18 Aug 2023

Asia correspondent Ed White

From Nine To Noon, 9:45 am on 18 August 2023
A North Korean guard post (top) on the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), is seen over a South Korean military fence (bottom) from the border city of Paju on July 19, 2023. A US soldier who served around two months in a South Korean jail on assault charges was believed to be in North Korean custody on July 19, after crossing the heavily fortified border without authorisation, officials said. (Photo by Jung Yeon-je / AFP)

A North Korean guard post (top) on the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), is seen over a South Korean military fence (bottom) from the border city of Paju. Photo: JUNG YEON-JE / AFP

Asia correspondent Ed White discusses US soldier Travis King, who fled mysteriously across the demilitarised zone separating South and North Korea, as North Korean media finally comment on it.

And three years after being detained in China, Australian journalist Cheng Lei has managed to get a message out from a Beijing jail.

And worryingly there is a case of disappearing data in China as Beijing stops reporting key information including youth unemployment and Covid-19 death rates. 

Ed White is a correspondent with the Financial Times.