Asia News Wrap: UN says Asia warming twice as fast as rest, and more

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

Asia warming twice as fast as the rest of the world: UN

Asia is warming nearly twice as fast as the rest of the world, and the effects are becoming harder to ignore, according to a report released Monday by the World Meteorological Organization.

The year 2024 was one of the warmest ever recorded on the continent. The average temperature across Asia last year was about 1.04 degrees Celsius above the 1991-2020 baseline.

The report said Asia is warming at twice the global average due to its large landmass, noting that land heats up more quickly than the sea.

"Variations in surface temperature have a large impact on natural systems and on human beings," the report said. The oceans around Asia are also experiencing rising temperatures, with surface temperatures in the Indian and Pacific Oceans reaching record levels in 2024.

China's reusable rocket Zhuque-3 completes major engine test

China's commercial rocket firm LandSpace successfully conducted a crucial ground ignition test of the first-stage propulsion system for its reusable Zhuque-3 rocket on Friday. The significant milestone advances the rocket towards its planned debut flight in 2025.

The test was carried out at the Dongfeng commercial space innovation pilot zone in northwest China and featured China's largest and most automated parallel-cluster hot-fire test to date, according to LandSpace.

The test utilized a first-stage structure consistent with the technical specifications of Zhuque-3's maiden flight mission, the Beijing-based company said.

"This test achieved an exceptionally high degree of fidelity to actual flight conditions and replicated exactly how the system will fly in space during the test on the ground," said a LandSpace press release.

Ruling LDP wins record-low Tokyo seats, dealing blow to PM

Voters in Tokyo have displaced Japan's ruling party from its position as the largest group in the city's assembly, results showed on Monday, serving as a warning for Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's government ahead of the July election.

The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) secured 21 Tokyo assembly seats in the vote held on Sunday, including three won by candidates previously affiliated with the party. Tomin First no Kai (Tokyoites First), a party founded by Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, won 32 seats –the most in the 127-member assembly.

Japanese media reported it was a record-low result in the key local ballot for the LDP, which has governed the country almost continuously since 1955.

Public support for Shigeru Ishiba, who took office in October 2024, has remained low, partly due to high inflation, with rice prices doubling over the past year.

South Korean train driver picked as labor minister

The new South Korean President Lee Jae-myung's Cabinet picks were unveiled on Monday. His nominee for Minister of Labor and Employment, Kim Young-hoon – a train driver who was operating a train between Gimcheon and Busan at the time of his nomination – reportedly did not learn of his appointment until he finished the trip.

Kim is set to become the country's first blue-collar worker to head the ministry. He has a decade of experience in labor activism, including serving as the leader of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), the nation's largest labor group, from 2010 to 2012. The KCTU represents 1.2 million workers.

Kim must still undergo a confirmation hearing.

The Korea Herald newspaper reported: "The public reaction was a mixed bag, ranging from online congratulations to deep distrust regarding the nominee's KCTU, blue-collar background.””

Thailand recriminalizes cannabis for recreational use

The Thai government is recriminalizing the use of cannabis, except for medical purposes, after a pro-marijuana party quit the coalition – adding political turmoil to the latest threats facing the country's massive and largely unregulated cannabis industry.

On Wednesday, Thailand's Royal Gazette website published a new Ministry of Public Health regulation reclassifying cannabis flower, or bud, as a controlled herb available only for medical use.

Recriminalization marks a significant shift for Thailand, which became the first country in Asia to legalize the drug.

"A failure to formulate cannabis regulations following its 2022 decriminalization has led to the mushrooming of more than 10,000 dispensaries and widespread recreational use," Public Health Minister Somsak Thepsutin said. "It's a festering problem, and we have received so many complaints.”

(Cover: People cross Shibuya Crossing as the capital swelters under an unusually intense heatwave. With temperatures reaching 35 degrees Celsius today, the city neared its all-time June heat record, Tokyo, Japan, June 17, 2025. /CFP)