Paul Chan highlights 4 priorities ahead of Apec finance ministers’ meeting this month

South China Morning Post - Oct 11, 2026

The Apec finance ministers’ meeting in Hong Kong this month will focus on fiscal policies that support livelihoods, digital infrastructure financing, inclusive finance and young financial talent, underlining the city’s role as an international financial centre, the finance chief said. “These four priorities are areas of strength for Hong Kong and fields in which we can make an active contribution,” Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po wrote in his weekly blog on Sunday. “Hosting the finance...

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More support needed for ethnic minority children with special needs, charity says

More support needed for ethnic minority children with special needs, charity says

A non-profit children’s education organisation in Hong Kong has urged the government to expand support services for preschool-aged ethnic minority children with special needs to more districts, after a pilot project found that 95 per cent of participants showed improvement. Heep Hong Society said on Sunday that many ethnic minority families faced multiple barriers when seeking support for children with special educational needs (SEN), including language difficulties, financial constraints and...

Hangzhou is doubling down on tech – minus the viral hype

Hangzhou is doubling down on tech – minus the viral hype

A year ago, a Unitree robot kickboxing could light up social media. When DeepSeek released its latest open-source artificial intelligence (AI) model, developers around the world rushed to test it. This year, however, Hangzhou’s latest technology bets have barely made a ripple. The city’s “New Eight Steeds” – eight deep-tech companies in fields ranging from smart glasses and inference graphic processing units (GPUs) to compute-in-memory chips and space computing – are a very different proposition...

Bar Association urges proxy cap, electronic voting to curb building bid-rigging

Bar Association urges proxy cap, electronic voting to curb building bid-rigging

The Hong Kong Bar Association has suggested capping the number of proxies a person can hold at homeowners’ meetings, without restricting who may act as a proxy, stressing that improving transparency and introducing an electronic voting system could help to deter abuse in large-scale maintenance procurement. Speaking to the South China Morning Post, association chairman Jose-Antonio Maurellet expressed reservations about a government proposal to restrict an owner’s representative to a relative or...

How a museum masterpiece’s life-size replica sparked rare US-China collaboration

How a museum masterpiece’s life-size replica sparked rare US-China collaboration

For anyone who has visited the Chinese galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, there is one work that stops them in their tracks. Stepping into Gallery 206, home to Chinese Buddhist art, visitors are met by a monumental wall – over 15 metres wide and 7.5 metres tall (nearly 50 feet by 25 feet) – covered in a Buddhist assembly so vast and majestic that it momentarily erases the Manhattan bustle outside. Here stands the Medicine Buddha, a 14th century Yuan dynasty (1279-1368)...

'Enemies in the Outfield' blends baseball into dating show

'Enemies in the Outfield' blends baseball into dating show

Tving’s “Enemies in the Outfield” is carving out a niche with a novel format that combines baseball and romance. The dating reality show brings together singles who support rival professional baseball teams and has them watch actual games at the ballpark. The Hankook Ilbo spoke with the show’s producers and hosts about what sets the program apart and what viewers can expect as the season unfolds. A roundtable interview for the Tving original variety show was held at a cafe in Seoul’s Seodaemun District on Wednesday afternoon. It was attended by producer Lee Ki-yeon and hosts Lee Yong-jin, Hwang Jae-gyun and Jung Ye-in. First released on Sept. 14, “Enemies in the Outfield” follows men and women who support different Korean baseball league teams as they watch games together at actual stadiums while looking for romance. The show has drawn attention for incorporating real league games into its romantic storyline. It also adds a love triangle involving a third participant, as well as choices between romance and season tickets. Meanwhile, the experienced hosts, who are well verse

US expects S. Korea to 'uphold' alliance standards amid intelligence cooperation concerns: senior official

US expects S. Korea to 'uphold' alliance standards amid intelligence cooperation concerns: senior official

WASHINGTON — A senior U.S. official said Friday that Washington expects Seoul to "uphold" the standards of their decadeslong alliance, amid heightened concerns over apparent friction in the countries' intelligence cooperation. "We expect the ROK to uphold the standards of our decadeslong alliance, in particular concerning matters of intelligence and counterintelligence," the senior U.S. administration official told Yonhap News Agency in a written statement, referring to South Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea. The statement was provided in response to an inquiry from Yonhap News Agency regarding the state of bilateral intelligence cooperation. The remarks follow growing speculation over bilateral friction after South Korea's National Intelligence Service acknowledged it was excluded from a June trilateral meeting, also involving Japan, on North Korean cyber threats. Local media reports indicated the agency was left out at Washington's request. South Korea and the United States have faced signs of friction in the intelligence field after Seoul Unification Minister Chung Dong-

N. Korea slams US human trafficking report as grave provocation

N. Korea slams US human trafficking report as grave provocation

North Korea on Saturday slammed a U.S. government report on its human trafficking situation as a "grave politically-motivated provocation" revealing Washington's "hostile" policy toward Pyongyang. The U.S. State Department released the 2026 Trafficking in Persons Report on Thursday (local time), placing North Korea in the lowest Tier 3 group of countries for anti-human trafficking efforts, alongside China, Russia, Iran and Cuba. It was the 24th consecutive year Pyongyang was placed in the category. "Recently the U.S. Department of State committed another grave politically-motivated provocation of malignantly slandering the DPRK through the '2026 Trafficking in Persons Report' which is full of lies, fabrications, prejudice and hostility," a spokesperson for North Korea's foreign ministry said in an English statement carried by the country's Korean Central News Agency. "This clearly proved once again the U.S. vicious and malicious intention to politicize and weaponize human rights and use them as the primary lever for its hostile policy toward the DPRK." DPRK stands for North Korea's offici

S. Korean ambassador to Ukraine returns home amid dispute over NK POW disclosure

S. Korean ambassador to Ukraine returns home amid dispute over NK POW disclosure

South Korea's ambassador to Ukraine returned home Saturday after being recalled in protest of Kyiv's disclosure of the transfer of North Korean prisoners of war (POWs) to Seoul, the foreign ministry said. Ambassador Park Ki-chang arrived two days after the foreign ministry announced the recall in response to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's disclosure of the transfer and Kyiv's subsequent denial that it had agreed with Seoul to keep the matter confidential. The two North Korean soldiers were captured in January 2025 while fighting for Russia in the Kursk region and arrived in South Korea in mid-September, according to officials here. Seoul has said a non-disclosure agreement was reached with Kyiv at Ukraine's request to protect the soldiers and their families, who remain in North Korea, and that Zelenskyy breached the agreement when he revealed the transfer during an address to the U.N. General Assembly in New York last month. Kyiv has said there was no such agreement. It is rare for the government to recall an ambassador as a form of protest, and the last time South Korea did so

Parliamentary speaker Cho discusses energy, defense cooperation with Croatian president

Parliamentary speaker Cho discusses energy, defense cooperation with Croatian president

National Assembly Speaker Cho Jeong-sik has held a series of meetings with Croatian President Zoran Milanovic, Parliament Speaker Gordan Jandrokovic and Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic to seek energy and defense cooperation between the two nations, his office said Saturday. In a meeting with the Croatian president in Zagreb on Friday (local time), Cho said the two countries have been maintaining friendly, cooperative relations since establishing diplomatic ties in 1992, which were upgraded to a comprehensive, future-oriented partnership in 2023. Cho has been on a four-nation trip to Italy, Vatican City, Croatia and Greece over nine days. In a separate meeting with the Croatian prime minister, Cho also said the two countries should solidify their ties in the economy, culture, defense and energy sectors, highlighting a recent arms supply deal. Last month, South Korean defense firm Hanwha Aerospace signed a deal to export 18 Chunmoo multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) to Croatia in an arms contract worth some 640 billion won ($477 million), marking the first major arms deal between the tw

Actress breastfeeds in public, cheers on fellow mothers

Actress breastfeeds in public, cheers on fellow mothers

Actress Choi Yu-hwa has shared an update on breastfeeding her baby for six months after giving birth, expressing pride in reaching her goal and offering words of encouragement to mothers everywhere. On Monday, Choi posted photos on social media, writing, "The day my baby turned six months old was also the day I successfully reached my goal of breastfeeding for six months." The photos offer a glimpse into Choi's daily life as a mother. In particular, they show her breastfeeding her baby in public places, including restaurants and cafes. "I worked really hard," Choi said. "Taking care of a baby through the night is difficult, but traveling without having to carry extra things is convenient, so I've decided to keep breastfeeding a little longer." She added, "To all the mothers in the world, keep going!" Choi made her acting debut in 2010 in the KBS2 one-act drama "The Great Gye Choon-bin." She later appeared in TV series including "Suits," "Life," "Class of Lies" and "River Where the Moon Rises," as well as films such as "Tazza: One Eyed Jack" and "The Truth Beneath." In December last year, C

Korean, Japanese dramas target each other's home screens

Korean, Japanese dramas target each other's home screens

“My name is Minamida Minami. Whether you read it forward or backward, it’s Minamida Minami. Kitsusuki (woodpecker), tomato, Swiss, koneko (kitten), Minamida Minami.” The line comes from “Extraordinary Attorney Minami,” the Japanese adaptation of “Extraordinary Attorney Woo.” In the original series, protagonist Woo Young-woo (Park Eun-bin) introduces herself using words that read the same forward and backward, such as “gireogi (wild goose), tomato, Swiss and Indo-in (Indian).” The Japanese remake recreates the wordplay in Japanese. Around the same time, a genius surgeon who swept Japan is moving the setting to a Korean hospital. Two representative legal and medical dramas from Korea and Japan are switching home turfs as they seek viewers across the sea. Kansai TV and Fuji TV will premiere “Extraordinary Attorney Minami” on Oct. 19. Like the original “Extraordinary Attorney Woo,” which aired on ENA in 2022, the series follows the growth of a rookie lawyer on the autism spectrum. “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” made history by remaining in Netflix’s global Top

Dad who wept over daughter's book brings 'Long, Long Night' to Busan

Dad who wept over daughter's book brings 'Long, Long Night' to Busan

An animated film made by a father who burst into tears while reading his elementary school-aged daughter's book has been invited to the competition section of the 31st Busan International Film Festival. “Long Long Night” is the only animated film among the 13 competition titles. Based on author Ru Ri's 2021 children's book of the same name, the film follows the journey of Norden, the last white rock rhinoceros on Earth, and a young penguin born from an abandoned egg. The original book has sold more than 800,000 copies, becoming a megahit in children's literature and a rare children's story that has also won enthusiastic support from adults. Director Youm Kyu-bock and producer Jung Kyoung-hee discussed the film's four-year journey to the screen at a press conference held Friday at the Busan Cinema Center in the city's Haeundae District. The project began with a book Youm's daughter brought home. Youm said he cried uncontrollably while reading "Long Long Night" to his daughter and became captivated by the friendship between the aging rhinoceros and the young penguin. "I felt I had to ma

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