lag times and massively collaborative on-demand contextualized experiences.
High-quality VR will become possible in places where 5G is available because the technology will enhance the sense of “presence”, the feeling that consumers are really “there” inside the experience. In addition, 5G will cut the cord connecting many VR headsets to PCs, with the cloud taking over the heavy lifting, Nguyen said.
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