By Staff Writer
16:09:2021

The past week saw three different missile launches on the Korean peninsula. On Monday, the North tested a new type of cruise missile, which was responded to by the South, with an underwater missile launch on Wednesday. The North carried out two other missile launches on Wednesday in response to the South and President Joe Biden’s dispatching of his envoy to Tokyo and Seoul to restart peace negotiations, which had been stalled for the past six months.

Speaking to Radio Islam International, Sanusha Naidu, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Global Dialogue, pointed out the inherent dangers in these missile launches, “it’s becoming quite a dire situation in the region itself… it has dire implications for security [and] stability, especially with Kim Jong-un’s sister getting involved.”

Naidu also pointed out that China, a firm supporter of the North, has also been trying to quell the situation, “China being the other big actor in the region has weighed in with discussions with the South, as well as with North Korea, trying to stabilise the situation.”

Meanwhile, in other parts of Asia, the coronavirus impacts are gravely burdening countries, especially economically, significantly impacting countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand, which have large tourism sectors.

Further, jobs are being lost, especially in service sectors, and food prices are increasing. Instead of instituting further restrictions, these countries are trying to stabilise the situation and deal with the virus as part of life.

“The problem here is that there’s increasing sense of exhaustion, and what’s happening is that now countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, etc., they try to co-exist with the virus basically… In other words, [they] can’t keep going through this ebb and flow… In Thailand, the whole tourism industry has been in a state of decimation. So to regained business, they’re reopening to attract tourists to come back in.”

Ms Naidu contrasted this too much of Europe, seeing increased vaccinations and has reopened much of its economy. It is noteworthy that the Delta variant is causing these difficulties.

Ms Naidu pointed out that work conditions in many of these states, especially for women, are pretty precarious. In the Indian State of Tamil Nadu, women won the right to sit. Before this, they were often docked pay for such issues. After the Southern state of Kerala implemented a similar measure in 2018, this ruling will now allow women to sit and have rest periods while working.

Significantly, states such as Kerala and Tamil Nadu have more progressive and stringent working rights when compared to other areas in India, especially in the North.

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