Author: Thura Bo Thu

The Black Lions 1st ID Vietnam Living History Group* is a Living History group in the Western New York area that educates the public on the Vietnam War. Over Labor Day weekend, members of The Black Lions organization will be stationed at Buffalo Naval & Military Park’s red Hangar Building. While there, they will be presenting a Vietnam living history event called “Vietnam Welcome Home” – on Saturday, September 2 from 10 AM until 5 PM and Sunday, September 3 from 10 AM until 4 PM. If you’ve ever had any questions about the Vietnam War, or wanted to meet…

Brussels (21/08 – 62.50) The theatrical performance, 40 Days of Miracles was shown in the main concert hall of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea by the Republican State Academic Korean Theater of Musical Comedy of Kazakhstan, which is on tour in South Korea. In total, more than 500 spectators attended the event, including the Chairman of the Korea-Kazakhstan Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Group of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea, Woo Won Shik, deputies, politicians, the leadership of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of South Korea, cultural and art figures, businessmen, as well as representatives of the…

Hanwha Life’s Vietnamese unit has recorded a cumulative profit in 15 years, making it the first overseas South Korean insurance business to achieve such a feat. In the future, the life insurer aims to post a pre-tax profit of KRW100 billion from the subsidiary by 2030, as well as becoming one of the top five insurers in Vietnam. “We will make K-finance history by spreading Hanwha Life’s financial system and success DNA in the local market,” Hanwha Life CEO Yeo Seung-joo said in a report from Korea Economic Daily. Hanwha Life opened its Vietnam unit in 2009 after securing a license the…

Deputy Minister of National Defense Sen. Lieut. Gen. Hoang Xuan Chien had a bilateral meeting with Lieut. Gen. Donny Ermawan Taufanto, Secretary General of the Indonesian Ministry of Defence, in Jakarta on August 1. The meeting took place as part of Chien’s visit to Indonesia to attend the ASEAN Defence Senior Officials’ Meeting (ADSOM) and ADSOM Plus (ADSOM+). The two sides shared the view on the good friendship between Vietnam and Indonesia, saying they have made continuous efforts to promote the bilateral cooperation in a comprehensive, practical, and effective manner. The signing of the agreement on the boundaries of exclusive…

The U.K. is set to recognize that Vietnam’s industries are operating in a market economy and will not impose unfavorable rules should they be investigated under trade defense measures. The Trade Remedies Authority of Vietnam said that the U.K. will announce the recognition after joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) last week. If an export country is not regarded as a market economy, the import country can reference a third country market economy to determine the trade duties on the export country. This could lead to higher trade duties, the authority said. When recognized as a…

The entire stretch of white beach of Koh Kradan is completely empty of people. There are no footprints in the sand and no buzz of longtail boats, only the sound of gentle, clear waves. This island gem in the Andaman Sea, some 10 kilometres off the southern coast of Thailand looks something like it might have in the past. It is experiencing a short reprieve ahead of what is sure to be another bumper tourism season. It is the monsoon period and the island is officially closed. For four months between June and October authorities block access in order to…

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has revealed a plan to boost its revenue from foreign tourists and the “Thais Travelling in Thailand” campaign. As part of the recently announced “Direction for Promoting the Tourism Market in 2023”, the authority aims to gain 1.92 trillion THB (nearly 55 billion USD) from 35 million foreign tourists and another 1.08 trillion THB from the “Thais Travelling in Thailand” campaign that targets 200 million local trips. TAT Governor Yuthasak Supasorn said the agency hopes to generate 3 trillion THB in income this year, much like the amount generated in 2019 before the outbreak of COVID-19. However, if the international market…

Brussels, Frankfurt (15/7 – 56) Bad habits die badly. Three hundred fifty years of Dutch colonial rule, where expatriate European masters professing noble, selfless public service for the Kingdom of the Netherlands were notoriously corrupt; apart from loading up with as much as they could swindle, shake down or steal, why on Earth would any sane Dutchman be adventurous or foolhardy enough to go out to the Indies? The trip out by sailing ship was long and dangerous. Even sailors were in on the game: their coveralls never had pockets, making it difficult to smuggle spices, in an era when…

Vietnam prohibits the propagation of products and prints that include China’s infamous and illegal “nine-dash line” map, which falsely lays claim to Vietnamese territory, the foreign ministry announced Thursday. “Vietnam’s stance on the nine-dash line is clear and consistent, and has been clarified many times,” spokeswoman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Pham Thu Hang said at a press conference. She was answering a reporter’s question about the film “Barbie,” which has been banned in Vietnam for containing a map with the nine-dash line. “The propagation and use of products and prints containing the nine-dash line in Vietnam violate Vietnamese…

Thailand’s new Parliament convened Monday nearly two months after a progressive opposition party won a stunning election victory, but there was still no clear sign that its leader will be able to become prime minister and end nine years of military-dominated rule. To form a government, a party must have the backing of a combined majority of the elected House of Representatives and the military-appointed Senate, which represents the country’s traditional conservative ruling class. The Move Forward Party’s unexpected election victory alarmed the ruling establishment, which regards it as a threat to the status quo and the monarchy. Some senators…