Top Asian News 4:49 a.m. GMT

South Korean prosecutors detain ex-defense chief over martial law imposition, reports say

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean prosecutors on Sunday detained a former defense minister who allegedly recommended last week’s brief but stunning martial law imposition to President Yoon Suk Yeol, making him the first figure detained over the case, news reports said. The reported development came a day after Yoon avoided an opposition-led bid to impeach him in parliament, with most ruling party lawmakers boycotting a floor vote to prevent the two-thirds majority needed to suspend his presidential powers. The main liberal opposition Democratic Party said it will prepare a new impeachment motion against Yoon. On Sunday, ex-Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun voluntarily appeared at a Seoul prosecutors’ office, where he had his mobile phone confiscated and was detained, Yonhap news agency reported.

Taiwan reports 14 Chinese warships and 4 balloons near the island

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China sent 14 warships, seven military aircraft and four balloons near Taiwan between Saturday and Sunday, according to Taiwan’s Defense Ministry, as Beijing ramps up pressure on the island it claims as its own. China’s military activities come amid speculation Beijing might organize military drills around the island in response to Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te’s recent visit to Pacific allies, including U.S. stops in Hawaii and Guam. China claims Taiwan, a self-ruled democracy of 23 million people, as its own territory, and bristles at other countries’ formal exchanges with Taiwan. The United States, like most countries, doesn’t recognize Taiwan as a country but is its main unofficial backer and sells it arms.

China’s ban on key high-tech materials could have broad impact on industries, economy

BANGKOK (AP) — China has banned exports of key materials used to make a wide range of products, including smartphones, electric vehicles, radar systems and CT scanners, swiping back at Washington after it expanded export controls to include dozens of Chinese companies that make equipment used to produce advanced computer chips. Both sides say their controls are justified by national security concerns and both accuse the other of “weaponizing” trade. Analysts say the latest restrictions could have a wide impact on manufacturing in many industries and supply chains. “Critical mineral security is now intrinsically linked to the escalating tech trade war,” Gracelin Baskaran and Meredith Schwartz of the Center for Strategic International Studies, wrote in a report on Beijing’s decision.

Who is the South Korean president who imposed martial law?

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Decades of achievement led Yoon Suk Yeol to the pinnacle of political power in South Korea, but his legacy may now rest on a single, baffling decision to send out troops under martial law over vague claims that one of Asia’s leading democracies was under threat. Was there any clue in Yoon’s background that this was coming? Yoon, a staunch conservative and longtime prosecutor, went from political novice to president of South Korea in 2022, ending five years of liberal rule that saw failed efforts to resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis and a slackening economy.

South Korea’s opposition leader questions President Yoon’s state of mind after martial law chaos

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s opposition leader questioned the state of mind of President Yoon Suk Yeol and vowed to make all-out efforts to get him impeached soon, saying Friday that Yoon’s controversial martial law imposition this week showed he could make other extreme moves on vital issues. “A more dangerous part of the martial law case is the state of mind of the president who decided to do something that no one understands, rather than the fact that he did it,” Lee Jae-myung, leader of the liberal opposition Democratic Party, told The Associated Press in an interview.

6 Pakistani security personnel killed in a checkpoint attack

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Armed men killed six Pakistani security personnel and wounded seven in a checkpoint attack in the country’s northwest, a police official said Saturday. The assault happened in Kurram district, where fierce sectarian fighting has killed at least 130 people during the past few weeks. A ceasefire between the area’s Sunni and Shiite communities is holding and Saturday’s incident is not connected to the recent clashes. Local official Saleem Khan said armed men attacked a Frontier Corps checkpoint in Bagam, 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of Peshawar city. The wounded were taken to a military hospital. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

In the 6-hour mayhem of South Korea’s martial law, a woman’s act of resistance was a defining moment

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — In the groundswell of fury and defiance that erupted among South Koreans after their president declared martial law, curtailing the country’s hard-won freedoms, it was perhaps the iconic moment. As parliamentarians scrambled to get inside the National Assembly building to reverse the emergency measure, a woman in a leather coat confronted one of the soldiers who was trying to stop the lawmakers, grabbed his automatic rifle and tried to tug it away while yelling “Aren’t you ashamed?” As the soldier backed away, he raised the rifle’s barrel toward the woman. She pressed on, grabbing it as it was pointed at her chest, still yelling, before he gave up, turned and walked away.

AP PHOTOS: An Indian state prepares for a Hindu festival that’s the largest such gathering on Earth

PRAYAGRAJ, India (AP) — Hindus venerate rivers, and none more so than the Ganges. The faithful believe that a dip in its waters will cleanse them of their past sins. Wherever other sacred rivers flow into the Ganges, the benefits of bathing at the confluence on auspicious days increases manyfold. A devotee can hope to begin a journey to achieve Hindu philosophy’s ultimate goal — the release from the cycles of birth and death. The most propitious of these days occur in cycles of 12 years. When the time comes for Prayagraj, in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, millions flock to the confluence of the Ganges, the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati rivers during a festival called the Maha Kumbh Mela.

Federal appeals court upholds law requiring sale or ban of TikTok in the US

A federal appeals court panel on Friday unanimously upheld a law that could lead to a ban on TikTok as soon as next month, handing a resounding defeat to the popular social media platform as it fights for its survival in the U.S. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied TikTok’s petition to overturn the law — which requires TikTok to break ties with its China-based parent company ByteDance or be banned by mid-January — and rebuffed the company’s challenge of the statute, which it argued had ran afoul of the First Amendment. “The First Amendment exists to protect free speech in the United States,” said the court’s opinion, which was written by Judge Douglas Ginsburg.

Police in India clash with farmers during protest march over minimum price demand for crops

NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian police on Friday used tear gas against hundreds of farmers taking part in a march to New Delhi to demand guaranteed crop prices in a repeat of 2021 protests. Clashes broke out near Shambhu, a border crossing between northern Punjab and Haryana states, where multiple entry points into the capital have been sealed with metal barricades and barbed wire. The authorities also suspended internet service in some districts of Haryana to prevent communication among the protesters. The farmers, who began their march in Haryana and Punjab, are seeking guarantees, backed by law, of more state support or a minimum purchase price for farm produce.