North Korean defectors and Ukraine, Chinese celebrity transformation: SCMP’s 7 highlights
From North Korean defectors wanting to join Ukraine’s efforts to China’s answer to Concorde, here are highlights from recent SCMP reporting
1. North Korean defectors push for Ukraine deployment to wage psychological warfare
A group of nearly 200 North Korean defectors living in South Korea is pushing to deploy to Ukraine so they can launch a psychological warfare campaign against their former comrades, now reportedly assembling in Russia.
2. ‘A lot of unknowns’: China-born scientists face uncertainty as US election looms
“It is not going to be a good outcome for the Chinese-American scholars if Donald Trump gets elected,” said experimental economist Yan Chen, who works at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. “If Kamala Harris is elected, there will be a lot of unknowns, but at least we know she’s half Asian and the child of an immigrant scientist”
3. Test flight of Chinese plane designed to travel twice as fast as Concorde
A Chinese company says it has conducted a test flight of a prototype commercial transport plane that can travel at Mach 4 – or twice the speed of a Concorde. It aims to have a full-sized supersonic passenger jet ready for its maiden flight in 2027
