Kim oversees military parade showing new drones, ICBMs

SEOUL—Flanked by visiting Russian and Chinese officials, Kim Jong Un oversaw a North Korean military parade featuring new drones and Pyongyang’s nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles, state media reported Friday.

At least four new North Korean military drones were towed on trailers through Pyongyang’s Kim Il Sung square at the parade late Thursday, state media images showed, while another drone appeared to conduct a flyover overhead.

Standing between Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chinese politburo member Li Hongzhong in the VIP viewing stands, Kim smiled and saluted as thousands of soldiers marched past, trailed by the country’s most powerful ICBMs, banned under UN sanctions.

The event, featuring Kim’s firstknown foreign guests since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, was to mark the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice, which ended open hostilities and is celebrated as Victory Day.

Meanwhile, Japan said Friday North Korea posed a more serious threat to its national security than “ever before,” as Pyongyang rattles its neighbors with repeated missile tests and belligerent rhetoric.

In its annual white paper—a rundown of the most pressing military threats and plans to ensure stability—Japan’s de-

Japan expands Russian fines over invasion

TOKYO—Japan dialled up sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, announcing an expanded list on Friday that included an export ban on electric vehicles.

Russia was hit with a wave of sanctions after it sent forces into Ukraine in February last year, but calls have grown from Kyiv and its allies for tougher action against Moscow.

Tokyo has already frozen assets of Russian individuals and groups, and banned the export of goods to Russia’s military-related organizations, as well as the export of construction and engineering services.

On Friday, the government expanded the list of goods under its export ban to include vehicles fitted with engines of 1,900 cc or more, as well hybrid and electric cars, the trade ministry said in a statement.

The new sanctions, approved by the cabinet of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Friday, will take effect on August 9.

“As it’s been more than a year since Russia invaded Ukraine, we have been expanding the list of items” under the export ban, ministry official Noriyuki Kuroda told reporters.

The latest sanctions follow similar embargoes unveiled by the United States and the European Union, Kuroda said. AFP fense ministry made a case for a significant hike in domestic defense spending as the world enters “a new era of crisis”.

While China’s growing military might and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine were major focuses of the white paper, North Korea also ranked as a key concern for Japan.

“North Korea’s military activities pose an even more grave and imminent threat to Japan’s national security than ever before,” the document said.

Kim “extended warm militant greetings” to the parade, the official Korean Central News Agency said, and North Korea’s defense minister Kang Sun Nam made a speech.

The United States has no chance “of survival in case they use nuclear weapons against the DPRK”, Kang said, referring to the North by its official name.

He warned that any attempts by the United States to use armed force against the North would cause an “unimaginable and unforeseen crisis”.

The parade featured an array of new weaponry, including some first unveiled at a defence expo on Wednesday in Pyongyang, visited by Kim and Shoigu. AFP

KOREAN ARMISTICE. A woman walks past a television screen Friday showing a news broadcast with an image of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attending a military parade in Pyongyang to mark the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice, at a railway station in Seoul. Kim oversaw a North Korean military parade featuring new drones and Pyongyang’s nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles, as his defense

Typhoon Doksuri batters China with high winds, rain

BEIJING—Typhoon Doksuri hit eastern China on Friday morning, bringing high winds and battering rains to coastal areas after the deadly storm bypassed Taiwan on its way from the Philippines.

Wind speeds of up to 175 kilometers per hour were recorded as the storm reached the coast of Fujian province at around 10:00 am, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said.

Fears of potential danger to residents and the destruction of property led the national weather observatory to renew the most severe “red alert” in its fourtier system on Friday.

Pictures shared on social media showed huge gusts of wind pummeling residential tower blocks on Friday in Jinjiang, a county-level urban area south of the city of Quanzhou.

Live footage broadcast by CCTV showed a reporter wading through flooded streets flanked by several downed trees, warning viewers in the area to stay home except in emergencies.

Meanwhile, videos of colossal waves crashing over embankments and howling winds whipping through urban areas were posted to the social media platform Weibo by the state-backed People’s Daily.

The powerful Typhoon Doksuri is expected to continue moving in a northwestern direction over central China as its intensity gradually weakens.

But state news agency Xinhua reported that the storm-level gales would affect “coastal regions of Taiwan, Fujian, Zhejiang and Guangdong, among others” until 8 am on Saturday.

And China’s National Meteorological Center on Friday also renewed an orange alert for rainstorms across broad swathes of the country, effective from 2 pm Friday until 2 pm Saturday.

Local governments and transport authorities were advised to take precautions as drainage systems and roads are expected to be impacted by heavy rains, Xinhua reported.

Doksuri pounded the northern Philippines on Wednesday, toppling trees and power pylons, and causing widespread electricity cuts along with landslides and floods.

The death toll in the Philippines has risen to 13, with another 21 missing, including four coast guard rescuers, the national disaster agency said Friday.

Doksuri had been a super typhoon as it swept across the Pacific Ocean earlier this week, but lost some intensity as it neared the Philippines. AFP

Singapore executes first woman drug convict in nearly 20 years

SINGAPORE—The island state of Singapore on Friday hanged a 45-year-old citizen for drug trafficking, the citystate’s first execution of a woman in nearly 20 years, officials said.

The execution was carried out despite appeals from rights groups, who argue capital punishment has no proven deterrent effect on crime.

“The capital sentence of death imposed on Saridewi Binte Djamani was carried out on 28 July 2023,” the Central Narcotics Bureau said in a statement.

She was convicted of trafficking “not less than 30.72 grams” of heroin, more than twice the volume that merits the death penalty in Singapore.

Djamani, who was sentenced in 2018, “was accorded full due process under the law, and was represented by

Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi moved from prison—partymate

YANGON—Myanmar civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was ousted in a 2021 military coup, has been moved from prison to a government building, an official from her party said Friday.

Suu Kyi has only been seen once since she was held after the February 1, 2021 putsch—in grainy state media photos from a bare courtroom in the military-built capital Naypyidaw.

The coup plunged the Southeast Asian nation into a conflict that has displaced more than one million people, according to the United Nations.

“Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been moved to a high-level venue compound on Monday night,” an official from the National League for Democracy told AFP Friday on condition of anonymity. The party official also confirmed Suu Kyi had met the country’s lower house speaker Ti Khun Myat and was likely to meet Deng Xijuan, China’s special envoy for Asian Affairs, who is visiting the country.

A source from another political party said Suu Kyi had been moved to a VIP compound in Naypyidaw.

In July, Thailand’s foreign minister said he had met with Suu Kyi, the first- known meeting with a foreign envoy since she was detained.

A junta spokesman told AFP the meeting had lasted more than one hour but did not give details on what was discussed. There have been concerns about the 78-year-old Nobel laureate’s health since her detention, including during her trial in a junta court that required her to attend almost daily hearings.

Suu Kyi has been sentenced to 33 years in jail for a clutch of charges, including corruption, possession of illegal walkie talkies and flouting coronavirus restrictions. AFP

HK court nixes gov’t ban on democracy protest song

HONG KONG—A Hong Kong judge denied on Friday a government request for an injunction banning “Glory to Hong Kong,” an anthem that emerged from the city’s huge pro-democracy protests in 2019.

“I cannot be satisfied that it is just and convenient to grant the injunction,” said Judge Anthony Chan in his ruling.

“This application is accordingly dismissed.”

The Hong Kong government had in June requested an injunction order so that the song— penned anonymously— would be banned from being disseminated or performed “with the intention of inciting others to commit secession or with a seditious intent.”

But Chan said in his ruling that banning “Glory to Hong Kong” would raise serious freedom of expression issues.

“I believe that the intrusion to freedom of expression here, especially to innocent third parties, is what is referred to in public law as ‘chilling effects’,” he wrote.

“Whilst I entirely accept that no chilling effect is intended behind the Injunction, it is the duty of the Court to keep in mind that there is a whole spectrum of Hong Kong people” with varying degrees of knowledge about the injunction, Chan explained.

“Glory to Hong Kong” first emerged in August 2019 when the city was undergoing massive and at times violent democracy demonstrations, with millions taking to the streets to demand freedoms. legal counsel throughout the process,” the bureau said.

“She appealed against her conviction and sentence, and the Court of Appeal dismissed her appeal on 6 October 2022,” the bureau said, adding that her plea for presidential clemency was also rejected.

Djamani is the first woman to be executed in the city-state since 2004, when Yen May Woen was hanged for drug trafficking, the Singapore Prison Service told AFP in an email.

Yen was a 36-year-old hairdresser, according to media reports.

Djamani on Friday became the 15th prisoner sent to the gallows since the government resumed executions in March 2022 after a two-year pause during the COVID-19 pandemic. AFP

Saudi summons Danish diplomat to protest Koran ‘desecration’

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia—Saudi Arabia summoned a Danish diplomat to protest desecration of the Koran by an extremeright group in Copenhagen, state media reported Friday.

During the meeting on Thursday with the Danish charge d’affaires, foreign ministry officials delivered a protest note urging an end to “these disgraceful acts, which violate all religious teachings (and) international laws and norms” and can “fuel hatred between religions”, the official Saudi Press Agency said.

The far-right group Danske Patrioter on Monday posted a video in which a man is seen desecrating and burning what appeared to be the Muslim holy book.

It was just the latest such incident to stir anger in the Muslim world. Saudi Arabia, home to the holy cities Mecca and Medina, has also denounced protests by a Sweden-based Iraqi refugee who last month burned pages of the Koran outside Stockholm’s main mosque.

In a separate protest last week, the refugee, Salwan Momika, stepped on the Koran but did not burn it, prompting Riyadh to hand a protest note to the Swedish charge d’affaires. AFP