CNN – Asia/Pacific

By Gawon Bae and Jessie Yeung, CNN Jimin, a member of South Korean supergroup BTS, tested positive for Covid-19 and underwent surgery for acute appendicitis, his management agency said Monday. The singer and dancer, whose full name is Park Ji-min, went to the emergency room on Sunday after experiencing “sudden abdominal pain along with a

By Akanksha Sharma, CNN New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern has entered self-isolation until Tuesday after being deemed a close contact of a positive Covid-19 case. “The exposure event took place on Saturday 22 January during flight NZ8273 from Kerikeri to Auckland,” the New Zealand government said in a press release Saturday. The statement added

By Brad Lendon, Gawon Bae, Junko Ogura and Barbara Starr, CNN North Korea fired what is presumed to be its longest range ballistic missile since 2017 on Sunday, an escalation of its weapons program and a possible sign of larger tests to come, according to South Korea’s President. Both the South Korean and Japanese governments

By Reuters China and the United States could end up in a military conflict if the United States encourages Taiwan’s independence, Beijing’s ambassador to Washington said in a US radio interview broadcast on Friday. China considers the neighboring, democratically ruled island of Taiwan its “sacred” territory and has never renounced the use of force to

By Brad Lendon, CNN Images have emerged of a US Navy F-35C stealth fighter crashing into the South China Sea earlier this week. The F-35C, a single-engine stealth fighter and the newest jet in the US Navy fleet, crash-landed on the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson during routine operations on Monday, the Navy said. The

By Yoonjung Seo and Brad Lendon, CNN North Korea fired what are presumed to be two short-range ballistic missiles into waters off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula on Thursday — a move believed to be its sixth missile test this month, the South Korean military said. The two projectiles were launched from Hamhung

By Jessie Yeung, Steven Jiang, David Culver and Jennifer Hansler, CNN The US diplomatic mission in China has formally requested the State Department grant American diplomats “authorized departure,” allowing them and their families to leave the country amid increasingly strict Covid-19 containment measures, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The request has not

By Brad Lendon, CNN The United States Navy is trying to retrieve its most advanced fighter jet from the depths of the South China Sea, an extremely complex operation that analysts say will be closely monitored by Beijing. The F-35C, a single-engine stealth fighter and the newest jet in the US Navy fleet, crash-landed on

By Rhea Mogul, CNN More than 20 Covid-19 cases have been identified aboard an Australian navy ship sailing to disaster-hit Tonga, complicating aid efforts to the virus-free Pacific island nation as Japan halted its relief mission due to a separate outbreak among crew members. Tonga has only reported a single coronavirus case since the start

By Yoonjung Seo, CNN North Korea fired two cruise missiles on Tuesday morning, according to the South Korean military. The launch is being analyzed by the intelligence authorities of South Korea and the United States. It comes as North Korea has ramped up its missile tests this month, saying it will bolster its defenses against

By Rhea Mogul and Alex Stambaugh, CNN The eruption this month of an underwater volcano near Tonga was hundreds of times more powerful than the Hiroshima atomic bomb, according to NASA. Jim Garvin, chief scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, said the eruption of the Hunga-Tonga-Hunga-Ha’apai volcano on January 15 released “hundreds of times

By Eric Cheung and Brad Lendon, CNN China sent 39 warplanes into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on Sunday, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said, the largest such incursion this year. The flights by the People’s Liberation Army aircraft came a day after the United States and Japanese navies put on a massive show of force

By Jessie Yeung and CNN’s Beijing Bureau Dozens of Chinese officials have been punished over their response to devastating floods that killed hundreds last July, after a government investigation found authorities had under-reported deaths and deliberately withheld information. The flooding in the city of Zhengzhou, capital of central Henan province, left 398 people dead or