BEIJING — Shortly after 7:30pm, the servers at China's biggest North Korean restaurant become singers. They emerge for their nightly performances in orange and purple satin dresses and stiletto heels, belting out ballads with their arms extended, would-be divas shimmering under hot lights.

On some other night, when the house is packed and the soju flowing, this might set off a drunken singalong, with tables of South Korean tourists clapping wholesomely in the front and smoky huddles of their expat businessmen compatriots leering not-so-wholesomely from the back.

But not tonight.

In the northeast corner of Beijing, the Okryugwan restaurant is feeling the far-flung effects of the latest standoff on the Korean Peninsula. Since the North conducted a nuclear test in January and went ahead with a rocket launch earlier this month, Seoul has instructed its citizens to not patronize the government-affiliated North Korean restaurants that usually pull in a steady stream of curious South Korean travelers, and their precious foreign currency.

"We usually have many tables of South Korean tourists, but business is not good," North Korean waitress Han Ahn Min said as she poured tea at one of just a handful of occupied tables in a high-ceilinged dining hall capable of welcoming visitors by the busload.

"The weather is bad," she said in smooth Mandarin and smiled.

"There are the other factors right now, too."

That was as close as Han, a talkative 24-year-old with a ready routine of questions and answers, would get to discussing the South or politics. But there is little question that Seoul's government has targeted restaurants that North Korea operates in other Asian countries, mostly in China. The Okryugwan is an offshoot of a well-known eatery on the bank of the Taedong River in central Pyongyang.

South Korean intelligence estimates North Korea runs about 130 overseas restaurants that generate more than USD$100 million (3.6 billion baht) annually, a figure that would approach what 45,000 North Korean laborers made last year at the jointly-run Kaesong industrial park near the border between the two neighbors. The South believes the North's overseas businesses bring in critical foreign currency for its weapons program, among other things, and recently shut down the Kaesong complex while calling for more stringent economic sanctions.

Seoul's campaign to starve the North's restaurant business appears to be well-communicated, if not always well-heeded. A wholly unscientific survey of the Okryugwan clientele one recent night showed that two of the five occupied tables were seated with South Koreans, all of whom knew about the government warning. Elderly Chinese lined another table, while yet another was seated with several North Koreans, wait staff said, including, briefly at one point, one of the cooks.

Despite the small, tepid crowd, the performers powered through several songs and wardrobe changes, swapping form-fitting satin dresses for flowing traditional choson-ot robes. They launched into Korean and Chinese songs and showed off — or at least mimicked — dazzling technique on accordions, guitars and saxophones, all against a looming, painted backdrop of turquoise waves crashing against cliffs.

Over thin applause, the soprano who gamely closed out the night's show received a bouquet of flowers from what appeared to be another employee who shuffled over from the back.

A cursory peek this week into a cozier, second-floor bar and restaurant popular with hard-drinking South Korean businessmen suggested other North Korean locations in town weren't better off. Branches in Bangkok and Phnom Penh were relatively deserted, too.

The Bangkok show was a half-hour of skilled performances and lightning-fast costume changes, from traditional hanboks to sparkly short dresses in the style of K-pop girl bands. A slideshow in the background depicted flowers, landscapes, tundra and a river full of dead fish.

In this Feb. 18, 2016, photo, North Koreans, who are also the waitresses and the singers, perform K-pop dancing and sing at the Pyongyang A Ri Rang Restaurant in Bangkok. Photo: Associated Press

The server/performers played instruments including a guitar, saxophone and a 12-stringed, zither-like gayageum with cool precision. When off stage, as they engaged elderly patrons in conversation, their smiles vanished as soon as they turned around.

Known for highly attentive service and decent food, the restaurants have long been a popular stop for South Korean travelers seeking a glimpse into their isolated neighbor and a modicum of open dialogue with well-trained servers who give straightforward answers to many questions while skillfully eluding sensitive ones.

The establishments serve as listening posts and cultural outposts, experts say. Well-educated employees like Han, who studied business and must return to North Korea after a three-to-four-year stint, gauge local sentiment as they aggressively push domestic products like Daedongjiang beer (215 baht a bottle), Daedongjiang cigarettes (180 baht a pack), and collectible stamp books (3,560 baht each).

The menu, while not terribly expansive, wasn't cheap either, featuring 700 baht sushi platters, 350 baht dog meat stews and pricey grilled steak cuts calculated by weight.

"What do Chinese think of North Korea?" Han asked — a typical question — once the lights went up. After the audience responded she exclaimed, "Korean-Chinese friendship!" and touted the stamp collection, with illustrations of North Korean founder Kim Il Sung and China's Mao Zedong, two old Communist allies.

Lee Seunghyun, a 25-year-old who works in the furniture business in Beijing, was sitting at a rear table with a friend on a weeklong visit from Seoul. Despite government warnings, the friend made a point of checking out the restaurant because Lee's grandparents had left North Korea before the split.

"We saw the warnings but he was very curious," Lee said as her friend pulled out his smartphone to show a series of cautionary text messages sent by the South Korean foreign ministry to citizens traveling in China.

Although they found the experience "interesting," the Seoulites said they were ready to leave after their waitresses, who initially spoke relatively openly about the slow business and agreed to take selfies together, turned cold after the pair declined to buy entire cases of beer or whole cartons of cigarettes.

After that, there was only one table of South Koreans left.

Puffing on a cigarette outside the restaurant, a local assistant to a South Korean broadcaster confided that the table was a crew filming a program in China, all well aware that they shouldn't be patronizing the establishment. He grimaced once he learned he was speaking to a reporter but kept talking. Finally he pleaded, forget this conversation.

"Come on, do a favor for a fellow journalist," he said as he walked back into an emptying restaurant. "We're really not supposed to be here."

Story: Gerry Shih / Associated Press

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VANCOUVER, British Columbia — A book reportedly written by a Canadian serial killer was removed Monday from Amazon's website a day after being put on sale online following protests by British Columbia authorities.

Outskirts Press, which published the book, issued a statement saying it had asked Amazon to remove the book from its website.

"Outskirts Press apologizes to the families of the victims for any additional heartache this may have caused," the statement said.

Robert Pickton, now 66, was convicted in 2007 of six counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of sex workers. Pickton slaughtered the women at his pig farm and fed some remains to his pigs. He was sentenced to life in prison.

By Monday afternoon, the 144-page memoir titled "Pickton: In His Own Words" was no longer available from the online retailer's Canadian website. In the book, Pickton claimed he was innocent and was framed by the police for the killings, the Toronto Sun reported.

More than 50,000 people signed a petition on the Change.org website urging Amazon to remove the book from its website to respect "the families who were affected by the horrible crimes of this predator … and who are still going through their healing processes."

Canadian Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale told Parliament that the Correctional Service of Canada is investigating how the manuscript was smuggled out of the Kent Institution maximum security prison near Agassiz, British Columbia.

Authorities in British Columbia promised to introduce a law to prevent offenders from profiting from their crimes.

"I am at a loss for words. To think about the pain that he's prepared to willingly cause all of the families of those people who he murdered," British Columbia Premier Christy Clark told reporters in Vancouver.

"I have trouble understanding it and I think people will want to know that their government is doing everything it can to want to stop him from profiting from this at the very least."

British Columbia Solicitor General Mike Morris had asked Amazon to stop carrying the book, saying he considers it "despicable" that someone could profit from their crimes.

There is no confirmation that Pickton actually wrote the book, but a statement from Morris said the province is investigating every means possible to ensure that the 66-year-old from Port Coquitlam will not profit in any way.

While Pickton was convicted of six counts of second-degree murder, 20 other charges of first-degree murder were stayed. Pickton picked the women up from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, several square blocks of squalid hotels, drug dealers and street-level, survival prostitution. He lured them to his muddy, garbage-strewn farm with promises of money, alcohol and drugs.

Story: Associated Press

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Ten people have died on a single small island in Fiji as the total death toll from a powerful cyclone climbed to 29, officials said Tuesday.

Government spokesman Ewan Perrin said the death toll on Koro Island had reached double figures and that most buildings there had been heavily damaged or flattened.

He said a relief vessel with about 30 people aboard had arrived at the island with medical supplies, food and water, and teams were helping build temporary shelters for the 4,500 residents.

"It's one of the worst hit," Perrin said.

He said officials also have fears about nearby Taveuni Island, home to about 12,000 people, because they've managed to have only limited contact with people there.

Winds from Cyclone Winston, which tore through the Pacific Island chain Saturday and early Sunday, reached 177 miles (285 kilometers) per hour, making it the strongest storm in Fiji's recorded history.

Getting emergency supplies to the group's far-flung islands and remote communities has been the Fiji government's top priority.

Alice Clements, a spokeswoman for UNICEF, said the aerial footage coming in showed a corridor of destruction over places like Koro Island.

"The imagery is heartbreaking," she said. "You're looking down and expecting to see a village and instead you're seeing a field of debris."

She said one priority is to ensure children get back to school because studies have shown it helps them recover faster emotionally.

United Nations Under-Secretary-General Stephen O'Brien said in a statement he was concerned by the devastating impact the cyclone was having on Fiji.

"Whole villages have been destroyed, homes and crops have been damaged, power lines have been cut and more than 8,100 people are currently sheltering in over 70 evacuation centers," O'Brien said.

O'Brien said Fiji was leading the response and had asked for international help. Australia has so far pledged 5 million Australian dollars (129 million baht) in aid and New Zealand has pledged 2 million New Zealand dollars (46 million baht).

Perrin said France, the U.S. and China have also provided or pledged support. He said relief agencies, including Oxfam and the Red Cross, have been helping with humanitarian efforts and that the Fijian government has set up a disaster relief fund.

Home to 900,000 people, Fiji has more than 100 inhabited islands, and authorities are having difficulty communicating with some of the more remote islands in the wake of the cyclone.

Phone communications have been rapidly restored in many areas but in other areas the damage was severe and would take longer to fix, Perrin said.

He said the electricity network across Fiji remained patchy, and in some cases power had been deliberately cut to prevent further damage. He said clean water was also a challenge, and people were being asked to boil their water, treat it with chemicals or drink bottled water.

Story: Nick Perry / Associated Press

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — A service to commemorate the fifth anniversary of a deadly earthquake in the New Zealand city of Christchurch turned ugly Monday when someone threw goop over the government minister responsible for quake recovery efforts.

Hundreds of people attended the botanical gardens service in New Zealand's second-largest city to memorialize the magnitude-6.1 quake that killed 185 people on Feb 22, 2011.

As people chatted after the service ended, somebody tossed the unidentified goop from a plastic ice cream container over Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee, his spokesman confirmed.

Police said they arrested a 41-year-old man in connection with the incident and charged him with assault. Police said the man had left the service but was found a short time later.

Someone tipped ice cream onto Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownloee. Source: News Hub

Brownlee has proved a polarizing figure in the rebuilding of Christchurch. Many people frustrated at delays in collecting insurance or at the slow pace of the downtown reconstruction have blamed him.

Earlier in the day, Brownlee was heckled by a man during an outdoor radio interview: "You've done a bad job. A bad, bad job," the man yelled after first shouting an insult. On air, Brownlee laughed off the incident.

Brownlee's spokesman, Nick Bryant, said the lawmaker didn't wish to comment on the incident at the service because it had become a legal matter.

It's the second time this month that somebody has thrown something at a New Zealand lawmaker. On Feb. 6, a woman threw a pink toy penis at Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce to protest an international free trade deal.

Earlier during Monday's memorial service, speakers made the point that while there had been big progress since the quake, there was much left to be done.

"There is still some way to go until Christchurch is truly reborn," said Governor-General Jerry Mateparae.

A plaque commemorates those killed in a mall during the 2011 earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand. Photo: Nick Perry / Associated Press
 

Speakers also mentioned the disquiet they felt when the region was rattled again last week by an earthquake, one of the strongest since 2011. Last week's quake knocked items from shelves and triggered rock falls, but didn't cause major damage.

Emergency responders and officials representing more than a dozen foreign nations were among those who read out the names of each of the victims who died in the quake.

Mateparae said it changed the region forever.

"We recall the ordered streets and gracious buildings of a city renowned for its style and substance," he said. "We recall how, in an instant, that physical landscape was shattered. We recall how dust and the sound of sirens filled the air."

He said many people have faced exhaustion, stress, frustration and financial hardship in the years since, but that he hopes the end of that period is fast approaching and people can look at their city with renewed optimism and energy.

Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel said there was an incredible opportunity to reimagine and reinvent the city.

"But we must acknowledge there are still many people who have unanswered questions," she said. "People with unresolved insurance claims, people who are still living in the houses that were damaged five years ago. None of them with any certainty of when they will find closure."

Story: Nick Perry / Associated Press