SEOUL, South Korea — On Sunday, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that “all relatives of Jang [Song Taek]” — including children and the ambassadors to Cuba and Malaysia — have been put to death at the orders of the generalissimo. Jang Song Taek, you may...

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — In the Canadia Industrial Park, factories are mostly back in operation, bustling to fulfill orders for major Western labels. There are few signs of the brutal crackdown that recently afflicted this complex on the Cambodian capital’s southern...

SEOUL, South Korea — In a country dominated by sprawling conglomerates like Samsung and Hyundai, young graduates typically covet a ticket to corporate power and affluence. From day one, Korean schoolchildren cram late into the night, preparing for rigorous exams in...

SEOUL, South Korea — Read South Korea’s 1948 National Security Act and you can glean a picture of the perilous era during which it was written. The, which law bans communism and “anti-state activities,” was passed in the tense two years leading to an invasion by the...

SEOUL, South Korea — After a week or two in the South Korean capital of Seoul, newcomers often harbor extreme views on the city. They either love it or absolutely despise it. The first cohort can’t get enough of this Asian metropolis of almost 10 million people. They...

SEOUL, South Korea — In the heart of Seoul’s famous Gangnam neighborhood lies the “Beauty Belt,” a grouping of streets lined with hundreds of cosmetic surgery joints. Untold numbers of Koreans — as well as Chinese and Southeast Asian tourists — have trekked to this...

SEOUL, South Korea — On Sunday, North Korea announced that Kim Jong Un’s uncle, the powerful guiding-hand regent, had been excommunicated from the leadership. Four days later, after a special military tribunal found him guilty of treason, Jang Song Taek was executed....

SEOUL, South Korea — In a faraway kingdom, a chubby, eccentrically dressed dictator has purged his number-two man, a veteran ally of the ruling dynasty. The second-in-command, a well-known advocate of reform, may have veered too far from his boss and challenged the...

SEOUL, South Korea — Extradited from Thailand, the five suspects appeared before a New York court last month to face charges of a sensational plot: smuggling crystal meth from enemy number one, North Korea. The five men — from China, the UK, the Philippines and...

SEOUL, South Korea — Asia's rapidly mounting tensions just helped deliver a blow against democracy, with the Obama administration's backing. The context: In late November, China declared an “air defense identification zone” in airspace over the disputed Senkaku...