SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea threatened Friday to take “unprecedently” strong action against its rivals, soon after South Korea announced a series of planned military drills with the United States to hone their joint response to the North’s increasing nuclear threats. North Korea has halted weapons testing activities since its short-range missile firing on Jan. 1, though it launched more than 70 missiles in 2022 — a record number for a single year. Friday’s warning suggests the North’s testing could resume soon over its rivals’ military training, which it views as an invasion rehearsal. “In case the U.S. and South Korea carry into practice their already announced plan for military drills that (North Korea), with just apprehension and reason, regards as preparations for an aggression war, they will face unprecedentedly persistent and strong counteractions,” the North Korean Foreign Ministry said in a statement carried by state media.
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Taiwan’s Defense Ministry says a Chinese weather balloon landed on one of its outlying islands, amid U.S. accusations that such craft have been dispatched worldwide to spy on Washington and its allies. The ministry’s statement on Thursday said the balloon carried equipment registered to a state-owned electronics company in the northern city of Taiyuan. The islet where it was found, Tungyin, is part of the Matsu island ground lying just off the coast of China’s Fujian province. Taiwan maintained control of the islands after the sides split in 1949 amid civil war and they are considered a first line of defense should China make good on its threats to bring Taiwan under its control by force if necessary.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said Thursday that the U.S. is developing “sharper rules” to track, monitor and potentially shoot down unknown aerial objects, following three weeks of high-stakes drama sparked by the discovery of a suspected Chinese spy balloon transiting much of the country. The president has directed national security adviser Jake Sullivan to lead an “interagency team” to review U.S. procedures after the U.S. shot down the Chinese balloon, as well as three other objects that Biden said the U.S. now believes are most likely “benign” objects launched by private companies or research institutions. While not expressing regret for downing the three still-unidentified objects, Biden said he hoped the new rules would help “distinguish between those that are likely to pose safety and security risks that necessitate action and those that do not.” “Make no mistake, if any object presents a threat to the safety and security of the American people I will take it down,” he added, repeating the legal justification cited for the downings — that the objects, flying between 20,000 and 40,000 feet posed a remote risk to civilian planes.
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Saddique Shah, a 53-year-old construction worker, sat along a sidewalk with his fellow workers on the outskirts of the capital Islamabad, his head hung low as he worried. What if he failed to find work Friday, for the second day in a row, just as Pakistan considers a tax hike amid looming economic troubles? Starting early in the morning, Shah’s job is to pick up bricks, gravel, cement and sand and hand them to masons who use them on construction sites. He is paid 1,600 rupees ($6) a day — barely enough for basics like food. He doesn’t know what he’ll do if Pakistan’s government follows through on its plan for new taxes in the coming weeks.
TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s space agency aborted the inaugural launch of its next-generation H3 rocket on Friday after the auxiliary booster engines failed to ignite, officials said. The main engine of the rocket, which is carrying an observation satellite and an experimental sensor to detect missile launches, had already ignited when the launch was halted, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said. “I know many people were waiting for and looking forward to this day. I’m so sorry. We also feel extremely regretful and frustrated,” JAXA project manager Masashi Okada said at a news conference as he wiped away tears. Okada described it as an aborted launch — not a failure — because it was suspended as a result of safety features that functioned properly.
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met with representatives of LGBTQ groups Friday and offered an apology over discriminatory remarks made by his former aide that sparked nationwide outrage and calls for the government to ensure equal rights. Former Kishida aide Masayoshi Arai’s comments to reporters earlier this month that he wouldn’t want to live next to LGBTQ people and that citizens would flee Japan if same-sex marriages were allowed prompted renewed demands that the government adopt an anti-discrimination law. Kishida said Arai’s remark was “deemed unjust discrimination and was extremely inappropriate” and offered an apology to LGBTQ activists in person: “I apologize sincerely for making all of you here and many other people feel uncomfortable.” He also appointed former Justice Minister Masako Mori on Friday as his special aide in charge of promoting understanding for LGBTQ people and she joined the meeting.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s defense minister on Friday insisted the country’s soldiers didn’t commit any massacres during the Vietnam War and indicated the government will appeal a ruling that ordered compensation for a Vietnamese woman who lost several relatives to a shooting rampage blamed on South Korean marines in 1968. When asked about last week’s ruling by the Seoul Central District Court, South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-Sup told a parliamentary committee that his ministry is certain there were “absolutely no massacres committed by our troops” during the Vietnam War. “We cannot agree with the ruling … We will hold discussions with related agencies to determine our next legal step,” Lee said.
MORIGAON, India (AP) — Standing outside the local police station in her village in northeast India, 19-year-old Nureja Khatun is anxious. Cradling her 6-month-old baby in her arms, she has been waiting to catch a glimpse of her husband before the police take him away to court. Nearly an hour later, she sees her husband, Akbar Ali, for just a few seconds when he is shuffled into a police van. An officer slams the door in her face before she is able to get any answers. “Please release my husband. Otherwise take me into custody as well,” she pleaded. Khatun’s husband is one of more than 3,000 men, including Hindu and Muslim priests, who were arrested nearly two weeks ago in the northeastern state of Assam under a wide crackdown on illegal child marriages involving girls under the age of 18.
GENEVA (AP) — Chinese envoys have defended Beijing’s treatment of Hong Kong and Muslim minorities in an unusual public confrontation with human rights advocates at a U.N. meeting. During the meeting of the U.N. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the officials also rejected complaints that China’s ruling Communist Party hampered the global response to COVID-19 by hiding information. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s government faces accusations that abuses have multiplied as Beijing tried to crush a pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, carried out mass detentions of Muslim minorities and silenced labor, women’s rights and other activists. Xi’s government has previously rejected the accusations, but two days of hearings that ended Thursday in Geneva gave activists an unusual opportunity to air criticism in the presence of Chinese officials.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The death toll from New Zealand’s cyclone reached eight on Friday with more than 4,500 people still unaccounted for four days after the nation’s most destructive weather event in decades brought widespread flooding, landslides and power outages, the prime minister said. Cyclone Gabrielle struck the country’s north on Monday and the level of damage has been compared to Cyclone Bola in 1988. That storm was the most destructive on record to hit the nation of 5 million people. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said three more fatalities had been confirmed since Thursday and police held “grave fears” for other missing persons.
