Asia News Wrap: Arrest warrant issued against Yoon Seok-yeol, and more

Here are a few stories from around Asia you may have missed this week.

A court in South Korea issued an arrest warrant against suspended President Yoon Suk-yeol on Tuesday over his attempt to impose martial law on December 3. On Friday, authorities sought to execute the warrant at his residence while a crowd of protesters faced off with police and vowed to block any attempt. The warrant comes after Yoon, who is being investigated for abusing his power and inciting an insurrection, ignored three summonses to appear for questioning over the past two weeks. Yoon's legal team has called the warrant "illegal and invalid" and said they would challenge it in court.

Malaysia's communications regulator said it granted WeChat and TikTok licenses under a new social media law to operate in the country. The law, aimed at tackling rising cybercrime, requires social media platforms and messaging services with more than 8 million users in Malaysia to obtain a license. It came into effect on January 1. In a statement on Wednesday, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission said messaging platform Telegram was in the final stages of obtaining its license. At the same time, Meta Platforms, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, had begun the licensing process.

Vietnam's birth rate has sunk to a record low, according to a new report out on Monday, with the total fertility rate falling to 1.91 children per woman, marking the third consecutive year it has dropped below the replacement level. The report came from the Vietnam Population Authority under the Ministry of Health. The decline in birth rates has been steady over the past few years: From 2.11 children per woman in 2021 to 2.01 in 2022 and down to 1.96 in 2023. The trend is forecast to continue in the next few years. One reason is that the resources invested by central and local governments are insufficient for the population task at hand, according to a post on the health ministry's website, citing Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Lien Huong. Like many countries in Asia seeing falling fertility rates, Vietnam is increasingly concerned about the long-term impact of declining births and an aging society.

India launched its first space docking mission on Monday, on an indigenously made rocket, in an attempt to become the fourth country to achieve the advanced technological feat.

The mission, called Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX), lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh state aboard the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) PSLV rocket. After around 15 minutes, the spacecraft reached an altitude of around 470 kilometers. The mission is seen as pivotal for future space endeavors, including satellite servicing and the operation of the country's planned space station. In-space docking technology is crucial when multiple rocket launches are required to achieve shared mission objectives.

Afghan Taliban forces targeted "several points" in neighboring Pakistan, Afghanistan's Defense Ministry said on Saturday, days after Pakistani aircraft carried out aerial bombardment inside Afghanistan. The statement from the Defense Ministry said the strikes were conducted beyond the "hypothetical line" – an expression used by Afghan authorities to refer to a border with Pakistan.

(Cover: Impeached South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol delivers an address at his official residence in Seoul, South Korea, on December 14, 2024. /Reuters)