Top Asian News 4:31 a.m. GMT

South Korean anti-corruption agency asks police to take over efforts to detain impeached Yoon

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s anti-corruption agency has requested that police take over efforts to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol after its investigators failed to bring him to custody following a standoff with the presidential security service last week. The agency and police confirmed the discussion on Monday, hours before the one-week warrant for Yoon’s detention was to expire. The Seoul Western District Court last Tuesday issued a warrant to detain Yoon and a separate warrant to search his residence after the embattled president defied authorities by refusing to appear for questioning over his short-lived martial law decree on Dec.

South Korea’s military says North Korea fired mid-range missile into eastern sea

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Monday fired a suspected mid-range ballistic missile into its eastern seas, South Korea’s military said, extending its heightened weapons testing activities into 2025 weeks before Donald Trump returns as U.S. president. The South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile was fired from an area near the North Korean capital of Pyongyang but didn’t immediately release more specific flight details. The joint chiefs said the military was strengthening its surveillance and defense posture in preparation for possible additional launches and sharing information on the missile with the United States and Japan. The launch came as U.S.

Shigemi Fukahori, who survived Nagasaki bombing and spent his life advocating for peace, dies at 93

TOKYO (AP) — Shigemi Fukahori, a survivor of the 1945 Nagasaki atomic bombing, who devoted his life to advocating for peace and campaigning against nuclear weapons, has died. He was 93. Fukahori died at a hospital in Nagasaki, southwestern Japan, on Jan. 3, the Urakami Catholic Church, where he prayed almost daily until last year, said on Sunday. Local media reported he died of old age. The church, located about 500 meters from ground zero and near the Nagasaki Peace Park, is widely seen as a symbol of hope and peace, as its bell tower and some statues and survived the nuclear bombing.

Biden’s decision to block Nippon Steel takeover creates uncertainty for U.S. Steel workers

WASHINGTON (AP) — By blocking a Japanese company’s takeover of U.S. Steel, President Joe Biden said he was protecting good jobs in the American heartland. He may be putting them at risk instead. In making its nearly $15 billion bid for the storied Pittsburgh-based steelmaker, Nippon Steel had promised to invest $2.7 billion in U.S. Steel’s aging blast furnace operations in Gary, Indiana, and Pennsylvania’s Mon Valley. It also vowed not to reduce production capacity in the United States over the next decade without first getting U.S. government approval. “They were going to invest in the Valley,’’ said Jason Zugai, an operating technician and vice president of the United Steelworkers union local at a U.S.

Indonesia launches free meals program to feed children and pregnant women to fight stunting

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s new government started an ambitious $28 million project Monday to feed nearly 90 million children and pregnant women to fight malnutrition and stunting although critics question whether the nationwide program is affordable. The Free Nutritious Meal program delivers on a campaign promise by President Prabowo Subianto, who was elected last year to lead the nation of more than 282 million people and Southeast Asia’s largest economy. He said the program aimed to fight the stunting of growth that afflicts of 21.5% of Indonesian children younger than 5 and would raise the earnings of farmers and the value of their harvest.

Myanmar releases thousands of prisoners to mark Independence Day

BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s military government has released more than 6,000 prisoners and has reduced other inmates’ sentences as part of a mass amnesty marking the 77th anniversary of independence from Britain on Saturday. They included just a small proportion of hundreds of political detainees jailed for opposing army rule since the military seized power in February 2021 from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. That takeover was met with massive nonviolent resistance, which has since become a widespread armed struggle. State-run MRTV television reported that Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the head of the military government, granted amnesties covering 5,864 prisoners from Myanmar, as well as 180 foreigners who will be deported.

Malaysia turns away 2 boats with nearly 300 Rohingya refugees after dozens landed on island

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysian authorities said Saturday that they have turned away two boats carrying nearly 300 people believed to be Muslim Rohingya refugees who were found to have entered the country illegally. The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency said that it had information that two more boats were attempting to enter the country after a boatload of 196 Rohingya landed early Friday on a beach on the northeastern resort island of Langkawi. They were all detained by authorities. The agency said authorities had detected the other two boats later Friday off Langkawi. It said the people on the two boats, also believed to be Rohingya, were reported to be exhausted and lacked sufficient food and water supplies.

Blast in southwestern Pakistan kills 1 person and wounds 35

QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — A blast from an improvised explosive device killed one person and wounded 35 others on Saturday in Pakistan’s southwestern city of Turbat, a police official said. Footage from the scene showed vehicles moving through the city before an explosion and flames engulfed one of them. Police officer Roshan Baloch said that eight of the wounded were in critical condition, and that the rest were stable. Most of the casualties are soldiers. The device was in a car parked on the side of the road and was detonated remotely, Baloch added. The chief minister for Balochistan province, Sarfraz Bugti, condemned the attack.

Asian singers and actors who relocated to Asia see global crossover opportunity

Twenty years after he was a young, struggling actor in Toronto, Thomas Lo is now the one giving young Asian actors their big breaks. He just had to go to Hong Kong to do it. The Chinese Canadian has been the creative director of one of the island city’s biggest TV broadcasting companies for only a few years, but is already making original English-language content to reach viewers around the world. “It was a bit of a full-circle moment for me,” Lo told The Associated Press. “You see more Asians but you’re still seeing the same Asians on screen, right? We’re looking for more opportunities on a grander scale and it’s not just in front of the camera.

Taiwan says China is redoubling efforts to undermine democracy with disinformation

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan ’s government says China is redoubling efforts to undermine confidence in the self-governing island’s democracy and close ties with the United States through the spread of disinformation, especially online. The National Security Bureau said the number of pieces of false or biased information distributed by China increased 60% last year, to 2.16 million from 1.33 million in 2023. The brief report issued Friday tallied “pieces of controversial information,” but did not further define the term. Facebook and X, formerly known as Twitter, were the main conduits for disinformation, along with platforms that explicitly target young people such as TikTok, the report said.