2014 - A look back at key events in Asia

Back in February, a UN report comprehensively documented the human rights situation in North Korea. Kim Jong Un's government was blamed for systematic and widespread human rights abuses. The study's authors called for North Korea to be referred to the international criminal court (ICC) for crimes against humanity.

On March 8, Malaysia Arlines Flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing disappeared without a trace. The case remains a puzzle. Neither the cause of the plane's disappearance nor a place where it could have crashed are known. Comprehensive searches have not yielded any clues. 239 people are believed to have died.

In May, Chinese company CNOOC placed its deep sea drilling rig in disputed waters in the South China Sea. The move triggered several collisions between Chinese and Vietnamese vessels, with the two nations accusing each other of aggravating the situation. Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea, rejecting rival claims from Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Brunei.

After months of anti-government protests, on May 22, the Thai military launched a coup and seized power in the country. This was the second time a coup has taken place in Thailand since 2000. Since May, the military has been shaping the political landscape in accordance with their ideas. Freedom of press is highly restricted and elections have been postponed indefinitely.

On April 16, South Korean passenger ferry Sewol capsized whilst travelling between Incheon and Jeju island. 302 people died, mainly children on a school trip. The ferry owner and crew were accused of major failings. In November, the captain was sentenced to 36 years in prison.

On April 5, the Afghan people voted to elect a new president. In June, contenders Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah were pitted against each other in a runoff election. The elections, a victory for democratization, became a power struggle. A decision was not reached until September 21, when Ghani was named as president and Abdullah took up the newly created post of the country's chief executive.

Narendra Modi won the Indian elections in May, with his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The Congress party was quick to concede its worst-ever defeat since the country's independence in 1947. Modi promised voters that he would push forward development and revive the nation's flagging economy. Hopes to improve relations with Pakistan, however, were quickly shattered.

Indonesian voters pinned great hope on Joko Widodo when they elected the charismatic figure as president on July 9. Citizens expect him to redress reform deadlock and modernize the country. However, the president - known universally in Indonesia as Jokowi - is facing strong opposition in parliament.

At the end of June, thousands of Hong Kongers took to the streets demanding free elections in the semi-autonomous Chinese city. As part of the protest movement "Occupy Central," student demonstrators occupied parts of the city's financial and governmental districts. The protests, which occasionally turned violent, subsided in December.

In October, Pakistani Malala Yousefzai and Indian Kailash Satyarthi were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Malala campaigns for girls' rights to education in the face of resistance from the Taliban, who attempted to kill her. Satyarthi is an activist who has fought against child labor for decades.

China's President Xi Jinping used November's Asia Pacific Summit in Beijing to present himself on an international stage as the country's new strong man. An agreement with US President Barack Obama to reduce greenhouse gases fuelled optimism for the upcoming climate talks.

In November, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe dissolved parliament two years before the end of his term in office, and called a snap election to secure public support for his economic regeneration project, dubbed "Abenomics." Abe's ruling coalition won the elections, taking 325 seats, or more than a two-thirds majority in the 475-seat Lower House, allowing the governing bloc to set the agenda.

At the end of December, an Airbus A320 aircraft of Malysia-based budget airline AirAsia carrying 162 people on board disappeared en route from Indonesia's second largest city Surabaya to Singapore during a storm. Two days later, wreckage and bodies were spotted at sea off Indonesia. All indications are that it crashed in the Java Sea southwest of the island of Borneo.