Top Asian News 3:57 a.m. GMT

South Korea’s prime minister and top presidential officials offer to resign after election defeat

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s prime minister and senior presidential officials offered to resign en masse on Thursday, after their conservative ruling party suffered a crushing defeat in parliamentary elections. The results of Wednesday’s elections were a huge political blow to President Yoon Suk Yeol, likely setting back his domestic agenda and leave him facing an intensifying political offensive by his liberal opponents during his remaining three years in office. Prime Minster Han Duck-soo and all senior presidential advisers to Yoon, except those in charge of security issues, submitted their resignations, according to Yoon’s office. It didn’t immediately say whether Yoon accepted their resignations.

Biden says he’s considering Australia’s request to drop prosecution of Wikileaks founder Assange

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said Wednesday that he is considering a request from Australia to drop the decade-long U.S. push to prosecute Wikileaks founder Julian Assange for publishing a trove of American classified documents. For years, Australia has called on the U.S. to drop its prosecution against Assange, an Australian citizen who has fought U.S. extradition efforts from prison in the U.K. Asked about the request on Wednesday, as he hosted Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for an official visit, Biden said, “We’re considering it.” Assange has been indicted on 17 espionage charges and one charge of computer misuse over his website’s publication of a trove of classified U.S.

Kishida cracks jokes and invokes ‘Star Trek’ as he and Biden toast US-Japan alliance at state dinner

WASHINGTON (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida cracked jokes and invoked a touchstone of American culture as he quoted from “Star Trek” at Wednesday’s state dinner, telling guests at the White House that he hoped the “unshakable relationship” between his country and the U.S. would “boldly go where no one had gone before.” “I would like to propose a toast to our voyage to the frontier of the Japan-U.S. relationship with this word: boldly go,” Kishida said, quoting the iconic opening monologue of the original “Star Trek” series. Kishida, who spoke in English, and President Joe Biden exchanged warm toasts to each other and the decades-long, alliance between their nations as top figures from business, sports and politics — including an ex-president — looked on.

China protests EU’s investigation of subsidies in green industries, calling the move protectionist

BEIJING (AP) — China has accused the European Union of protectionism and “reckless distortion” of the definition of subsidies in response to a new EU investigation into Chinese wind turbine makers. A Chinese trade remedies official made “solemn representations” on the issue in a meeting in Brussels on Wednesday with Martin Lukas, the EU director general for trade defense, the Commerce Ministry said. “The European side’s reckless distortion of the definition of subsidies, and the lack of openness and transparency in procedural standards during the investigation, is a protectionist act that harms the fair competition environment in the name of fair competition,” the statement said.

Chinese President Xi meets former Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou on pro-unification visit

BEIJING (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping met with former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou in Beijing Wednesday in a bid to promote unification between the sides that separated amid civil war in 1949. Ma left office almost two decades ago and was largely excluded from the opposition Nationalist Party’s failed campaign to retake the presidency in January, a concession to the electorate’s strong opposition to political unification with China and politicians seen as willing to compromise Taiwan’s security. He follows a long line of politicians from the Nationalists, also known as the KMT, who have been invited to China by its authoritarian one-party government and given VIP treatment on visits around the country.

Hong Kong denies entry to Reporters Without Borders staffer in latest blow to media freedoms

HONG KONG (AP) — Reporters Without Borders said Wednesday that one of its representatives was denied entry into Hong Kong, calling it a “new decline” in the city’s press freedoms. According to the group, its Taipei-based staffer Aleksandra Bielakowska was stopped at the airport by immigration officers. She was detained, questioned and had her belongings searched three times before she was denied entry, said the group, also known by its French acronym RSF. “This action by the Hong Kong authorities, unprecedented for RSF, marks a new decline in the already poor press freedom climate in the territory,” RSF said in a statement.

Fighting escalates in eastern Myanmar as army holds out against resistance push on key border town

BANGKOK (AP) — Fighting appeared to be escalating in Myanmar on Wednesday as guerrilla fighters from the Karen ethnic minority and pro-democracy forces battle soldiers holding on to a major trading town on the border with Thailand, witnesses said. The fall of Myawaddy, which is also Myanmar’s most active trade crossing with Thailand, would be another major setback in the army’s war against resistance forces seeking to topple the military-run government. The fighting has alarmed also officials in Bangkok, who fear it may drive large numbers of people across the border. Thai Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara said Tuesday that Thailand can accommodate about 100,000 people in safe areas on a temporary basis.

2 Philippine navy pilots are killed when a training helicopter crashes, authorities say

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A Philippine navy training helicopter crashed Thursday in a grassy area near a city public market south of the capital, killing the two pilots on board, the military and police said. Authorities did not report anyone being injured on the ground in the crash of the Robinson R22 helicopter in Cavite city south of Manila. It was not immediately known what caused the crash but military spokesperson Col. Francel Padilla said the two pilots “executed emergency procedures and crashed.” The two pilots were injured but later died in a hospital, Padilla said.

A fire in a 16-story Hong Kong residential building kills at least 5 people and injures dozens

HONG KONG (AP) — A fire in a large, mostly residential building in Hong Kong on Wednesday morning killed at least five people and left another 36 injured. Some 250 residents were rescued from the New Lucky House in Hong Kong’s Jordan neighborhood and the fire was extinguished. The fire services department said that the fire began on the first and second floors of the 16-story building, where a gym and licensed guest rooms were located. More investigation was needed into the cause of the fire, officials said. The five who died were apparently trying to escape the building. The New Lucky House has 200 units and was built in 1964.

Muslims worldwide celebrate Eid al-Fitr in the shadow of Gaza’s misery

ISTANBUL (AP) — Muslims around the world celebrated the Eid al-Fitr holiday Wednesday, marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan. But events were overshadowed by the worsening crisis in Gaza and Israel’s expected military offensive in Rafah city after six months of war. “We should not forget our brothers and sisters in Palestine,” one imam, Abdulrahman Musa, said in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. “They have been subjected to unjustified aggression and a lot of violence (as) the world is watching in silence.” In a holiday message, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent support to Gaza, which he called a “bleeding wound on the conscience of humanity.” In Istanbul, some of the thousands of worshipers at the Aya Sofya Mosque carried Palestinian flags and chanted slogans in support of residents of Gaza, where the United Nations warns that more than a million people are at threat of imminent famine and little aid is allowed in.