World News Quick Take

A Japanese military transport ship yesterday docked on the island of Borneo as part of a disaster relief mission to help fight wildfires that are causing a toxic haze impacting people’s health in other countries. Japan deployed 300 crew members, landing ship JS Kunisaki and three CH-47 helicopters, which arrived in Kalimantan. The mission marked the first known overseas firefighting operation carried out by the Japan Self-Defense Forces. “To this end, we will learn from the Indonesian military’s operational experience and work in coordination and cooperation with them, striving to ensure that the Indonesian people can lead stable lives as soon as possible,” Japanese Colonel Syunji Nakahara, the commander of the disaster relief activities, said at a port in Mempawah District.

Japanese military members walk near the JS Kunisaki, which is to be used to support Indonesia efforts to fight forest fires, at the Port of Kijing in Mempawah, Indonesia, yesterday.

Photo: Reuters

NORTH KOREA

Kim could have another child

Leader Kim Jong-un’s daughter and apparent successor is believed to have a younger sibling, the South Korean National Intelligence Service said yesterday, offering a more detailed view of the ruling family’s line of succession. The spy agency has previously said Kim is thought to have three children, but some uncertainty remains on the number of offspring as well as the order of their birth. Kim’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, was first introduced to the public in 2022 when she accompanied her father to the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile. Seoul had initially indicated that Kim Jong-un and his wife, Ri Sol-ju, had their first child, a boy, in 2010, and that Kim Ju-ae was their second child, but in 2023, Seoul said it was “unable to confirm” the existence of the son. The child described yesterday would be the youngest. “The National Intelligence Service currently assesses that Kim Ju-ae is being groomed as the successor and understands she has a younger sibling of unknown gender,” the agency said.

THAILAND

School shooter surrenders

A police officer who allegedly gunned down his wife at a kindergarten where she was a teacher surrendered yesterday after an overnight standoff with authorities, officials said. Tatsapong Tongthat, an officer at the Bang Lamung station in Chonburi Province, allegedly killed his wife late on Wednesday morning inside a building at the Nongplalai Municipal Kindergarten, according to the provincial government. Authorities said he fled to his home after the shooting and police surrounded the house, where he remained until surrendering after an 18-hour standoff. All 44 students at the school were unharmed and evacuated with other teachers after the shooting.

ICELAND

Whaling ban expected

The government is to submit a bill in February to ban whaling, a move that would leave Norway and Japan as the only two countries in the world to continue commercial whaling. Whaling in Iceland has sparked years of protests from animal welfare campaigners and Hollywood celebrities. The bill would include “a permanent ban on whaling,” the government said on its Web site late on Wednesday. In this year’s hunting season, which runs from June to about the end of September, 80 fin whales were caught as of Wednesday, Humane World for Animals said. The quota allows 150 fin whales to be killed this year. “There is considerable political and public support for this bill to ban commercial whaling, and compelling ethical, veterinary, legal and conservation reasons to hope it succeeds,” Humane World for Animals spokeswoman Wendy Higgins said.