RFA Insider

This is the season finale of RFA Insider Season 1 *The Rundown* Obesity is on the rise in China, and the government is trying to promote healthy living In North Korea, the government is telling parents to give their kids names that are more reflective of the revolutionary spirit. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Off Beat: RFA Tibetan's Tenzin Pema explains why some are concerned that Tibetan artifacts are among 41 "Chinese cultural objects" that were "repatriated" from the U.S. to China Double Off Beat: BenarNews' Anthony Esguerra explains what's at stake in the ICC trial of the Philippines' ex-president Duterte over his brutal war on drugs. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

*Off Beat* Abby Seiff from RFA Investigative explains why scam centers are so widespread in places like Cambodia and Myanmar, and how authorities are trying shut them down. *Double Off Beat* We check in with Son from RFA Vietnamese to find out the latest about the unofficial monk Thich Minh Tue who is currently walking from Vietnam to India and might soon enter Myanmar. Hosted on Acast. See acast....

*Off Beat* RFA Investigative's Lobsang Gelek explains his personal story of escaping Tibet to India by hiking through the Himalayas as a 10-year-old child. *The Rundown* Buddhist temples in Beijing are overcrowded for Lunar New Year because youth these days are turning to religion in times of economic uncertainty How is Valentine's Day celebrated in RFA's broadcast areas? Hosted on Acast. See acas...

*Off Beat* RFA staffers Jim Snyder and Gemunu Amarasinghe recently traveled to Myanmar's Kayah state where rebel insurgents have taken control of the countryside and are trying to establish a new state government. *Double Off Beat* Production engineer Wa Than discusses his recent trip to Thailand where he met with Burmese youth who fled the Myanmar junta's conscription orders. Hosted on Acast. See...

*Off Beat* An exodus of TikTok users are migrating en masse to another Chinese social media platform, RedNote, also known as Xiaohongshu. RFA Uyghur's Shahrezad Ghayrat, breaks it down for us. *Double Off Beat* RFA Mandarin's Kitty Wang discusses U.S.-China relations under the new administration from China's point of view Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is a "clip episode" highlighting some of the best moments of RFA Insider in 2024, its first year in production. We explored many topics in our first year, including: Vietnamese Monk Thich Minh Tue and his pilgrimage across the country, and who is now traveling on foot to India. North Korea sending soldiers to fight alongside Russia against Ukraine, and both countries trying to hide their pres...

*Off Beat* Discussing shocking news of Russians burning North Korean soldiers' faces in war with Ukraine with RFA Korean's Jaewoo Park. *Podcast Free Asia* Answering a comment about Vietnam's "barefoot monk" Thich Minh Tue, and revealing RFA's plan to publish a map that tracks his location. *Double Off Beat* Discussing H6, an alleged spy with ties to British royalty. RFA Investigative team's direc...

*Off Beat* Jun You from RFA Korean joins the Insiders to discuss South Korea's martial law declaration and reversal, and how the checks and balances present in a developed democracy in South Korea are not present in the North, where the word of the leader is the law of the land. *The Rundown* Tara McKelvey of RFA Investigative talks about the recent spy exchange between the U.S. and China and why...

*Off Beat* Mark Clifford, president of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation discusses the trial of Jimmy Lai, the media mogul charged with sedition and collusion in violation of Hong Kong's National Security Law, and what the trial means for press freedom in the former British colony. *Podcast Free Asia* RFA Multimedia's very own Lauren Kim discusses a kimchi taste test video that she...

*Off Beat* RFA English's State Dept. correspondent Alex Willemyns discusses possible changes in U.S. foreign policy in Asia after Trump's election victory. *The Rundown* The Myanmar junta jailed a citizen for criticizing the title of a movie as being discriminatory to religious minorities. Vietnam builds a new airstrip on an artificial island built atop a reef in the disputed Spratley archipelago....

This is a republish of just the panda-related portions of Episode 18 because we wanted to submit it for an award, but the file must be below 60 minutes. *SPECIAL REPORT* Amy and Eugene visited the Smithsonian National Zoo in late September to get to the bottom of Panda diplomacy and to try to figure out when the new pandas would arrive. While there, they went *Off Beat* by talking to the zoo's dir...

RFA Insider #18 DOUBLE LENGTH EPISODE! *SPECIAL REPORT* Amy and Eugene visited the Smithsonian National Zoo in late September to get to the bottom of Panda diplomacy and to try to figure out when the new pandas would arrive. While there, they went *Off Beat* by talking to the zoo's director Brandie Smith, who stressed that conservation was the panda program's goal. *Podcast Free Asia* North Korea...

*Off Beat* Kelis Wong from RFA Cantonese discusses the past 10 years in Hong Kong, and how protests in 2014, known as the Umbrella Movement or Occupy Central, led into subsequent protests in 2019 over an extradition law and then again in 2024 over the passage of Article 23. *The Rundown* North Koreans get punished for not saving portraits of their previous leaders as they escaped from their floode...

This episode of RFA Insider is a practice run in "live to tape" format, indicating that we will in the future do a livestreamed episode. *The Rundown* North Korean lectures tell the people that Vladimir Putin loves Kim Jong Un more than others. Meanwhile the people are getting sick of a propaganda song singing his praises The AFCL checks into Chinese businessman Victor Gao's claim that 10% of Taiw...

*Off Beat* Discussing Cambodian strongman Hun Sen with Vuthy Huot and Poly Sam from RFA Khmer *Podcast Free Asia* The other RFA Podcast, Master of Deceit, is about Wang Shujun, a New Yorker convicted of spying for China, not about those other three New Yorkers arrested for or convicted of spying for China. *The Rundown* Caterpillar fungus trade affected by climate change, over harvesting, and coun...

*How it's Made* This is part tow of a two part episode featuring a lengthy interview with Seohyun and Hyunseung Lee, who have been described as Pyonghattanites because they were part of North Korea's 1% prior to escaping North Korea. In part two, the focus is about the issues that North Korean escapees face, including the proper term that we should use when talking about them, and then covers the...

*How it's Made* This is part one of a two part episode featuring a lengthy interview with Seohyun and Hyunseung Lee, who have been described as Pyonghattanites because they were part of North Korea's 1% prior to escaping North Korea. In part one, the focus is about their decision to escape,  their time in South Korea before coming to the United States and their experiences in the Korean-Ameri...

*How its' Made* RFA Uyghur's Shahrezad Ghayrat unpacks a TikTok video filmed by young Uyghur activists, then discusses the situation in the Uyghur region. *The Rundown* Unofficial new "down the rabbit hole" segment begins with talk of anthems played at the olympics then takes a turn to North Korea presenting Vladimir Putin with the Russian anthem during a state visit. China wins gold-silver in wom...

*How it's Made* We discus mass student protests in Bangladesh that have claimed over 200 lives and seen more than 10,000 arrested with BenarNews' Mahbub Leelen. *Podcast Free Asia* Astronomy and astrology are not the same, and all our zodiac signs are wrong *The Rundown* AFCL debunks reports that the BBC reported that China's Chang'e-6 mission to the Moon harmed lunar aliens, then they debunk repo...

*How it's Made* BenarNews' Mem Satitpanyapan discusses the latest developments in the case of six Vietnamese and Vietnamese Americans who were discovered by police dead in their hotel room *Podcast Free Asia* We explain our format shift and we record some promos. *The rundown* YouTubers in Vietnam slapped with a fine for posting video of a rock and saying it looks like Thich Minh Tue, the unoffici...

On this episode, China sees a sharp drop in marriages; The road to the FIFA World Cup for North Korea (and China and South Korea) becomes more clear after the AFC's 3rd round draw. *How it's made* Truong Son from RFA Vietnamese discusses Thich Minh Tue, the unofficial monk who's gone viral for his barefoot pilgrimage across the country. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is part two of a two-part pride-themed episode with a panel discussing LGBTQIA+ experiences and issues in Asian settings or in the field of journalism. Our panel consists of three RFA journalists who happen to be gay: Wilson (pseudonym), social media editor Phoe Khwar, journalist, Burmese Service Greg Barber, head of digital operations Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informati...

This is part one of a two-part pride-themed episode with a panel discussing LGBTQIA+ experiences and issues in Asian settings or in the field of journalism. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode of RFA Insider: *Podcast Free Asia* A primer for the discussion on language standardization *The Rundown* The insiders discuss different standardization processes by governments in the Chinese and Korean linguistic areas, and how adherence to one standard may or may not be political. *How it's Made* Max Avary from RFA's Lao Service explains the difference between traditional Lao an...