SOUTH KOREA
Rival protests were held in Seoul this morning, for and against President Yoon Suk-yeol, who is under investigation for imposing martial law earlier this month. So far, despite Parliament's approval of his impeachment, Yoon has not complied with court summons and failed to respond to the Constitutional Court's requests.
UKRAINE – NORTH KOREA
The Ukrainian military is dropping Korean-language leaflets urging North Korean troops fighting alongside Russia to “Surrender today and join South Korea tomorrow,” writes Radio Free Asia. The flyers appear in a video shared on Telegram by InformNapalm, an organisation reporting on the Ukraine war. In the video, a drone with a camera can be seen dropping flyers on a wooded area. A caption in Ukrainian reads: “Leaflets are dropped into the woods where North Korean soldiers are hiding.”
MYANMAR
The Arakan Army said it captured the headquarters of the military junta's Western Command in the city of Ann in Rakhine State after two weeks of intense fighting. In early August, the Three Brotherhood Alliance, a group of anti-junta armed groups that includes the Arakan Army, seized the Northeastern Command in Lashio.
INDONESIA
Hundreds of treasures looted by the Netherlands during its colonial rule over the country have been returned to Indonesia following a 2020 recommendation by a Dutch advisory body. The head of the repatriation team, I Gusti Agung Wesaka Puja, stressed that it is important to "demonstrate to the international community that Indonesia is capable of having these objects returned” to counter “sceptics who claim Indonesia lacks the capacity to preserve such valuable heritage.”
AFGHANISTAN
On Wednesday, the Taliban's Deputy Foreign Minister, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, criticised the government for its media crackdown, including a ban on showing living beings. “Too many restrictions and hurdles for media organizations dampen their morale,” he said. While it is hard to see the Taliban repeal the bans, Stanikzai's words reflect internal divisions within the Islamist group.
GEORGIA
Vakhtang Golandzia, a member of the People's Assembly of Georgia’s breakaway republic of Abkhazia, was killed in a shooting at the parliament building in the capital Sukhumi, while trying to separate Adgur Kharazia and Kan Kvarchia, two lawmakers from different factions. In the heat of the moment, the former pulled out a gun and began shooting, wounding his adversary, during a debate over a bill to ban cryptocurrency mining. The shooter fled the scene.
SYRIA – CENTRAL ASIA
In an interview, Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund (GCERF) chief Khalid Kosser said that Central Asian countries have repatriated more than 2,200 people held in prisons in northeastern Syria: 754 from Kazakhstan, 533 from Kyrgyzstan, 531 from Uzbekistan and 381 from Tajikistan. Most of them are wives and children of former Islamic State fighters. The camps are run by the Syrian Democratic Forces and the United States.
