CNN – Asia/Pacific

By Gawon Bae and Jessie Yeung, CNN North Korea has rejected South Korea’s offer of economic support in exchange for denuclearization, saying the proposal suggests President Yoon Suk Yeol is “really simple,” state media KCNA reported Friday. Kim Yo Jong, a top official and the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, criticized Yoon’s

By Wayne Chang, Shawn Deng and Simone McCarthy, CNN Metro stations in Sichuan province’s capital city Chengdu have dimmed their lights to save electricity, leaving some travelers in partial darkness as China grapples with a power crunch amid a record heat wave. The rail system of southwestern city of Chengdu, home to about 21 million

By Jessie Yeung and Junko Ogura, CNN The Japanese government has been hit in the pocket by an unusual problem — its young people aren’t drinking enough. Since the pandemic began, bars and other premises selling alcohol have been hit hard by Covid-19 restrictions, causing sales — and liquor tax revenues — to plummet in

By Iqbal Athas and Rhea Mogul, CNN Sri Lanka’s former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled the crisis-hit island nation last month amid mass protests, is expected to return to the country next week, according to a senior minister. Foreign Minister Ali Sabry told CNN late Wednesday the Sri Lankan government had been told of Rajapaksa’s

By Yong Xiong, Selina Wang and Nectar Gan, CNN On a sunny afternoon in June, Wang Qun pushed his nose up against the 20-foot high steel fence, peering at the palm trees and detached houses across the border — the first glimpse of his American dream. Unlike many of the thousands aiming to cross the

By Kathleen Magramo, CNN The Hong Kong government is distributing thousands of copies of a speech by Chinese leader Xi Jinping to schools in the city for teachers to “study and learn.” In a circular sent to educators on Monday, Hong Kong’s Education Bureau said in “view of the great significance of (Xi’s) ‘Address’ to

By Gawon Bae, CNN North Korea fired two cruise missiles early Wednesday morning from the coastal town of Onchon into waters off its west coast, according to a South Korean Defense Ministry official. Military officials from South Korea and the United States said they were analyzing the launch for further details. After the launch, South

By Brad Lendon and Gawon Bae, CNN South Korea plans to become one of the world’s top four weapons suppliers, President Yoon Suk Yeol said Wednesday as he addressed reporters in a speech marking his first 100 days in office. “By entering the world’s top four defense exporters after the United States, Russia and France,

By Rhea Mogul, CNN A Chinese research ship docked at a southern Sri Lankan port Beijing leases from the government on Tuesday, officials said, despite security concerns raised by India about the vessel’s presence in nearby waters. Port workers at Hambantota gave an enthusiastic welcome to the Yuan Wang 5, waving Sri Lanka and China

By Cape Diamond and Heather Chen, CNN A court in military-run Myanmar has sentenced ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi to six more years in prison after convicting her on four extra counts of corruption, state media reported on Tuesday. The latest verdict in the series of secretive trials against the Nobel laureate takes her

By Nectar Gan, CNN A Chinese anime fan says she was detained and interrogated by police after she wore traditional Japanese dress to pose for photos in the eastern city of Suzhou, sparking heated debate on China‘s social media over what some see as over-the-top nationalism. Wearing a white kimono decorated with images of red

By Kathleen Magramo and CNN’s Beijing bureau Panicked shoppers rushed for the exits at an Ikea branch in Shanghai on Saturday after city health authorities ordered the store to lock down after a close contact of a Covid-19 case was traced to the location. Multiple videos on social media showed customers yelling and pushing each

By Wayne Chang and Simone McCarthy, CNN China’s military said it conducted combat alert patrols and military drills in the waters and airspace around Taiwan on Monday, a day after the arrival of a US congressional delegation to Taipei. The exercises are “a solemn response to political plays by the US and Taiwan that are

By Simone McCarthy, CNN More surveillance is needed of a new virus detected in dozens of people in eastern China that may not cause the next pandemic but suggests just how easily viruses can travel unnoticed from animals to humans, scientists say. The virus, dubbed Langya henipavirus, infected nearly three dozen farmers and other residents,

By Jessie Yeung and Kathleen Magramo, CNN Hong Kong has recorded its sharpest annual drop in population, with experts blaming the decline on strict Covid control measures and a political crackdown that have taken the shine off a financial hub long advertised as “Asia’s world city.” The city’s total population fell from 7.41 million people

By Jessie Yeung and Gawon Bae, CNN Seoul has vowed to move some of the city’s poorest families out of underground and semi-subterranean homes after 13 people were killed in flooding caused by record rainfall this week, sparking public horror and calls for government accountability. The deaths, which included a family who drowned after becoming