Top Asia Pacific Breaking News: Morning Edition

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was found guilty of leading an insurrection on Thursday and sentenced to life in prison for his brief imposition of martial law in 2024, a ruling that marks a dramatic culmination of the country's biggest political crisis in decades. The conservative leader was ousted from office after he declared martial law and sent troops to surround the National Assembly on Dec. 3, 2024, in a baffling attempt to overcome a legislature controlled by his liberal opponents. Judge Jee Kui-youn of the Seoul Central District Court said he found Yoon, 65, guilty of rebellion for mobilizing military and police forces in an illegal attempt to seize the Assembly, arrest political opponents and establish unchecked power for an indefinite period.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea said Thursday leader Kim Jong Un held a ceremony to unveil the deployment of 50 new launch vehicles for nuclear-capable short-range missiles threatening rival South Korea as he flaunted his expanding military capabilities ahead of a major ruling party congress. In a separate statement, Kim's sister, who is a key foreign policy official acknowledged a South Korean minister's apology regarding alleged civilian drone incursions, but said the North is bolstering border security against the "enemy" South. North Korea has suspended nearly all talks and cooperation with the South since 2019, when Kim's nuclear diplomacy with U.S.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - The toddler cries as an oxygen mask is fitted to his face, its green elastic band stretched across his sunken cheeks. When he was first hospitalized a month ago, the 2 ½-year-old was fighting for his life. Severely malnourished, Abu Bakar weighed just 6 kilograms (13 pounds), about half what he should. And yet, he is one of the lucky ones: His family got him to Indira Gandhi Children's Hospital in Kabul, where doctors are providing life-saving care. But for every malnourished child receiving treatment, there are many more who cannot get help. "We have a catastrophic nutritional crisis on our hands with two-thirds of the country in a very serious or crisis level for acute malnutrition," said John Aylieff, Afghanistan Country Director for the United Nations' World Food Program.

NEW DELHI (AP) - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday pitched his country as a central player in the global artificial intelligence ecosystem, saying it aims to build technology at home while deploying it worldwide. "Design and develop in India. Deliver to the world. Deliver to humanity," Modi told a gathering of some world leaders, technology executives and policymakers at the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi. Modi's remarks came as India - one of the fastest-growing digital markets - seeks to leverage its experience in building large-scale digital public infrastructure and to present itself as a cost-effective hub for AI innovation.

ISLAMABAD (AP) - Pakistan's Foreign Ministry summoned a senior Afghan diplomat and lodged a strong protest over a deadly suicide attack earlier this week that killed 11 Pakistani soldiers and a girl near the Afghan border. The ministry said in a statement the Afghan deputy head of mission in Islamabad was called in Wednesday and handed a formal diplomatic protest following Monday's attack in the northwestern Bajaur district, which it said was carried out by insurgents based in Afghanistan. "Pakistan reserves the right to respond and eliminate those who were behind the attack wherever they may be located, to protect its soldiers, civilians and borders," it said.

KARACHI, Pakstan (AP) - A gas explosion ripped through an apartment building in Pakistan's largest port city of Karachi on Thursday, killing at least 16 people, including women and children, and injuring several others after part of the structure collapsed, police and rescue officials said. The explosion happened when people were preparing a pre-dawn meal on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in a residential area of Karachi, the capital of Sindh province, local police chief Rizwan Patel said. Rescuers were still removing rubble to search for any survivors trapped under the debris, he added. The death toll was initially reported at 13 but Patel said it rose to 16 after three more bodies were pulled out from the rubble.

BANGKOK (AP) - A prominent leader of an independent resistance group in Myanmar that had come under attack by rivals who are loyal to the mainstream opposition force has surrendered to the country's military authorities, state media reported Thursday. The surrender of Bo Nagar, a leader of the Burma National Revolutionary Army or BNRA, in the upper-central region of Sagaing was a dramatic reminder of fractures within the armed resistance movement, which has led to sporadic clashes over control of territory and administrative disputes. Sagaing has been a stronghold of armed resistance since the the army seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2021.

U.S. President Donald Trump's comment that he is discussing potential arms sales to Taiwan with Chinese President Xi Jinping is raising concerns in Taipei as the island democracy relies on U.S. backing in the face of China 's territorial claims. On Monday, Trump told journalists he is discussing the potential sales with the Chinese leader, an unexpected statement that experts say might violate decades-old foreign policy principles defining the United States' relationship with self-ruled Taiwan. "I'm talking to him about it. We had a good conversation, and we'll make a determination pretty soon," Trump said when asked about Xi's opposition to the arms sales.

HONG KONG (AP) - At Lunar New Year, red holds the promise of luck and reunion - a color meant to call people home and carry wishes for the year ahead. It sits at entrances and lingers along walls. It threads through wishes and wraps around food. In smoke, it lifts and thins into the air. Across much of Asia - where the festival is known as the Spring Festival, Tet, or Seollal - the new year is marked by rituals long believed to gather people against darkness and draw good fortune near. This year's festival begins the Year of the Horse, one of the twelve animals in the Chinese zodiac.

TOKYO (AP) - Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Wednesday expressed hopes of deepening her relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump and strengthen cooperation between the two countries in rare earths development and other areas of economic security when she visits Washington next month. Takaichi, at a news conference late Wednesday, expressed hopes to strengthen cooperation with the U.S., especially in economic security, as tensions between Tokyo and Beijing have risen over the last few months. Takaichi, elected as Japan's first female leader in October, was reappointed by Parliament as prime minister earlier in the day and formed her second Cabinet, following a landslide election win last week.