Asia - South China Morning Post

A South Korean court sentenced former first lady Kim Keon-hee, already serving time behind bars for corruption, to another seven years’ imprisonment on Friday in a jobs-for-gifts scandal.

Kim, 53, was found guilty of accepting “high-value precious metals” in exchange for favours in personnel appointments, according to the live-streamed ruling.

The court said she “unhesitatingly accepted valuables of a kind that the average citizen would struggle to acquire even once in a lifetime”.

Kim is...

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Malaysia is seeking compensation of 226 million euros (US$257 million) from a Norwegian defence firm after a deal to deliver a naval missile system was cancelled, despite the Southeast Asian country having paid about 95 per cent of the contract value.

The claim comprised 129.86 million euros in direct losses, including payments already made by the government, and 96.26 million euros for additional costs and consequential damages, Defence Minister Mohamed Khaled Nordin told parliament on Friday,...

Malaysia’s ruling Malay party has been drawn into a sensitive palace row on the eve of Johor’s nomination day after a veteran figure quit Umno and accused the southern state’s royal household of influencing the timing of a snap election.

The controversy arrives at a difficult moment for the United Malays National Organisation, the Malay nationalist party anchoring the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition. It is trying to defend Johor, its birthplace and one of its last major strongholds, without...

A Malaysian teenager’s dream of owning a Yamaha Y15 motorcycle has pushed his imagination to the next level. Too young to actually ride one, the 13-year-old instead converted his bicycle by mounting motorcycle parts with cable ties.

His innovative invention drew laughter from police officers – and social media users.

In a viral video, officers can be seen inspecting the “motorcycle” he is proudly showing off. “I want to ride this motorcycle but I can’t [yet],” he tells them.

Apart from the...

Japanese airlines cancelled on Friday more than 100 flights as two tropical storms barrelled towards the archipelago, with authorities advising evacuations in some areas because of possible flooding and landslides.

Severe tropical storm Mekkhala, downgraded from a typhoon, was packing gusts of up to 144km/h (89mph), according to forecasters, with heavy rain already pounding parts of southern and western Japan.

The weather system was expected to skirt the islands of Kyushu and Shikoku over the...

Singaporean Hong Weilun was left disappointed after he failed to secure tickets for limited Teochew screenings of the Chinese film Dear You when they were released on Monday.

“It is important to watch the original version because the mood, nuances and emotional weight of the film are best conveyed through the actors’ expressions, accents and subtle vocal cues,” Hong said.

The 40-year-old, who is Teochew and had initially planned to travel to Malaysia to watch Dear You, may now get the chance to...

A public row between Seoul and the US-led United Nations Command (UNC) has revealed a fresh fault line over how the two interpret North Korea’s recent border fortification activities.

South Korea views its arch-rival’s actions as a violation of the 1953 Korean war armistice agreement. The UNC does not.

The dispute follows a separate disagreement over which authority should govern access to the demilitarised zone (DMZ), while analysts say differences also persist between Seoul and Washington over...

The United States has assured India that future artificial intelligence models will not be “cut off” days after Washington abruptly banned Anthropic’s advanced models on national security grounds, a senior Indian official told the South China Morning Post on Thursday.

“There was an understanding, and something that they [US officials] certainly mentioned, that access to technology, once it is provided, will not be cut off. I think that was an assurance,” said S. Krishnan, secretary of India’s...

Asian economies are expected to exercise caution in buying oil from Iran following a 60-day sanctions waiver for the Gulf country’s oil exports that took effect from Sunday, as they weigh compliance, financial risk and a potential return of hostilities between Washington and Tehran.

Global markets have been looking for signs of progress that the United States and Iran could reach a lasting peace agreement despite concerns over the sustainability of a 60-day ceasefire that began earlier this...