Asia (except ME & Indian SC)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered his government to be prepared for both dialogue and confrontation with the Biden administration — but more for confrontation, state media reported Friday, days after the United States and others urged the North to abandon its nuclear program and return to talks.

Kim’s statement indicates he’ll likely push to strength his nuclear arsenal and increase pressure on Washington to give up what North Korea considers a hostile U.S. policy, though he’ll also prepare for talks to resume, some experts say.

BANGKOK (AP) — A court in Myanmar extended the detention of American journalist Danny Fenster for another two weeks Thursday, while the U.S. State Department urged that it be granted consular access to him.

Online news and business magazine Frontier Myanmar, where Fenster is managing editor, said he faces a charge that carries a potential three-year prison term.

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily on Friday increased its print run to 500,000 copies as residents showed support for the beleaguered press freedom a day after police arrested five top editors and executives and froze $2.3 million worth of assets on national security charges.

BEIJING, June 17 (APP): Secretary General of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Vladimir Norov said that with the accession of Pakistan and India in 2017, the scope of SCO activities has been significantly expanded, and cooperation in ensuring regional security, while expanding and deepening economic and cultural cooperation, has also increased.

Beijing/Jiuquan, Jun 17 (PTI) China successfully launched its longest crewed space mission to date on Thursday, sending three astronauts to its new orbiting station, in a major milestone for the Communist giant's ambitious space exploration plans and establishing it as a leading space power.

In a textbook launch, telecast live by the official television channels, spacecraft Shenzhou-12 sent three astronauts into the same orbit of the core module of the space station Tianhe launched in April.

KUALA LUMPUR, June 17 (Reuters) - Israel is willing to work towards establishing ties with Southeast Asia's Muslim majority nations, its ambassador to Singapore said on Thursday, despite their condemnation in May of Israeli air strikes on Gaza.

The region's three Muslim-majority states - Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei - sharply criticised the Israeli attacks during 11 days of hostilities in which medics said over 250 Palestinians were killed and 13 people killed in Israel by rockets fired by Hamas and other Islamist militant groups.

JAKARTA/SINGAPORE, June 17 (Reuters) - A plan by the Group of Seven nations to counter Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative has been welcomed by countries in China’s immediate orbit of influence but will need to overcome doubts about Western commitment to emerging market projects.

The Build Back Better World initiative, or (B3W), was promoted at last week's G7 summit in the UK but remains light on details and is not expected to become a reality for some years.

SEOUL, June 17 (Xinhua) -- South Korea's top nuclear envoy will hold talks in Seoul next week with U.S. and Japanese counterparts over the Korean Peninsula issues, the South Korean foreign ministry said Thursday.

Noh Kyu-duk, South Korea's special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, will talk bilaterally on Monday with Sung Kim, the newly appointed U.S. special representative for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) policy.

SINGAPORE, June 16 (Xinhua) -- Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH) has selected 24 private healthcare institutions to be licensed providers of the Sinovac-CoronaVac vaccine under the Special Access Route (SAR), MOH said here Wednesday.

These providers will draw from MOH's existing stock, and can administer the vaccine to Singapore citizens, permanent residents and persons holding long-term passes who wish to take the Sinovac-CoronaVac vaccine, MOH said in a press release.

TOKYO (AP) — A member of Myanmar’s national soccer team who played a 2022 World Cup qualifier in Japan has refused to return home and is seeking asylum, a request the government was considering taking into account unrest in his country following a coup.

Pyae Lyan Aung, a substitute goalkeeper, was scheduled to fly home from Kansai International Airport late Wednesday but failed to join the rest of the team. He expressed wish to seek refuge in Japan, and, through an interpreter, said that by returning to Myanmar, he would “risk his life,” according to Kyodo News agency.