As Biden visits Asia, China launches South China Sea drills

BEIJING (AP) — China is holding military exercises in the disputed South China Sea coinciding with U.S. President Joe Biden’s visits to South Korea and Japan that are largely focused on countering the perceived threat from Beijing. China's Maritime Safety Administration office in...

Biden opens Asia trip with global issues and tech on agenda

PYEONGTAEK, South Korea (AP) — President Joe Biden on Friday opened his Asia trip by highlighting the computer chip shortage that has bedeviled the world economy, touring a Samsung computer chip plant that will serve as model for a $17 billion semiconductor factory the Korean electronics company...

Biden in Asia: New friends, old tensions, storms at home

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — President Joe Biden hopes to use his visit to Asia to confirm his belief that long-standing friendships can afford to become even friendlier — and pay dividends. He opened the trip in South Korea on Friday and will end in Japan next week at a time when world events are...

Biden arrives in South Korea, 1st stop on trip meant to put focus on Asia as war in Europe rages, NKorea tensions grow

US, S Korean leaders meet in face of N Korea nuclear threat

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — When the U.S. and South Korean leaders meet Saturday, North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile program, already a major focus, may receive extra attention if intelligence predictions of an imminent major weapons demonstration by the North, which is struggling with a...

N. Korea's low death count questioned amid COVID-19 outbreak

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Friday that nearly 10% of its 26 million people have fallen ill and 65 people have died amid its first COVID-19 outbreak, as outside experts question the validity of its reported fatalities and worry about a possible humanitarian crisis. ...

Biden has an eye on China as he heads to South Korea, Japan

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden embarked Thursday on a six-day trip to South Korea and Japan aiming to build rapport with the two nations’ leaders while also sending an unmistakable message to China: Russia’s faltering invasion of Ukraine should give Beijing pause about its own...

Tea and infomercials: N. Korea fights COVID with few tools

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — On a recent nighttime visit to a drugstore, a double-masked Kim Jong Un lamented the slow delivery of medicine. Separately, the North Korean leader's lieutenants have quarantined hundreds of thousands of suspected COVID-19 patients and urged people with mild symptoms to...

North Korea's suspected COVID-19 caseload nears 2 million

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Thursday reported 262,270 more suspected COVID-19 cases as its pandemic caseload neared 2 million — a week after the country acknowledged the outbreak and scrambled to slow infections in its unvaccinated population. The country is also...

S. Korea Blue House opens to public for 1st time in 74 years

SEOUL (AP) — For many South Koreans, the former presidential palace in Seoul was a little-visited, heavily secured mountainside landmark. That's now changed as thousands have been allowed a look inside for the first time in 74 years. As one of his first acts, the new South Korean...