Exploits in North Asia
My decision to visit North Korea was reflex. It was 2007, I was a young (and quite skinny) English teacher in Seoul, and tours over the 38th parallel were becoming popular. The seaside town of Gumgangsan, located a 40-minute drive over the DMZ on the eastern coast, was receiving rafts of slick tour buses from …
Today marks the end of my two-year hiatus from Investvine, a business news portal covering predominantly Southeast Asia affairs. And to establish my return, I decided to cover the Yulin dog meat festival, which is now trending on social media under hashtags created by animal activists (#stopyulin, #stopyulin2015) to stop the inhumane butchering of "man's best …
Continue reading Beware of dog food: The great dog meat debate howls on
An excerpt from my wrap-up post from the 21st ASEAN Summit on investvine. Arriving back in Bangkok after covering the 21stASEAN Summit and East Asia Summit in Phnom Penh for four days, I am left pondering some of the more overlooked outcomes of the international event in which media has by and large used to …
'Tis that time of the year once again: Those 168 hours of tradition-induced reflection and introspection that occur every year between Christmas and New Year's Eve. Yet, while I have been up to my own fair share of resolution ruminating, it is the end-of-the-year roundup of past events that news podcasts and websites get caught …
Continue reading Look Back at 2011: Real Estate Bubbles in China
Hamburger inventor, film aficionado and golf all-star Kim Jong Il died last Saturday of heart complications from "overwork," said state media. The death of the Dear Leader -- said to have begun his life under the halo of a double rainbow that simultaneously brought about spring, according to North Korean official history -- left citizens …
Continue reading Kim Jong Il leaves behind tears, questions and Korean Godzilla (VIDEO)
Justin Calderón 