China’s fifth plenum readout

South China Morning Post - Nov 2, 2026

This article is the official English translation of the original Chinese document released by Xinhua.

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Could a midterm defeat tame Trump? Not on foreign policy, Chinese experts say

Could a midterm defeat tame Trump? Not on foreign policy, Chinese experts say

A potential lame-duck phase may not deter US President Donald Trump from pursuing more “transactional” or “risky” foreign policy moves after the midterm elections, Chinese experts warn, while casting doubt on expectations of a powerful Democratic wave. Amid a season of high-stakes contests that could reshape global politics, the US vote on Tuesday stands out. The election, which will determine who takes control of the US Congress, could result in Trump and his fellow Republicans no longer...

China’s Xi says strict party governance has positive impact, does not stifle growth

China’s Xi says strict party governance has positive impact, does not stifle growth

Chinese President Xi Jinping has mounted a direct defence of the campaign for strong Communist Party governance and internal discipline, describing them as a “fundamental guarantee” for China’s rise and warning against any easing of scrutiny, according to state media. Xi took the floor as the party’s 20th Central Committee closed its fifth plenum on Thursday, to directly address the scepticism over the sweeping campaign, state news agency Xinhua reported on Sunday. According to “side notes”...

Clarify crime thresholds and immunity in bid-rigging law: Hong Kong Bar Association

Clarify crime thresholds and immunity in bid-rigging law: Hong Kong Bar Association

The Hong Kong Bar Association has called on the government to clearly define criminal thresholds and resolve whistle-blower immunity rules under its plan to outlaw bid-rigging following the deadly Tai Po inferno. A task force formed by the association, which represents the city’s barristers, spent 10 months reviewing four key areas of law and released a 140-page report on Sunday in the hope of providing direction to address the shortcomings that led to the deadly Wang Fuk Court blaze last...

Love hotteok? Here's how the sugary, oil-fried snack can affect your diet

Love hotteok? Here's how the sugary, oil-fried snack can affect your diet

Click here for more articles by Kormedi.com. Comedian Shin Bong-sun, who has drawn attention for her slimmer figure, turned down even a tempting snack to stay on track with her diet. Shin recently posted a photo of a black plastic bag on social media, writing, “Hotteok my older sister bought me from Namdaemun. I won't eat it.” She also shared a full-body photo taken at a gym, saying she was playing tennis and attending a personal training session. Shin previously revealed that she had lost 11 kilograms in just 100 days. She has since continued to exercise regularly and manage her diet. Hotteok: A calorie bomb with sugar and oil Hotteok is a snack made by filling wheat flour dough with a sweet filling and cooking it in oil. The carbohydrates in the dough, combined with sugar and oil, make the snack high in calories. Its calorie content varies depending on its size, filling ingredients and the amount of oil used during cooking. According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety's food nutrition database, hotteok containing nuts has 314 kilocalories per 100 grams. Eating a 150-gram hotteok

Relatives from family separated by Korean War meet for 1st time in 3rd country

Relatives from family separated by Korean War meet for 1st time in 3rd country

Two relatives from a family separated by the 1950-53 Korean War met for the first time in a third country in September, marking a rare reunion amid frozen inter-Korean relations. Tensions remain high on the divided Korean Peninsula as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ruled out talks with South Korea and defined inter-Korean ties as those between "two states hostile to each other." The meeting came five months after South Korea's Unification Ministry received a request from a North Korean member of a separated family seeking help to find a maternal uncle in South Korea. The request was relayed to the ministry by a North Korean defector living in the South. The ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, located the uncle in its database of separated families, only to learn that he had died 30 years earlier. After trying to contact the uncle's adult children using information in the database, a ministry official made contact with a 65-year-old cousin living in Gyeonggi Province near Seoul. The South Korean cousin readily agreed to contact the North Korean relative, saying the cousin's

Overseas trips add to debate over Korea's shifting political standards

Overseas trips add to debate over Korea's shifting political standards

President Lee Jae Myung’s overseas trips have again drawn attention to Korea’s shifting political standards, adding to a familiar cycle of disputes over presidential golf and the presidential plane whenever power passes between conservative and liberal administrations. The controversies center on taxpayer money and the public's attitudes toward presidential privilege, with governing parties defending certain activities as necessary for diplomacy or official duties and the opposition calling them wasteful or excessive — arguments that often switch sides under successive administrations. In the latest controversy, National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac on Friday defended the frequency of Lee’s overseas trips accompanied by first lady Kim Hea Kyung. “Korea’s international standing requires its president to attend regular multilateral gatherings and bilateral visits,” Wi said. “Spouses also accompany leaders as an established diplomatic practice.” Wi’s defense followed an Oct. 1 analysis by Rep. Lee Jin-sook of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP). It counted 14 tri

Sejong University team finds link between retail investor attention, lower stock returns

Sejong University team finds link between retail investor attention, lower stock returns

A research team at Sejong University has found that stocks attracting greater attention from retail investors tend to generate lower returns in subsequent periods. The university said the findings were published last month in the prestigious Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions & Money. The team was led by Lee Eun-mi, a professor at the university’s College of Business and Economics, and included doctoral students Yang Pujian and Yang Liu. The paper, titled “The Retreat of Arbitrage Capital: Attention Level and Nonlinear Order Flow Dynamics,” lists Yang Pujian as the first author, Lee as the corresponding author and Yang Liu as a co-author. The research team examined how retail investor attention affects institutional trading behavior and stock market returns. The researchers analyzed data from China’s A-share market spanning 2012 to 2024 and measured investor attention using the Search Volume Index (SVI) provided by Baidu, China’s leading search engine. The analysis found that stocks attracting greater investor attention tend to generate relatively lower retu

Korea's top diplomat discusses ties with German, Polish counterparts

Korea's top diplomat discusses ties with German, Polish counterparts

Foreign Minister Cho Hyun met separately with his German and Polish counterparts on the sidelines of a Group of 20 (G20) meeting in Atlanta to discuss ways to enhance bilateral cooperation, his office said Saturday. Cho met with German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul on Friday (U.S. time), expressing hope for deeper ties with the European nation in a wide range of areas, including defense, the economy and cutting-edge industries, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In response, Wadephul thanked Seoul's foreign ministry for successfully preparing for German Chancellor Friedrich Merz's recent visit to Korea and expressed hope for expanded cooperation in bilateral trade and investment. Cho also met with his Polish counterpart, Radoslaw Sikorski, and called for continued discussions on cooperation in areas such as defense and batteries as a follow-up to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk's visit to Korea in April, the ministry said. Sikorski also requested Korea's attention and support for Warsaw's efforts to join the G20, with Cho proposing continued consultations on the matter.

N. Korea tests cluster bomb mountable on tactical ballistic missiles

N. Korea tests cluster bomb mountable on tactical ballistic missiles

North Korea has tested a cluster bomb that can be mounted on tactical ballistic missiles and vowed to field various types of cluster warheads by the end of the year, its state media said Sunday. The North's Missile Administration conducted the test on Saturday to assess the combat adaptability and power of a cluster-bomb warhead to be mounted on tactical ballistic missiles, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The research institutes under the Missile Administration "confirmed that Standard Type 2 cluster-bomb warhead is capable of turning into ashes a target area of 12 to 13 hectares with its highest-density power," according to the KCNA. The general director of the Missile Administration was quoted as stating that the cluster bomb warheads are classified into four categories depending on their purposes. "Within this year we will enable units to select and use all those types according to operational aims and specific features of targets," the director said. A cluster bomb releases dozens to hundreds of submunitions, allowing it to strike multiple targets over a wide area. South Ko

Trump open to talks with N. Korean leader but no meeting scheduled: Rubio

Trump open to talks with N. Korean leader but no meeting scheduled: Rubio

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump remains open to talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un if Pyongyang is willing to discuss issues of concern to Washington and its allies, but no meeting has been scheduled, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Saturday. Rubio made the remarks during a press conference following a Group of 20 (G20) foreign ministers' meeting in Atlanta. "I think the president's perspective is, if North Korea and Kim Jong-un is prepared to talk with the United States about issues that are of concern to us and of concern to our allies, like South Korea, he would be open to doing it," Rubio said. "Nothing has been scheduled. I do not have anything to announce in regards to that today," he added. His remarks came amid persistent speculations over the possibility of renewed diplomacy between Trump and Kim, who held three meetings during Trump's first presidential term. The comments also followed trilateral talks among Rubio and his South Korean and Japanese counterparts in Atlanta on Friday, during which the three top diplomats reaffirmed their commitment to th

Turkish, East Timorese presidents to visit S. Korea this week for talks with Lee

Turkish, East Timorese presidents to visit S. Korea this week for talks with Lee

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and East Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta will separately visit South Korea this week to hold summits with President Lee Jae Myung, a presidential spokesperson said Sunday. Erdogan is set to visit to South Korea from Monday through Wednesday on a state visit that will include a summit with Lee on Tuesday, presidential spokesperson Kang Yun-hung said. It marks Erdogan's first trip to South Korea since 2018, as well as the second meeting between the South Korean and Turkish leaders since Lee visited Turkey last November to attend a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Ankara. During Tuesday's summit, the leaders are expected to discuss ways to boost bilateral cooperation in trade, investment, the defense industry, nuclear power plants and other future industries, while sharing views on the situations on the Korean Peninsula and in the Middle East. Kang said the upcoming trip by Erdogan is expected to help further strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries ahead of their 70th anniversary next year of establishing d

NK's economic growth is 'temporary' thanks to Russia-Ukraine war, study says

NK's economic growth is 'temporary' thanks to Russia-Ukraine war, study says

North Korea’s recent economic growth in the 3 percent range was a “temporary war windfall” from the Russia-Ukraine war that would potentially lead to reduced domestic consumption, according to an analysis released by a think tank run by South Korea's spy agency on Sunday. In a research paper titled “Is North Korea’s economy really booming?” released Thursday by the Institute for National Security Strategy (INSS), a South Korean state-run think tank affiliated with the National Intelligence Service (NIS), senior research fellow Lim Soo-ho wrote, “What North Korea is enjoying right now is not genuine growth in its domestic economy, but rather a predatory expansion — a temporary windfall in regime finances built on war profits and inflation tax.” “North Korea’s recent economic growth has been heavily driven by a unilateral surge in heavy industry and construction … Those facilities and manufactured munitions yield almost no tangible benefit for public livelihood,” he added. Citing Bank of Korea estimates, showing North Korea’s real gross domestic product grew by

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