Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un take a drive in Pyongyang. Tibetan Buddhist devotees prostrate themselves as they bid farewell to a centuries old monastery, the area later submerged by a Chinese dam. Thai solders take position across from Myawaddy as fighting intensifies between Myanmar junta and rebel forces.
These and others are among the top video news moments of 2024:
China, Philippines clash in South China Sea
Tensions escalated in the South China Sea in June with a clash between Chinese Coast Guard and Philippine Navy ships at Second Thomas Shoal. One Filipino sailer lost a finger.
The United States condemned the “escalatory and irresponsible actions” by the Chinese Coast Guard and Beijing accused the Philippine side of deliberately causing a collision.
PRC citizens disrupt pro-Hong Kong protest in Taiwan
An exclusive video by RFA Cantonese shows two citizens of the People’s Republic of China disrupting an anti-China protest organized by Hong Kongers in Taipei.
Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council identified the couple by their surname Yao, saying they had entered Taiwan under the pretense of visiting relatives. They were found to have no relatives currently in Taiwan, and were deported.
Dam submerges former site of Tibetan monastery
Rising waters from a new dam in central China have submerged the area where a 135-year-old Tibetan Buddhist monastery once stood, as well as a nearby village, according to experts who viewed satellite photos and two sources inside Tibet.
The Atsok Monastery, built in 1889, was demolished earlier this year to make way for the expansion of the Yangqu hydropower station in Qinghai province.
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Vietnamese asylum seekers cross US-Mexico border
Tempted by rumors of a better life abroad and unwilling to wait out a sluggish visa process, Vietnamese have begun crossing into the U.S. on foot in unprecedented numbers, an RFA investigation has found.
Just 263 Vietnamese crossed into the United States via its border with Mexico between October 2021 and October 2022, but nearly 3,300 made that crossing a year later, according to figures from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. That number is certain to be surpassed in 2024.
Putin and Kim go for a drive
In June, Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in North Korea for a two-day visit with Kim Jong Un, promising hours before the visit that the two nations will develop an “alternative settlement system” to facilitate commercial cooperation outside the control of the West and fight its sanctions.
What stood out from the usual pageantry was the photo op with both leaders driving in an Aurus sedan — the “Russian equivalent of Rolls-Royce” — which Putin introduced to Kim during a 2023 visit to Russia.
China changes names of 630 Uyghur villages
China has changed the names of about 630 Uyghur villages to Mandarin words such as “Harmony” and “Unity” to promote ethnic harmony in Xinjiang, a report by a human rights group found,
The move is “part of Chinese government’s efforts to erase the cultural and religious expression” of the more than 11 million predominantly Muslim Uyghurs living in China’s far-western Xinjiang region, New York-based Human Rights Watch, or HRW, said in its June 18 report.
Typhoon Yagi
Scores killed by Typhoon Yagi, Asia’s most powerful storm of the year. Images from northern Laos and central Myanmar show the extent of flooding from torrential rains.
Scores of people are dead or missing in several countries in Southeast Asia since roaring across northern Vietnam, northern Laos and Thailand in early September, causing landslides and flooding, and destroying homes, bridges and roads.
North Korean worker in Senegal
Despite a de facto global ban on doing business with North Korean entities or individuals, commerce continues under the table. As of December 2023, as many as 100,000 North Koreans were thought to be living outside the country as laborers under the control of Kim Jong Un’s regime.
In Dakar, a North Korean laborer who works in construction told RFA Korean that he had been stuck in the country for more than six years, separated from his wife and two children.
“It was not supposed to be this long,” the man said. “But I can’t go back because of the coronavirus. The North Korean authorities need to approve my return.”
Myanmar junta and rebels clash at Thai border
April saw an escalation of fighting between the junta and rebel forces in Myawaddy, along the Thai-Myanmar border displacing thousands into Thailand.
Residents told RFA Burmese that the Karen National Liberation Army and other rebel forces, including the anti-junta People’s Defense Force, advanced on government soldiers, who were “dug in” at the Thai-Myanmar friendship bridge border crossing.
Dalai Lama arrives in New York
The Dalai Lama was greeted by a large crowd of chanting and flag-waving Tibetans and other supporters upon his arrival in New York for knee surgery.
It was the first trip to the United States for the 88-year-old Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader in seven years and his first overseas trip since November 2018.
After six weeks of recovery in the U.S., he addressed 17,000 devotees in a New York arena before returning home to Dharamsala, India.
Forever 13 years old
Nyah Mway was a 13-year-old Karen refugee from Myanmar living in Utica, New York.
On a Friday night in June, one day after his middle school graduation, local police officers on patrol stopped to question Nyah and his friend. What happened next? Nyah fled and the police say as he ran, he pulled out what looked like a gun. Moments later, he was tackled to the ground and shot.
A community already haunted by war and violence struggles to cope.
‘Korean Wave’ has already crashed in Cuba
Even before South Korea and Cuba established bilateral relations earlier this year, K-pop had gained a following in the communist-ruled island.
When RFA Korean traveled to Cuba to gauge reactions to Seoul and Havana redefining their relationship, they also found that K-pop had already made inroads into the country.