A 29-year-old man was arrested for driving under the influence of drugs following a traffic accident along the Bukit Timah Expressway (BKE) on Aug. 25.

Video shows two men struggling on the expressway

In a TikTok video posted on Aug. 25, two men could be seen struggling at the road shoulder along the BKE.

One man appeared to be restraining the other.

The man being restrained could be seen grabbing onto a bridge railing at the side and attempting to pull the other man away before throwing an object over the bridge.

According to the TikTok user's caption, the man had earlier crashed into a Mercedes along the expressway.

The driver of the Mercedes, who provided the user with the dashcam footage, said he noticed that the other driver was "shaking violently with slurred speech" when he approached him after the accident.

The driver also allegedly attempted to flee after realising that the Mercedes driver had called the police.

The Mercedes driver then restrained him to prevent him from leaving, according to the TikTok user.

The Mercedes driver also claimed that the object thrown from the bridge was a Kpod.

In a separate video of almost five minutes posted by the same TikTok user, a black Mazda could be seen swerving between lanes while travelling along the BKE.

The user said the Mazda driver was the same man seen throwing the alleged Kpod over the bridge.

Several motorists appeared to avoid the Mazda as it veered into different lanes and came close to other vehicles.

The video concluded after the Mazda moved into the left-most lane before exiting onto Turf Club Avenue.

@justplay.productionIncident in BKE. 5.45pm 25/08/26. According to party, driver suspected of kp and causing accident. Suspect thrown away kp over bridge. Driver pin down the suspect till SCDF/SPF arrived.

♬ original sound - JustPlayProduction

Driver arrested

In response to Mothership's queries, the Singapore Civil Defence Force confirmed it was alerted to a road traffic accident along BKE towards the Pan Island Expressway (PIE).

It assessed one person for minor injuries, but the person declined to be sent to the hospital.

Separately, the police said they were alerted to an accident involving two cars at around 5:35pm that day.

A 29-year-old male car driver was arrested for driving while under the influence of drugs.

Police investigations are ongoing.

Five minutes to clear immigration was apparently enough to convince a tourist that Singapore is "one of the most efficient countries" he's ever seen in his life.

TikTok user @therealpercius praised Singapore’s efficiency in a 47-second video shared on Aug. 16, comparing his experience here with previous trips to other countries in Asia.

He said immigration took him “a couple of hours” when he visited China and about an hour when he went to South Korea.

In Singapore, however, it took just five minutes.

Strong impression

The tourist, who was travelling with a Spanish passport, said Singapore’s efficiency was apparent beyond the immigration counter.

He praised the MRT system for being “quick, non-delayed” and clean, and also complimented the service he received in Singapore, clearly very different from his experience in Europe.

“Europe...just start taking notes,” he said, claiming that Europe is "more than 20 years behind"

Online sentiments

Some TikTok users agreed with his assessment, pointing to Singapore’s buses as another example, with one commenter noting that commuters can use apps or Google Maps to check when their buses are arriving.

Others joked that Singaporeans may be so used to the country's efficiency that they only realise how good they have it when travelling overseas.

@therealpercius Absolutely INSANE. LOVE THIS COUNTRY! #fyp #singapore #traveltok #weekinmylife ♬ original sound - Percius

Elon Musk, the world's richest man, responded to a post on X about Singapore's push to stymie or reverse the falling 0.87 total fertility rate (TFR).

The post by user XFreeze on X highlighted the measures laid out by Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Aug. 23 during the 2026 National Day Rally aimed at tackling the fertility crisis.

It mentioned the S$70,000 direct financial support for each Singaporean from birth to age 17, as well as upping childcare leave and more chances of securing a build-to-order (BTO) flat for first-time families.

A clip of PM Wong speaking at NDR was also included.

XFreeze wrote: "Singapore just went all in on birth rates."

"That’s not just a dip. That’s a whole country nowhere near replacing itself. It's a massive problem for the country," XFreeze added.

Singapore just went all in on birth rates

Fertility fell to a record-low 0.87 in 2025. Birth rates have fallen seriously low

That’s not just a dip. That’s a whole country nowhere near replacing itself. It's a massive problem for the country

So Singapore is going directly after…

— X Freeze (@XFreeze) August 24, 2026

In response to the post, Musk wrote: "Humans are disappearing."

Humans are disappearing https://t.co/KkSQ2WKKyI

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 24, 2026

Musk's views on population collapse

Musk has repeatedly mentioned that he believes people on Earth are at risk of a sudden "population collapse".

He has attributed his belief to falling birth rates, saying it is the single biggest existential threat to human civilisation.

He has even said that declining birth rates pose a much higher risk to the future than global warming.

He frequently highlights countries such as China, India, and the United States that have fertility rates below the replacement level of 2.1 children per woman.

Demographers have disagreed with his view and have labelled Musk's projection as an alarmist take on the future.

For example, as evidence that Musk could be exaggerating, United Nations reports project the total global population to be growing and will peak near 10 billion later this century before any major decline.

However, Musk has been practising what he preaches.

The billionaire/ trillionaire has fathered a large family himself, viewing children as a way to secure a positive legacy for the future.

He has 14 children with four women.

The Wall Street Journal reported in April 2025 on how Musk approached different women with offers to have his children.

Singapore's next phase of growth cannot come from using more land, adding more workers, or emitting more carbon, said Minister for Trade and Industry (Energy and Industry) Tan See Leng.

Instead, it must come from scouring around the world and creating more value from what the country has, he went on.

"That means raising productivity [and] moving into more innovative and higher value-added activities."

He was speaking at the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) Economic Dialogue 2026 on Aug. 26 about Singapore's economic strategy in today's changing world.

He pointed out that the foundations of Singapore's economy must evolve along with global changes.

The conditions for staying open have become more difficult, and the country also faces domestic constraints in terms of land scarcity, an ageing population, and the shift away from carbon.

"Singapore's next phase of growth will be harder won," Tan said.

"But if all of us...remain clear-eyed about our constraints, remain deliberate and purpose-driven about where we can create value, and...disciplined in how we make choices and adapt, we can continue to build not just a competitive and resilient economy — we will build a thriving economy that will always create good jobs...with hope and opportunities for Singapore and Singaporeans."

Greater value at home

Tan highlighted three main changes proposed by the Economic Strategy Review's report released in June 2026.

The first is to sharpen Singapore's value proposition — being more deliberate about where Singapore can create the most value, and build capabilities that are hard to replicate elsewhere.

In the advanced manufacturing and services sector, this means going beyond attracting investments, Tan pointed out.

He said Singapore also needs to anchor higher-value capabilities such as research and development (R&D), regional leadership, and deep talent pipelines. These will make Singapore integral to how goods and services are developed globally.

"The deeper these activities are rooted here and intermeshed here, the greater their potential to generate wider benefits for all of us and also the economy."

For example, they can provide opportunities for Singaporeans to move into higher value-added roles, and enable local firms to plug into global supply chains and build new capabilities.

At the same time, Singapore must build new sources of growth, Tan continued.

This can be done by investing early in emerging areas where Singapore has a credible right to play, such as quantum, space, and decarbonisation technologies.

"We want Singapore to be valuable not just because goods, people, capital, and energy pass through us," Tan said.

Rather, it should also be valuable because important decisions are made here, and these activities in turn create opportunities and capabilities for Singaporeans and our companies.

Greater agility and adaptability

The second change is to enhance Singapore's agility and adaptability when circumstances change.

It means creating an environment where new companies and ideas can emerge, and promising companies can scale. Workers also need to improve their skills to take on redesigned and new jobs.

"We recognise that AI and automation may allow firms to produce more with fewer workers," Tan said.

"As such, we can no longer assume that growth will automatically create the same number, the same type, or the same range of jobs as before."

But Singapore will seek to keep AI adoption human-centric, by encouraging AI that complements workers, and providing early support for workers.

Greater resilience alongside efficiency

Lastly, Tan emphasised the importance of striking a balance between resilience and efficiency.

"Maximising efficiency alone can leave us with little room to manoeuvre when shocks and externalities happen," he said.

He said that Singapore needs to strengthen resilience by diversifying and building appropriate buffers in areas such as energy and critical supply chains. It should also deepen partnerships to keep vital flows open, especially during periods of disruption.

At the same time, buffering against every conceivable risk would be costly and impractical, Tan cautioned.

Thus, Singapore will need to make difficult choices under uncertainty to reach a good balance.

"As the choices become harder, the trade-offs will become more stark," he said. "We have to refine...polish ourselves and hone ourselves to become better at making them."

Addressing the budding economists in the audience at the MTI Economic Dialogue, he said that although the questions posed to them will become harder, the data and tools they will get to address these questions will, at the same time, get richer and more powerful.

He looked forward to their contributions to help Singapore make better policy decisions.

Two Chinese nationals, a 25-year-old woman and a 33-year-old man, were charged with allegedly engaging in a conspiracy to counterfeit Singapore currency notes.

Yang Zelong, 33, and Han Wenqian, 25, were charged on Aug. 26, The Straits Times reported.

On Aug. 24, at about 3:50am, the police received a report that Yang had attempted to change a counterfeit S$100 note at Marina Bay Sands Casino.

Officers from the Central Police Division and Commercial Affairs Department attended to the case.

Preliminary investigations revealed that Yang allegedly handed over S$150,000 to the cage cashier and asked the cashier to deposit the amount into his casino account.

Upon counting the cash, the cage cashier apparently discovered that one Singapore S$100 note had the word “COPY” printed on it, and promptly reported the case.

Leave with a printer

Police officers subsequently escorted Yang to his hotel room, where they saw Han leave with a printer.

A search was conducted.

A total of 121 counterfeit S$100 notes were found in her possession.

During the search at the hotel room, officers also uncovered counterfeiting instruments including a bottle of ink, paper, and a paper cutter, which were subsequently seized as case exhibits.

For forging or counterfeiting currency or bank notes, offenders are liable to a jail term of up to 20 years, and a fine.

For using as genuine counterfeit currency or bank notes, offenders are liable to a jail term of up to 20 years, and a fine.

For possession of forged or counterfeit currency or bank notes, offenders are liable to a jail term of up to 15 years, and a fine.

For making or possessing instruments or materials for forging or counterfeiting currency or bank notes, offenders are liable to a jail term of up to 20 years, and a fine.

The police advised members of the public who receive any suspected counterfeit money to call the police at "999" immediately.

They should also note down the description of the person who presented the counterfeit note.

This includes the gender, race, age, height, build, clothing, tattoos, and language or dialect spoken.

Those who receive suspected counterfeit currency are to limit handling of the suspected counterfeit note and place it in a protective covering, such as an envelope or folded paper to prevent further tampering, before handing it over to the police.

You might know Charlie Lim as the guy behind the SG60 National Day theme song.

Lim released his first album, "TIME/SPACE", to glowing reviews in 2015. He performed in the 2018 National Day Parade, released a second (also well-received) album the same year, and was conferred with the prestigious Young Artist Award in 2021.

For a period of time, he was one of Singapore's brightest young stars in the music space. The world, it seemed, was his oyster.

But for a few years after, he effectively vanished. Until last year, when he emerged to pen the official theme song for SG60 — "Here We Are".

What happened?

The lowest point

In 2023, Lim moved to London.

Since his youth, he had a dream to make it big in the UK. It was his "musical mecca" in his youth — his favourite music was from there, his favourite artists.

After his first two albums, he felt like he'd done what he could in Singapore. The timing seemed right. He signed up for a course in music engineering.

And then Covid-19 hit.

By the time he finally made it to London, it was 2023. He was older, more jaded, and struggling with his mental health.

But he went anyway, in pursuit of that old dream.

It wasn't long before it all began to fall apart. Lim, who has bipolar disorder, found himself in the full throes of a severe manic depressive episode.

"I didn't realise how sick I was... I was just so depressed," he tells Mothership in a sit-down interview.

He battled self-destructive behaviour, was constantly anxious, and barely slept. He lashed out at his loved ones, strained his relationships.

At his lowest point, his marriage fell apart. Lim considered quitting music; he even thought about ending his life. His dream had become a nightmare.

Waking up

He decided he was done with London and its illusions. He flew to Australia, where his family lives, to spend more time with them.

"My parents helped so much. I don't even think they understood how best to help... [but] just being around them helped a lot," he says.

He stayed home, hung out with his young nieces, and played music — for fun, not for work.

It was then, he feels, that he began to regain a love for life and for music. He'd tied his identity to his work for so long; it was like being able to breathe again.

"I think [that time] really saved my life, to be honest," Lim tells me.

By the time he was ready to return home to Singapore, he'd decided to abandon his old dreams. Scrap all his previous projects, start afresh entirely.

That was when he got a call. It was Sydney Tan, veteran musician and longtime director of the National Day Parade.

He'd called to ask Lim to join as the assistant music director for SG60.

Song of the times

At first, Lim was unsure if he was ready.

"It was a big task to take on. Could I deal with it, on top of my mental health and everything I was going through?" he asked himself.

He decided he felt stable enough to do it. As it turned out, the work helped anchor him. It was the fresh start he'd been searching for, a new purpose.

"And then a few months later, they were like, 'hey, you want to give the song a go?'"

Lim hadn't signed up for writing the NDP theme song, and he didn't know if he was prepared for it. But he agreed to submit a demo anyway.

Writing "Here We Are" was a tricky process, he explains. A National Day theme song is possibly the most scrutinised piece of work in Singapore; it's something that the people own, or feel they own, collectively.

But it's also something that has to come from the heart of the songwriter, Lim believes.

As he looked around the world at the time — with so much geopolitical instability and polarisation — Lim wrote his demo. It was a gentle, reflective ballad. Here we are, it's tough times, but there is reason for hope.

"I couldn't bring myself to write, like, a super upbeat tune," he tells me. It would have felt disingenuous to himself, to the state of the world at the time.

He didn't really believe it would get picked. But it did, and it's now Lim's biggest musical legacy.

Daydream, delusion

For now, anyway. On Aug. 26, Lim released his newest album, "DAYDREAM". It's his first full-length album since 2018.

The title is deceptively unassuming, simple and lighthearted. But it's a record of Lim's own mistakes, how his own dreams and aspirations led him down a path that almost destroyed him.

"It's like... if you chase a dream too much, you might forget what's actually in front of you, and you might lose what you have as well.

So in a way, this is me kind of waking up. From this dream slash nightmare."

It's also a literal record of his lowest points, put to words and music. One of the songs, "Nobody's Home", was written while he was in the UK, while he was still contending with the end of his relationship.

He remembers how he and a friend were messing around with samples, and then the whole song "just poured out of [him]" in one take.

"After that, I just collapsed on the couch and I cried. I just bawled my eyes out," he recalls.

It's that exact take, that exact recording from that day, that's going on the album.

Little island

Now, Lim's in a much better place than he was three years ago. He is, he quips, "a bit older, a bit of a washed-up unc".

But he's ok with it. In his wide-awake state, he understands how the pursuit of his art almost swallowed him whole.

And he is determined not to let that happen again.

"I've realised that so much of what I was chasing in the metrics of success or happiness, a lot that really doesn't matter anymore... Your work is not who you are," he says.

"[Now] my ideal is just to be able to survive comfortably, doing the things I love, and providing for my loved ones."

Dreams change, goals change, opinions change. Being back in Singapore, this little island with its little stages, might have been a nightmare for the Lim of four years ago.

But he knows better now.

Lim tells me how, at last year's NDP, his niece came to Singapore to watch him perform in the parade. "Actually, can I show you?" he asks.

He scrolls through his phone until he finds the video. It's of a tiny girl sitting in the Padang, cheeks flushed in delight, calling out something indiscernible.

"She's calling, 'Uncle Charles'," he tells me, with the proudest look on his face. It's a different kind of daydream from the London lights, a littler one.

But one that is surely, surely, worth closing your eyes for.

Canada has announced up to 50 per cent in counter-tariffs on about US$20 billion (S$25.4 billion) worth of U.S. goods, marking an escalation in the trade war between the once-close North American allies.

Canada's dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs were precipitated by similar tariffs imposed by the U.S. against roughly CA$27.6 billion (S$25.3 billion) of Canadian goods.

Escalation

According to CNBC, Canada's new tariffs will encompass more than 700 U.S. goods.

It mirrors the size of America's import levies placed on Canadian wine, cement, hockey sticks and other goods.

Canada's counter tariffs range from 15 to 50 per cent, targeting U.S. dairy, seafood, appliances, wood and paper products, and clothes.

The increase in tariffs on American steel and aluminium is the most significant, reaching about 50 per cent.

Canada's new tariffs on American imports will kick in on Sep. 8.

Alongside the tariffs, Canada also announced a CA$7.5 billion (S$6.87 billion) support package for Canadian workers and businesses, the country's Department of Finance said in a press release.

Canada previously recalled negotiators

Before Canada's Aug. 25 tit-for-tat tariff announcement, its Prime Minister Mark Carney released a statement on Aug. 21, noting that Canada's trade negotiators worked in the context that "America has changed".

"Last-minute changes in the U.S. proposed terms were unfair, uneconomic, and called into question the reliability of any deal," Carney said.

He also announced that Canada has decided to suspend trade negotiations with the U.S. and recalled its negotiators.

"Canada has what the world wants. And we will not allow any nation to determine our future. We will set our own course to keep building Canada strong for all," Carney concluded.

Canada "ripping off" U.S. "for decades", Trump says

U.S. President Donald Trump lashed out at Canada on Truth Social, writing that Canada has been "ripping off" the U.S. "for decades".

He also claimed that the U.S. has lost about "60 billion dollars a year with Canada" on average.

Trump also posted a graphic which showed a map of Lake Ontario with its name crossed out and replaced by "Lake Ameria".

Lake Ontario is a lake split by the border of Canada and the U.S.

Just a few days after he started chatting with a woman on TikTok, a 68-year-old man was introduced to an online investment platform.

The woman told him that investors can get up to 10 per cent returns.

The man, Ng, had encountered other people who had similarly approached him on TikTok to join investment platforms.

Speaking to media in an interviewed arranged by the Singapore Police Force, he said he had ignored those people.

None of those who had approached him had offered a rate of return as high or as attractive.

Very soon, he created an account on the platform and invested between S$1,000 to S$5,000 worth of cryptocurrency every two to three days.

He never got his money, nor any profits, back.

The platform turned out to be a scam.

Over about three months from November 2025 to January 2026, the man lost a total of S$70,755 to the platform.

This sum included his initial investments, and the amount he later depositied in an attempt to get his money back.

Investment scams like Ng's case remains the scam type resulting in most amount of money lost, according to the police's Mid-Year Scams and Cybercrime Brief 2026, released on Aug. 26.

Trusted her like a friend

Ng currently lives with his wife.

When the woman followed Ng on TikTok in early November 2025, he followed her back.

They started chatting on the app before moving to WhatsApp.

After chatting for a few days, the woman said she had something good to share with him.

She had been investing on a platform called AI Robots.

As it was AI-powered, it could work faster than human brokers at analysing data, and thus offered investors very high returns, she explained.

The woman claimed that she worked for the company and thus could not trade on the platform herself.

She asked if Ng could help her to manage her account instead.

Ng did not question what she told him about the platform because he treated her like a friend.

"She talked in a way that made me see her as a friend I could trust," Ng told reporters.

When he had an issue with his bank account, he shared about it with her, and she gave him advice.

Never met in person

Ng never met the woman in person.

He only had a photo, supposedly of her, that she had sent him.

The woman, who told him she was 35, claimed that she grew up and lived in Kuala Lumpur.

Although she used a Malaysia number to communicate with him, he recognised that she had a mainland Chinese accent when they spoke over the phone.

He questioned her about this, and she explained that she had picked it up from her father, who was from China.

For his retirement

Ng was also attracted by the high rate of returns the platform promised.

At the time, he thought he was getting older and wanted to retire.

Investing, he felt, was a way to keep earning money so he could enjoy a comfortable life after retirement.

He agreed to help manage the woman's account.

He then set up his own.

Suspicions

Ng did see the money in his account grow fast like the woman said.

"But although I could see [the money], I could not get it out," he said.

Issues started popping up on the platform that prevented him from withdrawing his funds.

In late November 2025, when his investments grew to S$50,000, the platform's customer service claimed his funds were blocked due to poor internet connection.

They said he needed to invest another S$50,000 to retrieve them.

Unable to raiser this sum, Ng went to his son for a loan.

His son, after understanding the situation, guessed that his father was being scammed, and advised him to make a police report.

By this point, Ng had already lost S$43,590.

Before the case was resolved, however, he returned to the platform, hoping to get his money back.

But the platform found new ways to get him to invest more.

In January 2026, the customer service claimed that he had to pay a 28 per cent income tax fee before he could make a withdrawal.

This was the final push that made Ng feel that something was not right, and he stopped putting more money in.

His second round of investments cost him S$27,165.

'Talk to your family more'

Ng's son did not know that his father went back to the platform after making a police report.

He only found out after Ng asked him for a loan again.

To pay the supposed income tax fee, Ng approached a moneylender he found on TikTok.

He thus needed money to pay the debt he owed the moneylender.

Looking back at what happened, Ng said that when he read about scam cases, he had always wondered why people would fall for scams.

Now, he said, he understood.

It was hard for him to assess the situation clearly at the time, he explained.

"When you encounter problems like this, talk to your family more," he advised others. "People around you can help you think clearly."

Lessons learnt

On hindsight, Ng said he felt that he was silly and naive to have believed in the promises of the investment platform.

He also admitted that he did not really know the woman who approached him on TikTok well.

His son questioned why he would trust a woman he had never met, Ng shared, and he could only say that he was "too simple-minded".

"I never thought that people would try to do anything bad to me," he said.

After realising he was scammed, he did not confront the woman, believing for a while that she was a fellow victim.

He grew suspicious of her, however, and decided to block her.

Though he continues to use TikTok, he said he will no longer talk to people who message him on the app.

A single missing-persons case has exploded into a nationwide scandal, encompassing the cases of nearly 300 other missing persons.

The case centres around the actions of a single police sergeant, accused of having faked evidence in order to close cases, which, at the very least, may have critically impacted families' ability to help the victims.

No contact

As of Aug. 26, four bodies were found on Jeju Island in the span of three days between Aug. 22 and Aug. 24.

Of the four deceased, it is the case of 37-year-old Jang Mi-Ran that has invited the most furore.

Jang was initially reported missing in May 2026, and the police officer in charge of her case, an officer surnamed Bu, had told her family that he had spoken to her and that she did not want her whereabouts disclosed, as reported by The Korea Herald, via the Asia News Network.

However, Bu appears to have lied about speaking to Jang, and that there was no record of any communication between Bu and Jang.

Instead, Bu had closed the case without confirming Jang’s safety, forcing the family to refile the case in July, by which time much of the digital evidence related to her disappearance, such as CCTV footage, would have been deleted, making finding her much more difficult.

He is alleged to have done the same for another case involving a man in his 60s, whose body was found on Aug. 22.

False records

It is feared that all 298 missing-persons reports that Bu had handled and closed were affected in some way, and South Korean police are now investigating all of them.

The case has prompted the police to investigate a vast number of missing person’s case, with Yon Hap reporting that in Busan, over a two and a half year period starting in 2024, over 99 per cent of the over 25,600 missing persons cases were closed.

He is now facing charges of dereliction of duty, obstructing official duties, and falsifying and using official electronic records.

Among the many concerns the case has thrown up is how Bu was able to close such cases without any supervision.

All four officers in his chain of command at the Jeju Seobu Police Station, including the current and former chief of the station, the head of the detective division, and the leader of the missing-persons cases team, have been removed from active duty.

Breakdown in discipline

South Korea’s president Lee Jae Myung has had to react to the case, having since ordered the creation of a government body to oversee reforms to the police.

Korea Times quotes Lee as saying “the recent breakdown in police discipline and irresponsibility in public safety matters have become serious problems.”

Confidence in the police, the Times said, was already shaken by previous unrelated scandals, such as when a police officer whose son was accused of murder was found to have destroyed evidence related to the case.

Bafflement

Korea JoongAng Daily spoke to fellow police officers about the case, who were baffled by Bu’s actions.

They noted that closing the cases and lying in the manner he did would not have significantly alleviated Bu’s workload, nor would closing more missing persons cases improve his performance record.

One officer said that Bu wasn’t even conducting the searches for missing persons himself, and his actions had “effectively interfered with the search efforts of other officers.”

Bu has told investigators that he had actually contacted the missing persons, and denies wrongdoing.

Rumours and speculation

Jeju is a popular holiday and tourist destination, attracting both domestic and foreign visitors.

But since the news of the deaths and disappearances has reached virality, many worrying stories have emerged.

Some tell of locals advising visitors to travel in groups, and to take cabs or public transport to destinations rather than walking.

Others speculated wildly more nefarious, unsubstantiated, possibilities.

Meanwhile, sources such as SBS News, quoting the head of the Pyo Chang Won Crime Science Research Institute, said that there were no signs of a physical struggle or of a third party entering or leaving the scene of Jang’s death, leaving an equally tragic but less sensational explanation for her death and disappearance: that she had taken her own life.

However, he said one should not jump to conclusions hastily, and criticised the police for their actions.

"If the police had continued the search without lying at the outset that they had made contact, early discovery would have been fully possible, even if survival could not be guaranteed."

Five days after going missing, a Chinese international student was found dead in South Korea, in the residence of a man, another Chinese national.

The man was the first person who had reported her missing, telling the authorities he was her boyfriend,  The Korea Herald reported.

Following her death, the local police arrested the man on suspicion of murder.

Lost contact with family

The student, a woman in her 20s, was enrolled in a rehabilitation therapy programme at a graduate school in Gyeongsan city, The Korea Herald reported.

She had gone home to China to spend the holidays with her family, then returned to Gyeongsan on Aug. 14 to attend her graduation ceremony.

The night of the ceremony was the last time her family heard from her.

The next day, she was reported missing by the suspect.

He told the police she had said she was heading to Daegu, a nearby city, then stopped responding to messages.

On Aug. 19, the woman was found dead in the suspect's house in Gyeongsan.

Investigations

Analysing the woman's phone location data, the police found that she had visited two places the day she disappeared: a convenience store near her graduate school, and the vicinity of a railway station in Daegu.

After the police questioned the suspect, they detected inconsistencies in his account.

This prompted them to arrest him on Aug. 26, and start investigating the case as a potential homicide.

People close to the victim said that she and the suspect were acquaintances, according to The Korea Times.

The police will be conducting an autopsy on the woman's body to determine the exact cause and time of death.

The Chinese consulate responds

The Chinese Consulate General in Busan, South Korea, has called for severe punishment of the suspect, Korea JoongAng Daily cited Xinhua News Agency reporting.

The consulate released a statement on Aug. 26 about the man's arrest, and called on the Korean police to conduct a thorough investigation and severely punish the perpetrator.

It also said it would provide consular assistance to the victim's family in handling matters following her death.