Asian Legal Review

South Korean former prime minister Lee Hae-chan, a veteran politician and influential fixture on the country’s road to democracy, died during an official visit to Vietnam’s southern hub of Ho Chi Minh City, both governments said.
Lee died on Sunday, after emergency medical aid for a heart attack, a South Korean presidential advisory panel said in a statement.
The 73-year-old reportedly complained of flu-like symptoms before his departure to Vietnam and decided to return home one day after his…

After a brief countdown by conservationists, a young Indo-Pacific leopard shark glided into the blue waters off Maiton Island in southern Thailand, released in the country’s first efforts to “rewild” the endangered species.
Once a familiar sight for snorkellers and divers, the spotted sharks have sharply declined in the wild over the past decade due to overfishing and habitat loss, even as they flourished in private aquariums.
“Why not take the breeding population that is doing well in the…

The Philippines is reviving a popular disaster monitoring and simulation programme that was defunded nine years ago by then president Rodrigo Duterte – a move that some have blamed for resulting in a swathe of corrupted construction projects now plaguing the country.
Last month, Congress said it would allot 1 billion pesos (US$16.9 million) in the 2026 General Appropriations Bill for the Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards (NOAH) project, a clutch of programmes that identifies risk…

Indonesia has placed “resilience” at the heart of its foreign policy this year, pitching it as a way to keep the country from being buffeted by intensifying rivalry among the world’s major powers.
But analysts say the concept, though rhetorically appealing, lacks clear objectives and a long-term strategy – running the risk of Jakarta’s diplomacy becoming more transactional and drifting away from its stated values of non-alignment, multilateralism and respect for international law.
In his annual…

Japan welcomed a record 42.7 million foreign visitors in 2025, fuelled by a weak yen that made it one of the world’s cheapest major tourist destinations, but the boom may already have peaked.
The number is expected to decline this year amid a political row between Japan and China, and staff shortages in the tourism sector, according to industry forecasts, potentially complicating the government’s ambition to attract 60 million overseas visitors by 2030.
In comparison, 31.9 million tourists…

Malaysian anti-corruption authorities have opened two investigation papers into a man bearing the title “Tan Sri” over his alleged involvement in a large-scale investment fraud amounting to more than 300 million ringgit (US$75 million).
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had arrested two individuals and carried out searches at five premises around the Klang Valley earlier in the week following information received.
Preliminary investigations found that between 2021 and 2024, nearly…

UPDATED: Luxembourg is set to overhaul its carried interest tax regime to better attract active fund management and other front-office talent, after a new law was voted in on 22 January.

AusEnergy Services Limited (ASL) is seeking market feedback on a proposed long-term energy service agreement (LTESA) for hybrid projects, particularly solar plus battery projects, in New South Wales.

Tim Leissner, the former Goldman Sachs banker who admitted his role in one of the largest financial frauds in history, is seeking a presidential pardon before he surrenders to a federal prison in the US.
Leissner filed his pardon application to the US Justice Department last year, according to a notice on the DOJ website. It was submitted between September 3 and November 18, according to archived copies posted on lawyeroyer.com.
Leissner, Goldman’s former Southeast Asia chairman, pleaded guilty…

The recent drama surrounding US action in Venezuela, its renewed interest in Greenland and tariff threats on governments that object, along with comments on Cuba, Colombia and Mexico, appear disjointed – part diplomacy, part law enforcement, part political theatre.
Like many observers, I rely on the news to try to make sense of the policy logic and what it may mean for those who have to live with its consequences.
Washington’s rationale for its actions in Venezuela was initially framed as law…