Engnews January 2016

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RFA Breaking News: Bomb Explosion Kills Two Chinese in Laos

by Paul Eckert

Bomb Explosion Kills Two Chinese in Laos Jan. 28, 2016 - An early morning bomb blast at a road construction site near a military camp in Laos’ Xaysombaun province killed two Chinese officials and injured a third on Jan 24, RFA’s Lao Service has learned. The explosion near a work camp outside the Pha Nok Kok village in the Long Cheang district occurred about 8 a.m. damaging a vehicle and forcing construction on the road project to be halted. The blast marked the third explosion in the area in less than a month. Soldiers defused another bomb on the road in Namphanoy village on Dec. 30. “While I was driving past the spot where the vehicle was bombed, I saw about 10 soldiers who were inspecting it with the dead and injured inside,” a witness told RFA. “When I was there and saw the truck damaged on the right side. The soldiers did not allow people to approach the truck. The truck attacked by the bomb is not far from the venue where soldiers were on duty.” An official with the construction company, who requested anonymity so he could talk about the incident, said the company was pulling its equipment from the construction site. “The company decided to remove all the construction machinery from the site for safety reasons,” the official said, Police at the Xaysomboun province police station refused to comment on the explosion, but Chinese authorities in Vientiane confirmed that the victims were Chinese. A report on Xinhuanet – the website of China’s official Xinhua news agency – said Beijing was demanding an investigation. Xinhuanet also reported that one of the Chinese worked for a mining company from southwestern China's Yunnan Province, which borders Laos. Official silence over the bombing is not unusual as the Lao government, which controls all media in the one-party state, looks like it’s trying to keep a lid on incidents of violence in the mountainous region. The central Lao province with a population of some 82,000 has seen a rise in violence recently. The killing of Chinese nationals will be harder to keep quiet. "This incident cannot be hidden because the victims are Chinese, but if it happens to Laos, it will be kept silent,” said one Vientiane resident, who requested anonymity. “The Lao officials will say nothing happens as usual, but it is not normal in Xaysombaun province, because it has become a case of monthly attacks since November last year.” While Lao officials like to blame the violent unrest on “bandits,” Laos are beginning to think that there is more than criminals at work this time. The following is a list of bombings and shooting incidents reported by RFA: * The 10-year-old daughter of a government military officer died in a shootout at the officer's residence in Xaysomboun Province on Nov. 12; * Three soldiers were killed between Nov. 15 and Nov. 18 when they pursued the anti-government resistance group, which sustained unknown casualties; * Between Nov. 15 and 18th, in two separate incidents in which passenger vehicles were fired upon, one person was killed and six others were injured; * Other shootouts reported between soldiers and anti-government forces between Nov. 25 and Dec. 2, but casualties are unknown; * Fifteen assailants on Dec. 15 shot two motorcyclists in Anouvong district of Xaysomboun province as they traveled along the road to Longchaeng district killing one and injuring another; * Three days later, assailants shot at a truck transporting beer on Nammo bridge in Anouvong district, injuring two people ; * On Dec. 28 a bomb damaged a truck on the road to a Phu Bia Mining Company work camp; * A bomb was diffused by soldiers on the road to Namphanoy village on Dec. 30; * On Jan. 14 gunmen shot up a passenger bus on Route 13 North in the Kasy district in Vientiane province, injuring one passenger; * Three soldiers were injured on Jan. 21 on the road between the Luang Phanxay and the Phoukongkhao village; * Two Chinese were killed and another injured in a Jan. 24 bomb blast near Pha Nok Kok village. Lao’s secretive government has stopped short of identifying individuals or groups who might have perpetrated the attacks and there have been no claims of responsibility or political statements issued in connection with the incidents. Discontentment among the Lao populace has focused on widespread corruption, wasteful government spending and poor delivery of government services. Some people have complained about the rapidly growing presence of Chinese investors, who are criticized for environmental damage, illegal logging, wildlife poaching and bringing vices like gambling and prostitution to rural Laos. Authorities in multi-ethnic Laos have long been wary of opposition among the Hmong ethnic minority, many of whom say they face persecution from the government because of their Vietnam War-era ties with the United States. Thousands of Hmong fought under CIA advisers during a so-called “secret war” against communists in Laos. General Vang Pao, who spearheaded the 15-year CIA-sponsored war, was an outspoken opponent of the Lao government who emigrated to the United States after the communists seized power in his country in 1975 and died in California in 2011 at the age of 81. Since 2000, Laos has sustained periodic shootings and bomb attacks on transportation hubs and border checkpoints by suspected insurgents. Reported by RFA’s Lao Service. Translated by Ounkeo Souksavanh. Written in English by Brooks Boliek. View this s tory online at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/laos/laos-bombing-01282016154354.html Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news , information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA ’s broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to “seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors. If you no longer wish to receive RFA news releases, send an e-mail to engnews-leave(a)rfanews.org . To add your name to our mailing list, send an e-mail to engnews-join(a)rfanews.org . ##### All media inquiries may be sent to Rohit Mahajan at mahajanr(a)rfa.org .

8 years, 7 months

Radio Free Asia Releases e-Book on North Korea's Prison Camps

by Rohit Mahajan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Jan. 12, 2016 Contact: Rohit Mahajan 202 530 4976 <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> mahajanr(a)rfa.org Radio Free Asia Releases English e-Book on North Korea's Prison Camps Digital Publication Includes Survivors' Stories of Inhuman Conditions WASHINGTON - Radio Free Asia <http://www.rfa.org/english/> (RFA) today released the English version of its e-book about North Korea's infamous secret labor detention camps for political prisoners and the horrendous human rights violations committed inside them. Based on a six-part investigative series RFA's Korean Service recently aired, North Korean Political Prison Camps <http://www.rfa.org/english/bookshelf/9781632180230.pdf> offers readers a window into the degradation, desperation, death, and despair experienced by inmates and camp guards. North Korea experts and human rights activists also provide information, analysis, and their own perspectives. RFA's e-book is available free for download on iTunes <https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/north-korean-prison-camps/id1072449084?mt= 11> , Google Play <https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Jin_Seo_Lee_North_Korean_Prison _Camps?id=OqxUCwAAQBAJ> , and the RFA website's e-book shelf <http://www.rfa.org/english/bookshelf> . "In this in-depth look at one of the world's most notorious prison systems, RFA gained unprecedented knowledge of the abhorrent, inhuman conditions faced by men, women, and children forced to live there," said Libby Liu, President of RFA. "This e-book puts a spotlight on more than just the abuses suffered. It also exposes the regime behind this brutal system that still denies that system's existence despite documentation and evidence." In North Korean Political Prison Camps, a trio of survivors describes to readers the "hell on earth" they endured in concentration camp-like conditions. Practicing Christianity, having a relative who is a prisoner, or criticizing the government or the ruling Kim family are tickets to a term in the camps where three generations of one family can face an interminable sentence under the Kim regime's "guilt-by-association" doctrine. It is estimated that as many as 400,000 people have died in these camps from torture, starvation, disease, and execution. A United Nations commission on human rights in North Korea estimated in a 2014 report that between 80,000 and 120,000 political prisoners are still incarcerated in the camps. Reported by RFA's Korean Service, these first-hand accounts detail the intense labor, torture, starvation, sexual assault, and threat of death that inmates face every day as they are treated as something "less than animals." As one inmate said, it is the kind of treatment that forces prisoners to turn on each other and "become devils ourselves." While there are tens of thousands of prisoners held in the camps, North Koreans themselves know little about what goes on inside the camps since the Kim regime keeps a tight lid on any information about them. Survivors telling their stories in North Korean Political Prison Camps are: Kim Young-soon, who was sent to prison camp for befriending leader Kim Jong-il's second wife, Sung Hye-rim; Kang Chul-hwan, imprisoned for 10 years on a guilt-by-association charge; and Kim Hye-sook, who was imprisoned for 28 years without explanation. # # # Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news, information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA's broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to "seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors. Rohit Mahajan | Radio Free Asia | Media Relations Manager <mailto:mahajanr@rfa.org> mahajanr(a)rfa.org | O: 202.530.4976 | M: 202.489.8021

8 years, 8 months

RFA Breaking News: Former Lao Finance Minister Named in Corruption Probe

by Paul Eckert

Former Lao Finance Minister Named in Corruption Probe Jan. 8, 2016 - Authorities in Laos have taken into custody a former finance minister and four colleagues in connection with a scheme in which private companies cashed government bonds issued in promise of payment for work they never performed, according to a source in the one-party communist state. Phouphet Khamphounvong, Lao finance minister from 2012 to 2014 and formerly a governor of the Bank of the Lao PDR (People’s Democratic Republic), was arrested “at the end of December 2015 while attending a party,” a finance ministry source told RFA’s Lao Service. Taken into custody at the same time were Phouphet’s former secretary general, a director general of the ministry, a vice director of the ministry’s budget department, and another official whose job was not specified, RFA’s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. After serving two terms as bank governor, Phouphet was appointed finance minister in 2012, and in March 2014 was abruptly removed from his post, RFA’s source said. “His demotion was linked to corruption connected to the issuance of bonds and his involvement in so-called ‘ghost projects’ while he was at the ministry,” he said. 'Ghost projects' The Lao government had previously granted concessions to private firms to build roads in Oudomxay province in northern Laos to support the country’s 10th National Sport Games, which were held in December 2014, sources said in earlier reports. And though those roads were never built, the contracting firms later converted bonds issued in promise of future payment into cash with the help of “commissions” paid to finance ministry officials, sources said. The scheme has caused losses so far of over 300 billion kip (U.S. $36,840,092) to the state budget, with little chance that money will ever be recovered. The governor of Oudomxay province has now been “urgently removed” from office on suspicion of involvement in the scheme, with Phetsakhone Luangaphay, a deputy minister serving in the central government, replacing him as governor in September 2015, sources said. According to a report presented to the National Assembly last year by head of the Government Inspection Authority Bounthong Chitmany, Laos suffered losses from corruption of more than 1 trillion kip (U.S. $123 million) between 2012 and 2014. Corruption among high-level officials in Laos is so widespread that it has deterred foreign investors, created problems with the country’s ability to enforce business contracts and regulations, and left many ordinary citizens frustrated and impoverished. Reported by RFA’s Lao Service. Translated by Ounkeo Souksavanh. Written in English by Richard Finney. View this s tory online at: http://www.rfa.org/english/news/laos/corruption-01082016142933.html Radio Free Asia is a private, nonprofit corporation broadcasting and publishing online news , information, and commentary in nine East Asian languages to listeners who do not have access to full and free news media. RFA ’s broadcasts seek to promote the rights of freedom of opinion and expression, including the freedom to “seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” RFA is funded by an annual grant from the Broadcasting Board of Governors. If you no longer wish to receive RFA news releases, send an e-mail to engnews-leave(a)rfanews.org . To add your name to our mailing list, send an e-mail to engnews-join(a)rfanews.org . ##### All media inquiries may be sent to Rohit Mahajan at mahajanr(a)rfa.org .

8 years, 8 months

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Engnews January 2016