Top Asian News 9:30 p.m. GMT

Did this happen to me also? Korean adoptees question their past and ask how to find their families

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Dozens of South Korean adoptees, many in tears, have responded to an investigation led by The Associated Press and documented by Frontline (PBS) last week on Korean adoptions. The investigation reported dubious child-gathering practices and fraudulent paperwork involving South Korea’s foreign adoption program, which peaked in the 1970s and `80s amid huge Western demands for babies. Here are some of the problems adoptees who responded say they faced, along with tips for finding histories and birth families. Kyla Postrel’s paperwork tells two different stories, neither of which she’s sure is true. After a DNA test last year, Postrel found a half-brother who was also adopted to the West.

South Korea adoptees endure emotional, sometimes devastating searches for their birth families

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — They began a pilgrimage that thousands before them have done. They boarded long flights to their motherland, South Korea, to undertake an emotional, often frustrating, sometimes devastating search for their birth families. These adoptees are among the 200,000 sent from South Korea to Western nations as children. Many have grown up, searched for their origin story and discovered that their adoption paperwork was inaccurate or fabricated. They have only breadcrumbs to go on: grainy baby photos, names of orphanages and adoption agencies, the towns where they were said to have been abandoned. They don’t speak the language.

China could wage economic war on Taiwan to force surrender, report says

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. military officials and analysts have for years warned of possible armed attacks or blockades by China on Taiwan, but a report released Friday has raised a red flag about possible non-military tactics that could be used effectively against the self-governed island. Beijing could wage an economic and cyber war to force a surrender from Taiwan without direct use of military power, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based research institute, said in the report. Such a likely but overlooked scenario, it said, poses a challenge for the U.S., the island’s biggest ally, and suggested Washington make preparations for how best to respond.

North Korea’s Kim threatens to destroy South Korea with nuclear strikes if provoked

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un threatened to use nuclear weapons and destroy South Korea permanently if provoked, state media reported Friday, after the South’s leader warned that Kim’s regime would collapse if he attempted to use nuclear arms. The exchange of such rhetoric between the rival Koreas is nothing new, but the latest comments come during heightened animosities over the North’s recent disclosure of a nuclear facility and its continuation of missile tests. Next week, observers say North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament is expected to constitutionally declare a hostile “two-state” system on the Korean Peninsula to formally reject reconciliation with South Korea and codify new national borders.

Pakistan capital locked down to thwart a rally to support ex-leader Imran Khan

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Authorities suspended cellphone service and blocked key roads into Pakistan’s capital with shipping containers Friday to try to thwart a rally by tens of thousands of activists seeking the release of imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan. Khan’s supporters were trying to march on Islamabad from the northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where Khan’s party holds power, defying a ban on rallies imposed this week by the national government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Sharif’s interior minister said armed supporters of Khan were among activists trying to reach the capital and warned them to stop, and has said they would be shown “no leniency.” Police swung batons and used tear gas to prevent rallygoers from entering capital.

India’s foreign minister becomes the first such dignitary to visit Sri Lanka since the election

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — India’s Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar met Sri Lanka’s newly elected President Anura Kumara Dissanayake Friday in the first such visit of a dignitary since a new government took office in the island nation last month, amid questions over how Dissanayake would balance between regional powers China and India. The two men discussed ways to deepen bilateral ties. Sri Lanka is located on one of the world’s busiest shipping routes in what India considers part of its strategic backyard. China too has exerted influence in the country in recent years by including it in its Belt and Road project.

Work and travel resume across Taiwan after Typhoon Krathon finally dissipates

KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan (AP) — Work, classes and flights resumed across Taiwan on Friday after Typhoon Krathon brought torrential rainfall to the island but finally dissipated over a mountain range. A heavy rain advisory remained in place for the northern coast and mountainous areas, where two landslides occurred early Friday. Krathon had brought much of the island to a standstill for three days but weakened to a tropical depression early Friday. Its center moved back over the sea after making a “U-turn” across the island’s southwestern tip overnight. Schools and businesses reopened with the exception of the city of Kaohsiung, Pingtung County, and some parts of Hualien County and New Taipei.

Google says it will stop linking to New Zealand news if a law passes forcing it to pay for content

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Google said Friday it will stop linking to New Zealand news content and will reverse its support of local media outlets if the government passes a law forcing tech companies to pay for articles displayed on their platforms. The vow to sever Google traffic to New Zealand news sites — made in a blog post by the search giant on Friday — echoes strategies the firm deployed as Australia and Canada prepared to enact similar laws in recent years. It followed a surprise announcement by New Zealand’s government in July that lawmakers would advance a bill forcing tech platforms to strike deals for sharing revenue generated from news content with the media outlets producing it.

Flooding from seasonal rains threatens residents in northern Thailand, including elephants

BANGKOK (AP) — Flooding in northern Thailand forced many residents of the city of Chiang Mai and its outskirts to seek safety on higher ground on Friday, with members of the animal world under similar threat. Evacuations were underway at the Elephant Nature Park, which houses around 3,000 rescued animals, including 125 elephants, 800 dogs, 2,500 cats, 200 rabbits and 200 cows. Flood waters caused by heavy rainfall swept through the park on Thursday. Heavy seasonal monsoon rains and the effects of Typhoon Yagi combined to cause serious flooding in many parts of Thailand, with the northern region particularly badly hit.

Malaysian billionaire hotelier charged in Singapore in relation to ex-minister’s wrongdoings

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — A Malaysian billionaire hotelier who brought Formula One to Singapore was charged Friday for allegedly obstructing justice and abetting wrongdoings by a former Cabinet minister who was imprisoned a day earlier in a rare graft case. The two charges against Ong Beng Seng came just a day after f ormer Transport Minister S. Iswaran was sentenced to a year in prison, making him the first minister to be jailed in Singapore in nearly half a century. Iswaran, 62, pleaded guilty last week to a count of obstructing justice and four of accepting illegal gifts such as F1 tickets, wine and whisky from Ong and another businessman Lum Kok Seng.