South Korea | Pakistan

Rows of coffins line a university classroom in the South Korean port city of Busan, ready for use in training the funeral directors of the future in a rapidly ageing country. Growing numbers are finding work in the business of death as South Korea undergoes massive demographic change, with birth rates among the lowest in the world and almost half the population aged 50 or older. Students at the Busan Institute of Science and Technology carefully draped a mannequin in traditional Korean funeral cloth, smoothing the fabric as if over real skin, before gently lowering it into a coffin. “With our society ageing, I thought the demand for this kind of work would only grow,” said Jang Jin-yeong, 27, a funeral administration student. Another student, 23-year-old Im Sae-jin, decided to enter the field after his grandmother died. “At her funeral, I saw how beautifully the directors had prepared her for the final farewell,” he said. “I felt deeply grateful.” ‘Like portraits’ More and more South Koreans are also living —...

A major fire at South Korea’s national data centre has crippled some government online services and internal networks, prompting a race on Saturday to bring the systems back online and a probe of what sparked a lithium-ion battery to start the blaze. The fire is suspected to have started with an explosion on Friday night of the battery produced by South Korea’s LG Energy Solution during maintenance, damaging some servers and forcing the shutdown of hundreds of others, officials said. The fire led to a “thermal runaway”, producing extreme heat in the server room at the National Information Resources Services in the city of Daejeon, preventing firefighters from taking aggressive actions to contain the blaze, fire and government officials said in press briefings. The national data service acts as a cloud server for many government services and databases for the heavily wired Asian country. It operates data centres in other locations. The fire, which began around 8:20pm (4:20pm PKT), was brought under control ear...

US President Donald Trump might visit China before going to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit between October 30 and November 1, or he could meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the APEC event in South Korea, The South China Morning Post reported on Sunday, citing multiple sources. The two countries have been trying to negotiate an end to an escalating tit-for-tat tariff war that has upended global trade and supply chains. The two sides have discussed a potential meeting between the leaders in the region this year, but they have not confirmed a date or location yet, according to a person familiar with the matter. Trump has sought to impose tariffs on US importers for virtually all foreign goods, which he says will stimulate domestic manufacturing and which critics say will make many consumer goods more expensive for Americans. He has called for a universal base tariff rate of 10 per cent on goods imported from all countries, with higher rates for imports from the most “problematic” on...

Pakistan thrashed hosts South Korea 91-6 at the Asian Youth Netball Championship on Sunday to mark their third consecutive win of the tournament. The green shirts had a strong first quarter to lead 23-2 and extended their lead to 45-3 by halftime. The score was 70-4 in the third quarter, and the women managed to end the game 91-6 to sit at the top of the rankings of Pool B. According to details, Leya Raza Shah, Alisha Naveed, Haleema, Sarina Hussain, Jasmine Farooq, Farah Rasheed , Amani, Parisa , Sumayya Ahmed and Alina were recognised as outstanding players in the match. Senior officials of the Pakistan Netball Federation congratulated the team on their victory. Pakistan now faces Japan on Monday and the Maldives a day later. In a post on Instagram, the netball federation extended its gratitude to coach Amanda Newton “for her exceptional coaching, technical expertise, and unwavering dedication to the Pakistan Youth Girls Netball Team.” “Under her guidance, our team has shown incredible skill and determinati...

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar held separate telephonic conversations with his counterparts from Panama and South Korea to discuss rising regional tensions and reaffirm commitments to international peace and cooperation.