ASIA IN FOCUS restricted. Nevertheless, labour agencies preferred to check workers ID cards to minimise labourers mobility power because this method decreased the agencies overall labour costs. All labour agency staff interviewed confirmed this. The third strategy labour agencies used was delay in and deduction of salary payments. These financial penalties were imposed on agency workers if they left without any notice and against agency procedures. These situations were replicated across different labour agencies. In this way, labour agencies took the role of employers of those workers, thus reducing costs in terms of administration, training, continuity, and management. A labour agency staff in Shenzhen believed that delays and deductions in salary payments were a helpful method to control the turnover of labourers they dispatched because agency workers were concerned about their remuneration and would not quit their dispatch jobs freely. This was confirmed by a 19-year-old male agency worker at Pegatron, Chongqing. He complained that he was punished with delays in and deductions from his salary payment after he gave notice that he wanted to leave the Pegatron factory. His labour agency told him he could not get his salary on time because he violated agency procedures by quitting a dispatch job he did not like. A Foxconn factory manager added that as a result of the delays in and deductions from salary payments as a penalty for agency workers, the Foxconn factory had enough workers to finish its assembly assignments for mobile phones and other electronic devices. It appears that agency workers freedom to change jobs and mobility power is thus strictly controlled. Furthermore, Smith (2006) suggests that workers can easily walk away from employment contracts. My findings concur that for agency workers, labour contracts act more like papers that place no restrictions on them leaving their existing jobs, which results in a high employee turnover. I argue that this itself contributes to a sense of precarity. Based on my fieldwork and interviews with agency workers in both Chongqing and Shenzhen, being part of the agency labour supply is itself precarious for rural migrants because labour agencies dispatch workers to various factories and different positions even though workers have signed labour contracts with those labour agencies. Although rural migrants may gain some benefits from the jobs to which they are dispatched, such as higher salaries as a result of frequent work in different factories with higher pay, their risks still increase because they are forced by the labour agencies to change their jobs irregularly without any notice. This contributes to their precariousness in terms of the stability in the workplace and of salary. From this perspective, the labour contracts for agency workers do not play a role in providing longterm employment security and stable jobs with social security. In other words, while mobility opportunities grow for agency workers, precarity increases as well since labour agencies develop many managerial strategies to control agency workers labour-power by mobility. Agencies prioritise stability and continuity of labour rather than offering high wages or stable jobs. Frequently engaging in different types of jobs also weakens the power of freedom to choose and mobility for workers. They may not have much choice of where and to which employers to sell their labour services because employers managerial strategies limit the bargaining power of the workers during the labour process. Conclusion This article has empirically suggested that the agency labour regime is one of the important labour regimes in China that makes rural migrant factory agency workers employment and social security remain precarious. Although these agency workers have signed labour contracts with labour agencies, agencies distribute workers to a diverse range of factories that require labourers on demand. The agency labour regime in China also fits the theory that Chris Smith (2006) argues on the existence of the indeterminacy of labour structures and worker relations between workers and capitalist employers through worker mobility power. 22 Inter-Korean Dialogue and Cultural Memory Practices KATRINE EMILIE BRANDT Labour Power Control and Resistance ISSUE 8 CHUNSEN YU Articulating the Shan Migrant Community in Thai Society Through Community Radio A Case Study of the Map Radio Fm 99 in the City of Chiang Mai, Thailand HYEONSOO JEON ISSUE 8 2020 Asia in Focus is a peer-reviewed journal published online twice a year by NIAS Nordic Institute of Asian Studies. NIAS is a Nordic research and service institute focusing on Asias modern transformations. Asia in Focus was initiated by NIAS to provide Master students and PhD students Contents 4 Letter from the Editor NICOL FOULKES SAVINETTI 6 Inter-Korean Dialogue and Cultural Memory Practices KATRINE EMILIE BRANDT 16 Labour Power Control and Resistance Precarious Migrant Factory Workers under the Agency Labour Regime in Chongqing and Shenzhen, China CHUNSEN YU Articul ASIA IN FOCUS Letter from the Editor The idea to create a journal dedicated to supporting early-career researchers along their academic path came from a student assistant working at NIAS Library and on the InFocus Blog. There were many well-written and innovative blogs submitted by early career re to become a published researcher for PhD and Master students studying at European institutes of higher education. Our Facebook page and website will remain live while we establish ourselves elsewhere. Please do not hesitate to get in touch via Facebook, or contact Inga-Lill Blomkvist (ilb@nias.ku.dk Inter-Korean Dialogue and Cultural Memory Practices ASIA IN FOCUS KATRINE EMILIE BRANDT The Inter-Korean Summit of 27 April 2018 reinstated dialogue between North and South Korea after a decade of little diplomacy between the two states. In doing so, it drew significant international media attent O n 27 April 2018, an Inter-Korean Summit was held between delegations from the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Republic of Korea (ROK) with the North Korean Chairman Kim Jong Un and the South Korean President Moon Jae In as the central actors of diplomacy. The summit took place ASIA IN FOCUS work done by Jan and Aleida Assmann, Rigney (2005) lays out the developments of the memory studies field from Maurice Halbwachss original concept of mémoire collective to the current culture-focused version. She argues that the term cultural memory highlights the extent to which share than force, and that engagement through dialogue and economic and cultural exchanges would bring about a change in the North and foster peace between the two Koreas (Shin, 2018). Instead of paying attention to the narrative itself, it is rather the particular remembrance practices in use that are wo ASIA IN FOCUS Joseon Dynasty (13921910) (Our countrys guard of honour, Dailian, 2012). In a sense, the guard of honour can be considered a purposefully selected relic from their past which provides Koreans with a visual framework that triggers memories of a Korean Peninsula under a united dynasty. including the tragic separation of families and the homeland. The shift towards focussing on familiarity and homeland separation was also apparent in the final Panmunjom Declaration, where South and North Korea agreed to proceed with reunion programs for the separated families on the occasion of the ASIA IN FOCUS water of the entire Korean Peninsula. Furthermore, rituals function as means of transmitting cultural memory (Connerton, 1989, p. 52). In his study, How Societies Remember, Connerton (1989) argues that deliberate changes in cultural memory often happen through a form of performative p References 13 ISSUE 8 Albert, E. (2019, February 25). What to know about sanctions on North Korea. Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved from www.cfr.org//backgrounder/what-know-about-sanctions-north-korea. Anderson, B. (2006). Introduction & cultural roots & patriotism & racism in imagined com ASIA IN FOCUS Harrell P. & Zarate, Z. (2018, January 30). How to successfully sanction North Korea: A long-term strategy for Washington and its allies. Foreign Affairs Magazine. Retrieved 8 Oct. 2019, from www. foreignaffairs.com/articles/north-korea/2018-01-30/how-successfully-sanction-north-korea 2018 Inter-Korean summit (2018, April 27).) KBS News. [[풀영상] 2018 남북정상회담]. Retrieved from www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut7C9IEHW1E. Korea Foundation. 2018 Inter-Korean summit highlights review (2018, April 28). Arirang News. Retrieved from www.youtube. com/watch?v=-CLkrvtTghs. Venue for Koreas summit a s Labour Power Control and Resistance Precarious Migrant Factory Workers under the Agency Labour Regime in Chongqing and Shenzhen, China ASIA IN FOCUS CHUNSEN YU Under the process of global capitalism, neoliberalism, and globalisation, many studies have discussed the dormitory labour regime and the U about the application of this concept to China. Although Zhang (2014) researches agency workers in the Chinese automobile industry, her study only discusses the precarious situations of agency workers. Furthermore, many scholars, such as Xu (2009), Gallagher, Giles, Park, & Wang (2013), and Lan, ASIA IN FOCUS It appears that unrecognised conditions can limit the power that workers could normally gain by having an exit option. Chinese migrant agency workers gain power through mobility options between different workplaces when labour shortage is high in high-tech manufacturing. The agency wo in coffee shops or public places, such as parks. In Shenzhen, I interviewed rural migrants either in coffee shops or public areas near the factories, which included outside a public library and in public parks. I chose these places to interview rural migrants for two reasons: First, it was difficult ASIA IN FOCUS employment and re-employment centres into labour agencies affiliated with local labour and enabling social security bureaus to create job opportunities for laid-off workers (Zhang, 2014). This is a typical example of the process of precariatisation in China in terms of dismissing secu ed his/her working experience in his/her application form. In both Chongqing and Shenzhen, rural migrant agency workers confirmed this procedure. For example, a 23-year-old male agency worker interviewed at Foxconn, Shenzhen who previously worked at Compal, Chongqing complained that he did not like ASIA IN FOCUS restricted. Nevertheless, labour agencies preferred to check workers ID cards to minimise labourers mobility power because this method decreased the agencies overall labour costs. All labour agency staff interviewed confirmed this. The third strategy labour agencies used was delay in Although the frequent employee turnover suggests those agency workers have the freedom to change their jobs frequently and gain employment immediately, labour agencies, as capitalist employers, use three strategic methods to control the labour process, which include checking workers employment exper ASIA IN FOCUS References Alberti, G. (2014). Mobility strategies, mobility differentials and transnational exit: the experiences of precarious migrants in Londons hospitality jobs. Work, Employment and Society, 28(6), 865881. All-China Federation of Trade Unions (2012). Dangqian woguo laowu paiqian Wang, X., Ma, L., & Zhang, M. (2014). Transformational leadership and agency workers organisational commitment: The mediating effect of organisational justice and job characteristics. Social Behaviour and Personality: An International Journal, 42(1), 2536. Watts, J. (2011). China and the temporary s Articulating the Shan Migrant Community in Thai Society Through Community Radio A Case Study of the Map Radio Fm 99 in the City of Chiang Mai, Thailand ASIA IN FOCUS HYEONSOO JEON Community media as an alternative public sphere for minorities has emerged separately from mainstream media and formal M edia in the public sphere plays an important role in ensuring citizens participation in modern society. The public sphere indicates a communicative space where citizens raise their opinions, interests and discourses with freedom of expression, free from external powers (Habermas, Lennox, & Lennox ASIA IN FOCUS the presence of multiple public spheres in society. According to Fraser, multiple public spheres are preferred and better ensure participatory parity for all, especially in a multicultural society (1990, pp. 6570). Although this claim is based on the assumption that multiple public sp Analytical framework To analyse the social consequences of community radio practices and in keeping with the multidimensionality of community media (Fleras, 2009, 2015), I adopt articulation as an analytical framework based on the theoretical grounds discussed. Ac cording to Howley (2010), the feeli Reactive Proactive Creating bonds Constructing buffers Foster community pride/cohesion Inward focus Reaction to invisibility in mainby celebrating community achievestream media by offering the (bonding/insular) ments and provide news from perspectives of minorities homeland Removing barriers Buildi work continued for seven weeks. During the fieldwork, I conducted participant observation to observe the interactions between listeners and broadcasters that were taking place at the radio station, including during the broadcasting. I also attended an international conference Culture and Communicati ASIA IN FOCUS as listeners through access to and interaction with media content encouraged them to become broadcasters, as emphasised by Carpentier (2011). Namely, their participation through radio programmes and supported participation in Map Radio served as motivators. Furthermore, staff broadcas which, according to Fraser (1990), delivers the will of the community as a form of civil society. It also suggests a diminished potential for Map Radio to be an influential and strong public sphere in Thai society. Thai, her information can be about the Shan, which is very good. Thai listeners as w ASIA IN FOCUS fundamental rights through providing and acquiring information during their engagement in the community radio station. Arguably, this awareness of rights and a common social status as ethnic migrant workers strengthened participants collective identities and can potentially facilitate also applied for other community radio stations in the country, regardless of which community they serve, I would argue that a political environment in the country which guarantees freedom of expression and communication rights may favourably increase the presence of the Map Radio as an influential ASIA IN FOCUS References Atton, C. (2001). Alternative media. London: Sage Publications. Berrigan, F.J. (1981). Community communications: The role of community media in development. Paris: UNESCO. Bosch, T. (2014). Community radio. In The handbook of development communication and social change. Chi 37 ISSUE 8 Khwaja, A.I. (2005). Measuring empowerment at the community level: An economists perspective. Measuring empowerment: Cross-disciplinary perspectives (pp. 267284), Washington DC: The World Bank. Klangnarong, S. (2009). A decade of media reform in Thailand. Media Development, 56(1), 2428. Institutional Analysis of Uruu/ Village-Based Voting and Mobilisation Patterns in PostIndependence Kyrgyzstan ARZUU SHERANOVA Traditional pre-tsarist institutions in Central Asia (CA) are viewed as being crucial in domestic politics, democratisation, transition and nation-building. Political scient T article treats uruu and uruk as one. Recent studies also take this approach and prefer using the local terms uruu and uruuchuluk (see Ismailbekova, 2018 and Light, 2018). In addition to kinship as an important feature of uruu/uruk, the paper notes that the uruu/uruk genealogy system is closely li ASIA IN FOCUS because it was designed as an instrument to understand particularly complex situations, such as those which can be observed in post-independent Kyrgyzstan. This paper contributes to the studies on uruu/uruk and regional networks (village) from the perspective of their institutional st Kyrgyz traditional uruu/uruk system, regionalism and political implications The Kyrgyz genealogical tree consists of three tribal groupings: the ong (right), the sol (left), and ichkilik (central). These uruu groupings are recorded and kept in the genealogical tree called Sanzhyra (transliterated al ASIA IN FOCUS Recent literature on the subject also generally supports the existence of kinship in political life and notes that kinship replaced the state as the peoples caretaker (Ismailbekova, 2017, p. 35). Based on observation of parliamentary elections in 2007, Ismailbekova proposes a concept 1. Participant A is expected to provide support for her/his own uruu/village-fellows OR ELSE Participant A might not receive support from other uruu/village-fellows. 2. Participant A is expected to listen to a commonly made decision within uruu/village OR ELSE Participant A might become excluded for is made of a voter and a candidate representing the same uruu/region. There are four positions among participants: a voter is voting/not voting based on uruu/region lines, and a candidate is using/not using uruu/regional lines for political ends. Likewise, there are four potential outcomes: (1) a vo Arzuu Sheranova is a PhD candidate in the Doctoral School of Political Science at the Corvinus University of Budapest and a junior researcher at the Center for Central Asia Research. challenge on-going democratisation in the region. Examination of this traditional institution through the IAD model ASIA IN FOCUS References Beyer, J. (2016). The force of custom: Law and the ordering of everyday life in Kyrgyzstan. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. Collins, K. (2004). The logic of clan politics. Evidence from the Central Asian trajectories. World Politics, 56(2), 224261. Collins, K. ( Ostrom, E. (2005). Understanding institutional diversity. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. OSCE/ODIHR. (2016). Kyrgyz Republic parliamentary elections OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Mission final report, Report 3. Retrieved from www.osce.org/odihr/elections/kyrgyzstan/219186?download=true Asia in Focus A Nordic journal on Asia by early career researchers ASIA IN FOCUS Aims and scope Asia in Focus is a biannual journal where Master and PhD students affiliated to a European institution of higher education have the possibility to publish their findings in a widely accessible, transna ISSUE 8 WWW.A SIAINFOCUS.D K 49