Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Morning Edition

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un lauded his nation's improving economy and regional standing as he opened the country's most important political event, where he is expected to set his domestic and foreign policy agenda for the next five years and further entrench his family's authoritarian rule. The Workers' Party congress, which will likely run for days in Pyongyang, comes as Kim carves out a more forceful regional presence, leveraging an advancing nuclear arsenal and a growing alignment with Moscow that have deepened his standoffs with Washington and Seoul. The meeting will likely provide the stage for Kim to unveil his key political and military objectives and further consolidate his authoritarian grip before thousands of ruling party delegates.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Ousted South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Friday remained defiant in his first reaction to a life sentence for rebellion handed down by a Seoul court the previous day. In a statement released by his lawyers, Yoon maintained that his abrupt and short-lived declaration of martial law in December 2024 was done "solely for the sake of the nation and our people," and dismissed the Seoul Central District Court as biased against him. Yoon, who was removed from office amid a political crisis set off by his unsuccessful power grab, has long rejected the eight criminal cases brought against him for what prosecutors described as a coup attempt and other allegations.

TOKYO (AP) - Osaka has received a hefty gift of gold bars worth 560 million yen ($3.6 million) from an anonymous donor asking for its specific use: to fix the Japanese city's dilapidated water pipes. The gold bars weighing 21 kilograms (46 pounds) in total were given to the Osaka City Waterworks Bureau in November by the donor who wants to help improve aging water pipes, Mayor Hideyuki Yokoyama told reporters Thursday. "It's a staggering amount and I was speechless," Yokoyama said. "Tackling aging water pipes requires a huge investment, and I cannot thank enough for the donation." The mayor said his city will respect the donor's wishes and use the gift to improve waterworks projects.

NEW DELHI (AP) - India joined a U.S.-led initiative to strengthen technology cooperation among strategic allies in a move Friday that underscores the nations' warming ties after a brief strain over New Delhi's unabated purchase of discounted Russian oil. The decision aligns India closely with Washington's efforts to build secure supply chains for semiconductors, advanced manufacturing and critical technologies at a time geopolitical competition with China is intensifying. It also signals a reset in relations following friction over energy trade and tariffs. Nations that have joined the Pax Silica framework include Japan, South Korea, the U.K. and Israel. "Pax Silica will be a group of nations that believe technology should empower free people and free markets.

WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House announced a reciprocal trade agreement with Indonesia on Thursday while President Prabowo Subianto was in Washington to attend the first meeting of President Donald Trump's Board of Peace. Under the agreement, Southeast Asia's largest economy will eliminate tariffs for 99% of American goods while the U.S. will maintain tariffs on most Indonesian goods at 19%, the White House said. That is the same rate the U.S. has set for Cambodia and Malaysia. Indonesia also agreed to address non-tariff barriers to U.S. goods and to remove restrictions on exports to the U.S. for critical minerals and other industrial commodities, the White House said.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - Two Cambodian journalists have appealed their convictions on treason charges and 14-year prison sentences for posting photographs on Facebook related to border clashes with Thailand last year, the spouse of one and a court official said Friday. Phorn Sopheap of Battambang Post TV Online and Pheap Pheara of TSP 68 TV Online were arrested in separate locations on July 31 while returning from reporting trips. Authorities say they took photographs in a restricted military zone, and one showed land mines, which appeared to discredit official Cambodian denials of using such weapons. They were convicted and sentenced by the Siem Reap Provincial Court in December on charges of "supplying a foreign state with information prejudicial to national defense." Treason convictions carry prison sentences of seven to 15 years.

BANGKOK (AP) - When Thai police were having trouble catching a serial burglar who repeatedly slipped through their fingers, they came up with a creative plan: going undercover in a traditional lion costume to get close to their elusive quarry. Video footage released by the Bangkok police department showed officers hidden beneath a red-and-gold lion costume dancing toward the suspect on Wednesday as he wandered through a Lunar New Year fair at a temple in Nonthaburi, a province neighboring Bangkok. Moments later, the officer who was holding the lion's papier-mache head lunges at the suspect swiftly pins the man to the ground.

TOKYO (AP) - The kimono, that elaborate, delicate wrap-around garment worn by geisha and samurai from centuries back, is getting a vibrant remake, appreciated these days for a virtue that's more relevant than ever: sustainability. A genuine silk kimono, which literally means "worn thing," lasts a hundred years or more. In a Japanese family, it's handed down over generations like heirloom jewelry, artworks and military medals. It never goes out of style. The design of the kimono and accompanying "obi" sash has remained basically the same since the 17th century Edo period depicted in Akira Kurosawa samurai movies. But today, some people are taking a different creative approach, refashioning the traditional kimono, and also taking apart and resewing them as jackets, dresses and pants.

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - Torrential rains set off two landslides that killed seven people and floods that displaced more than 3,000 villagers in the southeastern Philippines, officials said Friday. A boulder-laden landslide buried a house and killed a couple and their two daughters Friday in the coastal city of Mati in Davao Oriental province, disaster-response and provincial officials said. Rescuers used earth-moving equipment to retrieve the bodies, according to Ednar Dayanghirang, regional director of the Office of Civil Defense. In Monkayo, a gold-mining town in Davao de Oro province near Davao Oriental, the remains of three people were dug up after their house was buried late Thursday by a landslide, Dayanghirang and other officials said.

BERLIN (AP) - German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will make his first visit to China next week since taking the helm of Europe's biggest economy, as he tries to position the country to a world in which assertive great powers play an increasingly dominant role. Merz will be received in Beijing on Wednesday by Premier Li Qiang and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, government spokesperson Sebastian Hille said Friday. He will also visit Hangzhou in southeastern China. The theme of the trip will be "competition," Hille told reporters in Berlin, and "the right balance of cooperation" with the Asian power will be one major theme.