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FILE - This Jan. 14, 2021, file photo provided by the North Korean government shows missiles during a military parade marking the ruling party congress, at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea. Last year was a disaster for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who helplessly watched his country's economy decay amid pandemic border closures while brooding over the collapse of made-for-TV summits with former President Donald Trump that failed to lift sanctions from his country. Now he must start over with President Joe Biden, who has previously called him a thug and accused Trump of chasing spectacles instead of meaningful reductions of Kim’s nuclear arsenal. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads:

After Trump setbacks, Kim Jong Un starts over with Biden

Jan. 22, 2021 12:04 AM EST

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Last year was a disaster for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. He helplessly watched his country's already battered economy decay further amid pandemic border closures while brooding over the collapse of made-for-TV summits with former President Donald Trump that failed to lift...

People are reflected on the electronic board of a securities firm in Tokyo, Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2021. Asian shares were mostly higher Wednesday, ahead of Joe Biden's inauguration as president, ending President Donald Trump’s four-year term. Japan's benchmark lost early gains as worries grew about the surge in coronavirus cases. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

Japan shares fall on pandemic worries as rest of Asia rises

Jan. 19, 2021 10:22 PM EST

TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were mostly higher Wednesday, ahead of Joe Biden's inauguration as U.S. president. Japan's benchmark lost early gains as worries grew about the surge in coronavirus cases. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 lost early gains to slip 0.4% in morning trading to 28,515.21. Australia's...

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi delivers a speech during an upper house plenary session at the parliament in Tokyo Monday, Jan. 18, 2021. Motegi blamed South Korea for further deteriorating their already strained relations by allegedly making illegal compensation demands over wartime sexual abuse of Korean women and use of forced laborers, urging Seoul to drop the case and fix the “abnormal development.” (Kyodo News via AP)

Japan urges South Korea to drop wartime compensation demands

Jan. 18, 2021 7:18 PM EST

TOKYO (AP) — Japan's foreign minister accused South Korea on Monday of worsening already strained ties by making “illegal” demands for compensation for the sexual abuse of Korean women and use of forced laborers during World War II. Toshimitsu Motegi, in a diplomatic policy speech in...

South Korean President Moon Jae-in speaks during an on-line New Year press conference with local and foreign journalists at the Presidential Blue House in Seoul, South Korea Monday, Jan. 18, 2021. (Jeon Heon-kyun/Pool Photo via AP)

Moon urges Biden to learn from Trump's N. Korea diplomacy

Jan. 18, 2021 2:35 AM EST

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s president on Monday urged the incoming Biden administration to build upon the achievements and learn from the failures of President Donald Trump’s diplomatic engagement with North Korea. A dovish liberal and the son of northern war refugees, Moon Jae-in...

Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong arrives at the Seoul High Court in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Jan. 18, 2021. South Korean court sentences Lee to 2 and a half years in prison over corruption case. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

SKorean court gives Samsung scion prison term over bribery

Jan. 18, 2021 2:31 AM EST

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Billionaire Samsung scion Lee Jae-yong was sent back to prison on Monday after a South Korean court handed him a two and a half-year sentence for his involvement in a 2016 corruption scandal that spurred massive protests and ousted South Korea’s then-president. In a...

This photo provided by the North Korean government shows missiles during a military parade marking the ruling party congress, at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads:

N.Korea holds huge military parade as Kim vows nuclear might

Jan. 15, 2021 3:57 AM EST

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea displayed new submarine-launched ballistic missiles under development and other military hardware in a parade that underlined leader Kim Jong Un’s defiant calls to expand the country's nuclear weapons program. State media said Kim took center stage in Thursday...

FILE - In this Oct. 10, 2017, file photo, former South Korean President Park Geun-hye, left, arrives to attend a hearing on the extension of her detention at the Seoul Central District Court in Seoul, South Korea. South Korea’s top court upheld 20-year prison term for Park over corruption on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)

S. Korean court upholds prison term for ex-president Park

Jan. 14, 2021 2:33 AM EST

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a 20-year prison term for former President Park Geun-hye over bribery and other crimes as it ended a historic corruption case that marked a striking fall from grace for the country’s first female leader and conservative...

A currency trader passes by monitors showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Inde, and foreign exchange rate at the foreign exchange dealing room of a KB Kookmin Bank branch in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021. Shares were mostly higher in Asia on Thursday after a lackluster day on Wall Street, where major indexes spent the day drifting up and down near their record highs. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Asian shares mixed after lackluster day on Wall Street

Jan. 13, 2021 10:11 PM EST

Shares were mostly higher in Asia on Thursday after a lackluster day on Wall Street, where major indexes spent the day drifting up and down near their record highs. Benchmarks rose in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Sydney but fell in Shanghai. U.S. futures were trading slightly higher after the U.S. House of...

Construction workers wearing face masks to protect against the spread of the coronavirus exit an elevator in Beijing, Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2021. China is concentrating its pandemic prevention efforts in the rural areas as officials urge people to not travel home for the annual Lunar New Year festival, as the country combats its most serious latest outbreak of COVID-19 since the pandemic originally broke out in Wuhan a year ago. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

The Latest: Coronavirus cases surging in northeast China

Jan. 13, 2021 9:27 PM EST

BEIJING — China is seeing a new surge in coronavirus cases in its frozen northeast, and has reported its first death attributed to COVID-19 in months. Officials said Thursday that Heilongjiang province in the region traditionally known as Manchuria recorded 43 new virus cases, most of them centered on the...

FILE - In this Feb. 9, 2018, file photo, Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, arrives for the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. After the name of Kim Yo Jong was found to be missing from North Korea’s newly released lineup for its powerful Politburo, speculation has been rife about the woman widely viewed as the North’s No.2. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, Pool, File)

Demoted? Pushed aside? Fate of Kim Jong Un's sister unclear

Jan. 13, 2021 12:44 AM EST

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — What has happened to Kim Yo Jong, the North Korean leader’s influential sister? That is a question many who watch the cloistered, nuclear-armed country are wondering after she failed to appear in absolute leader Kim Jong Un’s newly released lineup for the...

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