Latest Political defections News
For victims, Syria torture trial is 1st step toward justice
BERLIN (AP) — Victims of torture in Syria and human rights activists say they hope the upcoming verdict in a landmark trial will be a first step toward justice for countless Syrians who suffered abuse at the hands of President Bashar Assad’s government in the country’s long-running conflict....
S. Korea military apologizes for defector's border crossing
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s military apologized Wednesday for causing public concern about its security readiness, days after it failed to stop a suspected North Korean defector who crossed the heavily fortified border to return to the North. The Joint Chiefs of Staff...
Seoul: North Korea defector likely made rare border crossing
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A person who crossed the border from South Korea into North Korea on New Year’s Day was likely a defector who had slipped through the same heavily fortified frontier in the other direction to settle in South Korea in late 2020, the military said Monday. ...
S Korea: Unidentified person crosses border into North Korea
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s military said Sunday that an unidentified person crossed the heavily fortified border into North Korea. The person was earlier spotted by surveillance equipment at the eastern portion of the border, known as the Demilitarized Zone, but...
Defectors from North Korea pray for resettlement victims
NIIGATA, Japan (AP) — Eiko Kawasaki stood at the port of Niigata, the place from which she left for North Korea more than 60 years ago, and tossed chrysanthemum flowers into the sea to pray for her peers who could not come back. Then she burst into tears. As a 17-year-old girl...
Rights group calls for ICC probe into Myanmar crackdown
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A human rights group has called on the International Criminal Court to open an investigation into the crackdown on dissent by Myanmar's military rulers, alleging that the leader of the February coup in the Southeast Asian nation is responsible for widespread and...
Death threats, tweets jolt GOP infrastructure supporters
WASHINGTON (AP) — The last time Congress approved a major renewal of federal highway and other transportation programs, the votes were 359-65 in the House and 83-16 in the Senate. It was backed by nearly every Democrat and robust majorities of Republicans. This year's...
Seoul rejects refugee claims by Chinese N. Korean defectors
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea has rejected refugee status for ethnic Chinese people who have been “stateless” since they fled North Korea years ago, two of the applicants and an activists’ group said Wednesday. Unlike North Korean defectors, who receive...
Israel looks to pass budget in major test for new government
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli lawmakers have begun a marathon voting session on Wednesday to try and pass the first national budget in three years, a major test for the fractious new coalition government. Failure to pass the budget by November 14 would bring down the...
Myanmar military uses systematic torture across country
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — The soldiers in rural Myanmar twisted the young man’s skin with pliers and kicked him in the chest until he couldn’t breathe. Then they taunted him about his family until his heart ached, too: “Your mom,” they jeered, “cannot save you anymore.” ...
