Top Asian News 4:26 a.m. GMT

South Korean court issues warrants to detain impeached President Yoon and search his office

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean court issued warrants Tuesday to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol and search his office and residence over his short-lived declaration of martial law. The country’s anti-corruption agency said it is investigating whether his declaration amounted to rebellion. But experts still say there is little chance of detention or searches unless Yoon is formally removed from office. The Seoul Western District Court issued warrants to detain Yoon and to search the presidential office and residence in central Seoul, according to a statement from the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials, which is leading a joint investigation with police and military authorities.

South Korea to inspect Boeing aircraft as it struggles to find cause of plane crash that killed 179

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean officials said Monday they will conduct safety inspections of all Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated by the country’s airlines, as they struggle to determine what caused a plane crash that killed 179 people a day earlier. Sunday’s crash, the country’s worst aviation disaster in decades, triggered an outpouring of national sympathy. Many people worry how effectively the South Korean government will handle the disaster as it grapples with a leadership vacuum following the recent successive impeachments of President Yoon Suk Yeol and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, the country’s top two officials, amid political tumult caused by Yoon’s brief imposition of martial law earlier this month.

South Korean authorities seek warrant to detain impeached President Yoon in martial law probe

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean law enforcement officials requested a court warrant on Monday to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol as they investigate whether his short-lived martial law decree on Dec. 3 amounted to rebellion. The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials, which leads a joint investigation with police and military authorities into the power grab that lasted only a few hours, confirmed it requested the warrant from the Seoul Western District Court. They plan to question Yoon on charges of abuse of authority and orchestrating a rebellion. Yoon Kap-keun, the president’s lawyer, denounced the detention attempt and filed a challenge with the same court, arguing that the warrant request was invalid.

South Korean families pray for relatives who vanished into North Korean prisons a decade ago

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — In the past year, Choi Jin-young has done everything he can to bring attention to his father, a missionary who’s serving a life sentence in North Korea. He’s met senior U.N., U.S. and other human rights officials, testified at public events, and accepted many media interviews. But as he marks 10 years since his father’s arrest this week, Choi doesn’t know where his father is, or even if he’s still alive. “I have some good memories of my dad. I’m his son so I must fight hard to get him returned,” Choi, a 34-year-old beer company official in South Korea, told The Associated Press.

Hotel fire in popular Bangkok tourist area kills 3 foreigners

BANGKOK (AP) — A fire broke out at a hotel near Bangkok’s Khao San Road, a popular tourist destination, killing three foreigners and injuring several other people, Thai police said Monday. The three who died in the fire on Sunday night were all foreign tourists, Police Colonel Sanong Saengmanee told The Associated Press. One was found dead at the scene and the other two died after being transported to the hospital. Police later identified the dead as a Brazilian woman, a Ukrainian man and an American man. Five people were hospitalized, including a Japanese woman in critical condition. The others were identified as a Japanese man, two Germans and a Thai electrician.

The Taliban say they will close all NGOs employing Afghan women

The Taliban say they will close all national and foreign nongovernmental groups in Afghanistan employing women, the latest crackdown on women’s rights since they took power in August 2021. The announcement comes two years after they told NGOs to suspend the employment of Afghan women, allegedly because they didn’t wear the Islamic headscarf correctly. In a letter published on X Sunday night, the Economy Ministry warned that failure to comply with the latest order would lead to NGOs losing their license to operate in Afghanistan. The United Nations said the space for women in Afghanistan has shrunk dramatically in the last two years and reiterated its call for the Taliban to reverse the restrictions.

South Korean adoptees and families rocked by fraud allegations

Her greatest fear, dormant for decades, came rushing back in an instant: had she adopted and raised a kidnapped child? Peg Reif’s daughter, adopted from South Korea in the 1980s, had sent her a link to a documentary detailing how the system that made their family was rife with fraud: documents falsified, babies switched, children snatched off the street and sent abroad. Reif wept. She was among more than 120 who contacted The Associated Press this fall, after a series of stories and a documentary made with Frontline exposed how Korea created a baby pipeline, designed to ship children abroad as quickly as possible to meet Western demand.

Lessons from the elections held in 70 countries in 2024

LONDON (AP) — When voters around the globe had their say in 2024, their message was often: “You’re fired.” Some 70 countries that are home to half the world’s population held elections this year, and in many incumbents were punished. From India and the United States to Japan, France and Britain, voters tired of economic disruption and global instability rejected sitting governments — and sometimes turned to disruptive outsiders. The rocky democratic landscape just seemed to get bumpier as a dramatic year careened toward its end, with mass protests in Mozambique and Georgia, an election annulled in Romania and an attempt to impose martial law in South Korea.

18 passengers killed in 2 separate road accidents in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A speeding passenger bus overturned on a highway in eastern Pakistan on Monday, killing at least 10 people, police said. Eight other people died when a passenger van collided with a truck on a highway in Naushahro Feroze district in southern Sindh province, killing eight people, according to local media. Authorities blamed both accidents on drivers’ negligence. Seven passengers were also injured in the bus crash in the town of Fateh Jang in Punjab province, police official Mohammad Arshad said. It was traveling from Bahawalpur city to Islamabad, he said. Road accidents are common in Pakistan, where highways and roads are poorly maintained and traffic laws are widely ignored.

What we know about the deadly Jeju Air plane crash in South Korea

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea has vowed thorough investigations to find what caused a plane crash that killed 179 people, saying Monday that it will also inspect all Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated by the country’s airlines. Sunday’s crash, the nation’s deadliest aviation disaster in decades, has sent a shock wave through South Korean society, which is already facing a political crisis that led to the successive impeachments of the country’s top two officials — President Yoon Suk Yeol and Prime Minister Han Duk-soo. Here are things to know about developments on the crash. __ Jeju Air flight 7C 2216 had departed from Bangkok and was making its landing at Muan International Airport in southern South Korea.