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Myanmar's junta says it raided one of the country's most notorious cyberscam centers and seized Starlink satellite inter...
10/20/2025

Myanmar's junta says it raided one of the country's most notorious cyberscam centers and seized Starlink satellite internet devices.

Myanmar government media The Global New Light of Myanmar said the military "conducted operations in KK Park near Myanmar-Thai border" and had "seized 30 sets of Starlink receivers and accessories," according to the AFP news agency.

AFP said that number is only a fraction of the Starlink devices they identified using satellite imagery and drone photography. On the roof of one building alone in KK Park, images showed nearly 80 of the internet dishes.

A crackdown by Thai, Chinese and Myanmar authorities starting in February saw thousands of suspected scammers repatriated, with experts saying some in the scam industry participate willingly while others are forced to by organized criminal groups.

📸: Photos taken on September 17, 2025 shows what appears to be Starlink satellite dishes on the roofs of buildings at the KK Park complex in Myanmar's eastern Myawaddy township, as pictured from Mae Sot district in Thailand's border province of Tak. (Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP)

Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing admitted that the military-backed administration will be unable to conduct an upcomi...
10/17/2025

Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing admitted that the military-backed administration will be unable to conduct an upcoming general election across the entire country, as a civil war triggered by a 2021 coup rages on.

“We can’t hold the election everywhere 100%,” Min Aung Hlaing said in a speech broadcast on state TV from the capital Naypyidaw on Wednesday, adding that by-elections would follow in some areas after a new government is formed.

The European Union’s Special Representative for Human Rights Kajsa Ollongren said on Thursday that they would not send observers to an election in military-ruled Myanmar, as it was unlikely to result in a credible outcome, according to the Reuters news agency.

“I would call them regime-sponsored elections. And if they’re regime-sponsored, they can only lead to one outcome,” Ollogren told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.

10/16/2025

South Korea issued a "code-black" travel ban for parts of Cambodia on Oct. 15 and dispatched a team of high-level officials to help nationals lured into working in scam compounds and secure the release of those held against their will, according to the Reuters news agency.

RFA Korean's Jaewoo Park reports for RFA Perspectives: Why has Southeast Asia — especially Cambodia and Myanmar — become a “scam haven”?

10/15/2025

Radio Free Asia won two national Murrow awards for RFA’s exclusive Myanmar coverage at this year’s ceremony in New York.

The people behind this incredible work from our Burmese Service, along with our Investigative and Creative Teams, are on unpaid leave or have moved on. They deserve full credit for this honor.

We remain committed to our mission as we navigate a challenging time for our organization.

We know that our overseas audiences remain in desperate need of our incisive brand of journalism — and that our stakeholders in the U.S. understand the value for advancing freedom in the world. We will keep fighting.

“Without RFA’s reporting, propaganda goes unchallenged, lies blot out the truth, and dictators and despots have the last word. Now more than ever, freedom and courage in reporting are essential,” said Bay Fang, RFA President and CEO.

The U.S. and British governments on Tuesday announced a sweeping crackdown on cyber-scam networks in Southeast Asia accu...
10/15/2025

The U.S. and British governments on Tuesday announced a sweeping crackdown on cyber-scam networks in Southeast Asia accused of luring workers with fraudulent job ads or fake romantic relationships, forcing them to extract billions from people across the world through a range of deceptions, then laundering the money they received.

The U.S. Treasury Department said it had targeted 146 people in the Prince Group, a multibillion-dollar Cambodian conglomerate, including its 38-year-old leader Chen Zhi.

The founder of one of China’s most prominent underground churches and dozens of its pastors and members have been arrest...
10/14/2025

The founder of one of China’s most prominent underground churches and dozens of its pastors and members have been arrested, the founder’s family and a church spokesperson said, part of a multi-city crackdown in recent days.

Jin Mingri, who founded Zion Church, a house of worship not sanctioned by the Chinese government, was arrested at his home in the city of Beihai in the southern region of Guangxi on Friday evening, his daughter, Grace Jin, and a church spokesperson, Sean Long, told reporters.

10/12/2025

North Korean soldiers who fought alongside Russian troops against Ukraine marched through Kim Il Sung Square, carrying the flags of Russia and North Korea as part of the Workers’ Party 80th Anniversary celebrations.

The soldiers marched to the Russian patriotic song “To Serve Russia,” a rare and symbolic display of solidarity between Pyongyang and Moscow.

According to estimates, around 2,000 North Korean soldiers were killed while supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine.

And reports say that under a new deployment plan, North Korea recently sent another 1,000 combat engineers to Russia.

Although the event marked the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Workers’ Party, it was also a display of military cooperation between the two countries.

Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, attended the celebrations in Pyongyang.

He thanked North Korea for what he called its “steadfast support” for Russia’s ongoing military operation in Ukraine.

At Pyongyang’s May Day stadium Russian singer Shaman performed a tribute to the soldiers who fought in Kursk.

Kim Jong Un and the audience rose from their seats to honor the soldiers.

The parade highlighted the partnership between Moscow and Pyongyang.

As the song “To Serve Russia” played across the square, the message was clear: an old alliance is being reshaped for today.

RFA Perspectives by Jaewoo Park for RFA Korean

Nuclear-armed North Korea displayed its most advanced Hwasong-20 intercontinental ballistic missile, described by the No...
10/11/2025

Nuclear-armed North Korea displayed its most advanced Hwasong-20 intercontinental ballistic missile, described by the North Korean government as the country's "strongest nuclear strategic weapon system."

The Hwasong series of ICBMs has given North Korea the capacity to target anywhere on the U.S. mainland, but questions remain over the sophistication of its guidance system to reach a target, and the ability of a warhead it carries to withstand atmospheric re-entry, according to the Reuters news agency.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the large military parade displaying its new intercontinental ballistic missile in front of visiting international dignitaries, state media KCNA said on Saturday, Oct. 11.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Russia's former President Dmitry Medvedev, as well as Vietnam's Communist Party chief To Lam were seen at Kim's side at the parade.

The parade, which began late on Friday, marked the 80th anniversary of the foundation of its ruling Workers' Party.

"The Hwasong-20 represents, for the moment, the apotheosis of North Korea's ambitions for long-range nuclear delivery capabilities. We should expect to see the system tested before the end of this year," Ankit Panda of the U.S.-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace told the Reuters news agency.

"The system is likely designed for the delivery of multiple warheads... Multiple warheads will increase stresses on existing U.S. missile defense systems and augment what Kim sees as necessary to achieve meaningful deterrence effects against Washington."

Images released by the North Korean government via Reuters.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hosted Vietnam's Communist Party General Secretary To Lam, China's Premier Li Qiang, Rus...
10/10/2025

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hosted Vietnam's Communist Party General Secretary To Lam, China's Premier Li Qiang, Russia's Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev at events marking the 80th anniversary of North Korea's Workers' Party in Pyongyang on Oct. 10, 2025.

Photographs released by the North Korean and Russian governments and Agence France Presse news agency show Russian entertainers joining North Koreans at the May Day stadium.

10/09/2025

North Korea is preparing a massive military parade, much like China did in September, reports RFA Korean's Jaewoo Park for RFA Perspectives.

High-level foreign guests are expected, including Vietnam’s Party chief To Lam, the president of Laos, China's Li Chang and Russia’s Dmitry Medvedev.

It will be North Korea’s display of military might and diplomatic influence as never before.

The parade is for a “major anniversary” — the 80th since the workers party’s founding — a date Pyongyang places particular importance on.

Satellite imagery has revealed large-scale rehearsals at Mirim Airfield, Kim Il Sung Square, and May Day Stadium, with thousands of vehicles and tens of thousands of personnel mobilized.

10/08/2025

A military strike on Monday night, Oct. 6, 2025, hit a group in central Myanmar’s Chaung U township who were gathered to mark the Thadingyut full moon festival and to demonstrate against the military junta that rules the country.

The attack killed at least 20 people, according to a Reuters report that cited an eyewitness, the human rights group Amnesty International, and members of the shadow National Unity Government and an armed resistance group in the area. An event organizer told Agence France-Press that 40 people were killed, including children, while 80 others were wounded.

Looking back at a series of photographs from 2019 showing protesters disabling surveillance cameras during the Hong Kong...
10/08/2025

Looking back at a series of photographs from 2019 showing protesters disabling surveillance cameras during the Hong Kong pro-democracy protests.

Surveillance in Hong Kong is set to intensify, with tens of thousands of new cameras and AI facial-recognition software deployed in the coming years, the city’s security chief said on Oct. 3, 2025.

Under the city’s new plan, the number of cameras will balloon to 60,000 by 2028, according to documents submitted to the legislature. And AI technology “will naturally be applied to people, such as tracking a criminal suspect,” Hong Kong security chief Chris Tang told lawmakers.

In 2023, police said cameras should be installed in classrooms to enhance safety, which critics said would allow the government to monitor the content of teacher instruction and student conversations.

Hong Kong residents’ digital lives are also being more aggressively monitored, according to RFA Mandarin reporting from March.

📸Captions:
A protester covers the surveillance cameras with paint on July 1, 2019 in Hong Kong. (Billy H.C. Kwok/Getty Images)

A surveillance camera is covered in spray paint during protestors storm the Legislative Council Complex on July 01, 2019 in Hong Kong. (Billy H.C. Kwok/Getty Images)

A protester covers surveillance cameras during anti-extradition bill march in Hong Kong on July 21, 2019. (Billy H.C. Kwok/Getty Images)

A protester attempts to break a surveillance camera in Tsuen Wan district on August 25, 2019 in Hong Kong. (Anthony Kwan/Getty Images)

A pro-democracy protester sprays paint over a CCTV camera outside the Central Government Complex on September 28, 2019 in Hong Kong. (Anthony Kwan/Getty Images)

Pro-democracy protesters break a surveillance camera at a Tai Koo MTR station on October 3, 2019 in Hong Kong. (Anthony Kwan/Getty Images)

A damaged surveillance camera at a Tai Koo MTR station on October 3, 2019 in Hong Kong. (Anthony Kwan/Getty Images)

A protestor vandalizes a surveillance camera in a shopping mall in Shatin on October 13, 2019 in Hong Kong. (Billy H.C. Kwok/Getty Images)

A vandalized surveillance camera is seen at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in the Hung Hom district on November 22, 2019. (Billy H.C. Kwok/Getty Images)

Vandalized surveillance cameras are seen at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in the Hung Hom district on November 26, 2019. (Billy H.C. Kwok/Getty Images)

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