Former NSC chief urges Seoul to take Trump's latest moves seriously SEOUL, August 21 (AJP) - Former White House National Security Council chief of staff Alexander B. Gray urged Seoul to take U.S. President Donald Trump seriously on investment and the treatment of American companies while defending his "unconventional" approach to North Korea, which differs from previous presidents', in an AJP interview in Seoul earlier this week, two days after Trump abruptly ordered a substantial reduction in a joint military exercise with South Korea on August 21, 2026

Viet Nam's Gen Z protests without gathering SEOUL, August 21 (AJP) - The flowers under the tree outside No. 55 Nguyen Huy Tu Street arrived one at a time, which is why the police had nothing to break up. Over roughly a week in August, young Vietnamese walked to the spot in central Hanoi, left a bouquet, photographed it and went home. By the time the pile was large enough to be a problem, no crowd had ever formed. The tree marks the place where a car crossed into oncoming traffic on May 30, 2025, and struck a motorbike carry August 21, 2026

Kazakhstan to elect first Kurultai under new constitution SEOUL, August 20 (AJP) - Voters in Kazakhstan choose all 145 seats of the Kurultai on Sunday, filling the single-chamber legislature that replaced the country's two houses of parliament and completing an institutional change written into a constitution that took effect seven weeks ago. The Central Election Commission has registered 12,605,788 voters and 545 candidates across seven party lists. Every seat is contested in one nationwide district under closed-list proportional re August 20, 2026

Kazakhstan gives month to prepare Chinese waste plant deals SEOUL, August 19 (AJP) - Kazakhstan has given itself a month to prepare agreements for a new set of Chinese-built waste-to-energy plants, the government said Wednesday, extending a program that has yet to put a single incinerator into operation anywhere in the country. Three plants are already under construction, in Astana, Almaty and Shymkent, at a combined cost of 293.3 billion tenge ($637.4 million). Together they are designed to burn 4,500 tons of municipal waste a day and g August 19, 2026

Türkiye rejects Israeli claim on troop deployment at Syrian airbase SEOUL, August 19 (AJP) - The justification Israel gave for bombing a Syrian airbase this week, that Turkish soldiers were about to deploy there, was rejected in full by Ankara on Wednesday, which called the allegations untenable and said their purpose was to make unlawful strikes appear legitimate. Eight strikes hit the runway at the Abu al-Duhur airbase in eastern Idlib province early Tuesday, damaging runways and hangars without killing anyone, according to Syria's state bro August 19, 2026

AJP Fact Check: Trump's claims about two Koreas SEOUL, August 19 (AJP) - U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a reduction in joint military exercises with South Korea last Sunday, signaling the possibility of another summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The order came shortly before the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump was pushing for another meeting with Kim, a move that could revive the personal diplomacy that defined his first term. Many observers see the push as driven by the upcoming U.S. midterm elections amid August 19, 2026

South Korea, US cut short joint exercise after Trump order SEOUL, August 19 (AJP) - South Korea and the U.S. will end their annual Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise nearly a week earlier than planned, Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said on Wednesday. The development follows U.S. President Donald Trump's order to scale back the exercise. The JCS said the allies agreed to adjust the UFS schedule to run from Aug. 17 through Aug. 21. The exercise had originally been scheduled to continue through Aug. 27. The decision came a August 19, 2026

Trump pushes for meeting with North Korean leader this fall SEOUL, August 19 (AJP) - U.S. President Donald Trump's order to scale back a joint U.S.-South Korea military exercise comes as he pushes aides to arrange another meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as early as this fall, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. Trump has privately discussed meeting Kim during his next trip to Asia, potentially in November when leaders are expected to gather for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shenzhen, China, August 19, 2026

Trump's move to reduce military drills stirs debate in Seoul and Washington SEOUL, August 18 (AJP) - U.S. President Donald Trump's order last Sunday to "substantially" scale back a joint military exercise with South Korea has triggered political criticism on both sides of the Pacific, with Democrats in Washington blaming Trump for weakening a key alliance, while South Korea's conservative opposition faulted South Korean President Lee Jae Myung for allowing relations with Washington to deteriorate. Trump instructed the Pentagon to "sub August 18, 2026

Kazakhstan lines up social infrastructure push for 2027-2029 SEOUL, August 18 (AJP) - Hospitals, children's rehabilitation centers and sports facilities will top Kazakhstan's construction priorities for the 2027~2029 budget period, committing the state to another round of building at a time when its own auditors report that much of the last round went unfinished. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev set the priority at a meeting on the economy and budget planning at Akorda on Monday, according to the presidential press service. He was br August 18, 2026