This report covers the period 1 January to 31 December 2012

Overview

The IFRC’s East Asia regional delegation (EARD) serves to support and build capacities within the national societies (NSs) of the East Asia region. The region includes China, Mongolia, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the Republic of Korea, and Japan. The IFRC supports all five national Red Cross Societies in the region and additionally has long-term planning frameworks specifically for the NSs in China, Mongolia, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

Around the world, people face abuse, arbitrary arrest, extortion, violence, severe discrimination and lack of official protection because of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity. This latest issue of FMR includes 26 articles on the abuse of rights of forced migrants who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex. Authors discuss both the challenges faced and examples of good practice in securing protection for LGBTI forced migrants.

POHANG, North Gyeongsang - The Pohang city government said yesterday they have successfully planted and harvested Korean rice in Africa.

They have been operating the farm program as part of a project to help people in Africa who are suffering from famine.

“The first harvest was successfully finished in September,” 51-year-old Seo Seok-young, an official from the Agricultural Technology Center of the Pohang City Government, told the JoongAng Ilbo on the phone from Madagascar yesterday.

In March 1 address, Park Geun-hye calls for ‘more flexible engagement’

The Park Geun-hye administration is planning on stoking a thaw in the long-frosty relations with North Korea with a resumption of humanitarian assistance to the country, a senior Blue House official told JoongAng Ilbo yesterday.

“As part of trust-building efforts, we will first start humanitarian assistance,” the official said. “Besides the aid, we are also considering what else we can do.”

1. The high-level International Humanitarian Pledging Conference for Syria took place in Kuwait on January 30. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and King Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah of Kuwait co-presided over the Conference. On behalf of the government of the Republic of Korea, MOFAT’s Deputy Minister for Multilateral and Global Affairs Kim Bong-hyun attended the meeting.

NATURAL DISASTERS IN 2012

After an intense year of natural disasters in 2011, countries in the Asia-Pacific region welcomed a reduction in the number of events in 2012. OCHA and the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters recorded 93 natural disaster events in 2012, in which over 3,200 people were killed and more than 75 million people were affected. China and the Philippines experienced the most disasters in 2012.

01/02/2013 05:24 GMT

SEOUL, Jan 2, 2013 (AFP) - The number of North Korean refugees fleeing to the South fell sharply last year, officials in Seoul said, with activists citing crackdowns and tighter border controls.

A total of 1,508 North Koreans arrived in the South in 2012 -- nearly all of them via China -- down from 2,706 the previous year, the Unification Ministry said.

Activists said the North had cracked down on people trying to flee the country under new leader Kim Jong-Un, who took power following the death of his father Kim Jong-Il in late 2011.

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D. COST OF DAMAGES (TAB D)

• The estimated cost of damages to properties is PHP36,949,230,987.07: infrastructure PHP7,565,044,810.00; agriculture PHP26,526,663,474.07; private properties PHP2,857,522,703.00

1. In view of the fast increasing damage from Typhoon Bopha that struck the southern part of the Philippines on December 2, the government of the Republic of Korea has decided to provide the country with humanitarian assistance worth 800,000 US dollars, in addition to the previously donated 200,000.

• As of December 20, Typhoon Bopha left 1,047 people dead, 2,662 injured, 841 missing, and 620,000 displaced, while incurring damage worth some 600 million US dollars.