South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol faces the greatest threat to his brief but chequered political career as he struggles to thwart an unprecedented arrest attempt in a criminal probe alleging he led an insurrection.

Leaked Russian military documents reveal plans to target civilian infrastructure like nuclear power plants and tunnels, raising concerns about potential war crimes.

The Financial Times has reported that the Russian military has developed lists of targets containing 160 sites in Japan and South Korea in the event of war.

Thousands of rival South Korean protesters rallied in the capital Saturday, a day after a failed attempt to arrest suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol for imposing a short-lived martial law decree that led to his impeachment.

The flight, operated by Jeju Air, was landing when it went off the runway in Muan, in the country’s southwest. Only two people survived the crash.

Russia and Japan have never signed an official peace treaty to end the second world war because of a dispute over the Kuril Islands. The Soviet army seized the Kurils at the end of the war in 1945 and expelled Japanese residents from the islands, which are now home to about 20,000 Russians.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday opened a visit to crisis-riven South Korea where he will seek delicately to encourage continuity with the policies, but not tactics, of the impeached president.

Japanese policymakers are increasingly anxious that the country's birth rate is nearing the point of no return.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken will also visit Tokyo, where he will hold talks with Japanese officials on Monday and Tuesday.

SEOUL: United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit South Korea for talks next week, the two countries announced on Friday (Jan 3), with Seoul mired in political turmoil as its impeached president resists arrest.

South Korea's acting President Choi Sang-mok vowed to continue trilateral cooperation with Japan and the United States, saying on Friday his country's diplomacy remains steadfast despite an unprecedented political crisis at home.