SEOUL — South Korea will co-sponsor an annual UN resolution that raises concerns over North Korea’s human rights situation, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday, defying some expectations that Seoul might withhold support to avoid irking Pyongyang.

North Korea has in the past denounced the resolution, and under a previous liberal administration, Seoul did not support it in a bid to improve ties with the North.

South Korea supported the human rights resolutions between 2008 and 2018, before opting not to back them between 2019 and 2022 under former President Moon Jae-in due to fears it could have a negative impact on inter-Korean relations.

Seoul rejoined as a co-sponsor in 2023 under conservative ex-President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Liberal leader Lee Jae Myung took office in June, pledging to restore dialogue with Pyongyang to ease tensions between the two countries, but North Korea has rebuffed his efforts so far.

In late October, rights organizations including Human Rights Watch sent an open letter to Mr. Lee urging him to “take a principled stance on North Korea’s grave human rights violations” with the co-sponsorship of the UN resolution.

“Our government believes that it is important to actually improve the human rights of North Koreans and will continue to cooperate with the international community to achieve this,” the ministry said in a statement.

“So we are participating as a co-sponsor this time for the North Korea human rights resolution,” it said.

North Korea has denied abuses, accusing the UN and foreign countries of trying to use human rights as a political weapon to attack the country, while depicting itself as a “socialist utopia”.

The overall human rights situation in North Korea has not improved over the past decade and in many cases has degraded, bringing even more suffering to the population, the UN Human Rights Office said in a report in September.

Political prison camps continue to operate, while freedom of expression and access to information have significantly weakened with severe new punishments including the death penalty, according to the report.— Reuters

TAIPEI — Taiwan evacuated more than 8,300 people ahead of Wednesday’s arrival of a much weakened Typhoon Fung-wong that brought heavy downpours to the mountainous east coast and unleashed floods that ran neck-high in places.

Businesses and schools were shut in most southern areas of the island, with 51 people injured.

Television images showed severe floods in parts of the largely rural eastern county of Yilan, with waters neck-deep as soldiers mounted rescue efforts for those stranded.

“The water came in so quickly,” said fisherman Hung Chun-yi, who spent the night clearing mud from his home in the eastern harbor town of Suao, after its first floor was engulfed in waters 60-cm (2-ft) deep.

“It rained so much, and so fast, the drainage couldn’t take it.”

The fire department said about 8,300 people were moved from their homes to safer areas, mostly in Yilan and nearby Hualien, where a monsoon from the north swelled the rainfall with the unseasonably late typhoon.

Yilan’s town of Dongshan received 794 mm (31 inches) of rain on Tuesday, weather officials said.

Fung-wong is forecast to graze the far southern tip of Taiwan later on Wednesday before heading into the Pacific Ocean. It lost considerable strength after swirling through the Philippines to kill 18 people.

A typhoon in September unleashed floods that killed 18 people in Hualien.

The typhoon will not directly affect the northern city of Hsinchu, home to TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker. — Reuters

WASHINGTON — Airlines canceled 1,200 flights on Tuesday as air traffic control staffing improved significantly ahead of an expected end to a record-setting government shutdown as soon as Wednesday.

After airlines canceled 2,400 flights and delayed 9,600 on Monday, airlines delayed just 1,700 on Tuesday, the best performance for the industry in recent days.

Last week, the Federal Aviation Administration instructed airlines to cut 4% of daily flights starting on Friday, November 7, at 40 major airports because of air traffic control staffing issues. Reductions in flights rose to 6% on Tuesday.

Flight reductions were set to hit 8% on Thursday and 10% on Friday, November 14. Airlines and the FAA are in discussions about when and how the cuts will be reduced and eventually eliminated as a record-setting 42-day government shutdown nears an end.

On Monday, President Donald Trump threatened to dock the pay of any controller who did not return to work and would welcome the resignations of workers who were not diligent in showing up for work.

Some airlines are holding off on cutting 8% of flights for Thursday. United Airlines said Tuesday it has cut about 5% of Thursday flights.

Several options are being discussed for how the FAA might end or shrink the flight cuts, sources told Reuters.

Air traffic control staffing shortages improved dramatically on Tuesday after more than two dozen issues on Monday. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said just four staffing issues were reported Tuesday, down from 81 Saturday.

Mr. Duffy said at a press conference at Chicago O’Hare that he will reduce flight cuts as safety allows.

“When that data changes, we’re going to start taking that down from 6%, maybe we’ll go to four, two, and get back to normal air travel,” Mr. Duffy said. “It depends on controllers coming back to work.”

On Monday night, the Senate voted to approve legislation to end the shutdown and fund the government through January 30. The House is set to take it up on Wednesday.

Mr. Duffy said that if the House did not approve the bill that flight disruptions could skyrocket this weekend and some major airlines might not keep flying. “That’s how serious this is,” he said.

Air traffic absences have led to tens of thousands of flight cancellations and delays since October 1 when the shutdown began. Over the weekend, 1.2 million passengers were delayed or had their flight cancellations due to air traffic controller absences.

The shutdown, the longest in US history, has forced 13,000 air traffic controllers and 50,000 Transportation Security Administration agents to work without pay.

The FAA is about 3,500 air traffic controllers short of targeted staffing levels. Many had been working mandatory overtime and six-day weeks even before the shutdown. — Reuters

BELEM, Brazil — Dozens of Indigenous protesters forced their way into the COP30 climate summit venue on Tuesday and clashed with security guards at the entrance.

Shouting angrily, the protesters demanded access to the UN compound where thousands of delegates from countries around the world are attending this year’s UN climate summit.

Some waved flags with slogans calling for land rights or carried signs saying “our land is not for sale.”

An Indigenous leader from the Tupinamba community near the lower reaches of the Tapajos River in Brazil told Reuters that they were upset about ongoing development in the forest.

“We can’t eat money,” said Gilmar, who uses only one name. “We want our lands free from agribusiness, oil exploration, illegal miners and illegal loggers.”

Security guards pushed the protesters back and used tables to barricade the entrance. A Reuters witness saw one security guard being rushed away in a wheelchair while clutching his stomach.

Another guard with a fresh cut above his eye told Reuters he had been hit in the head by a heavy drumstick thrown from the crowd. Security confiscated several batons.

The protesters dispersed shortly after the clash. They had been in a group of hundreds who marched to the venue in the Amazon city of Belem.

Security guards later allowed delegates to exit the venue, having earlier asked them to move back inside until the area was clear.

The UN climate agency did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Within the compound, the United Nations is responsible for security.

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has highlighted Indigenous communities as key players in this year’s COP30 negotiations.

Earlier this week, dozens of Indigenous leaders arrived by boat to participate in the talks and demand more say in how forests are managed.

In a separate interview on Tuesday, a prominent Indigenous leader told Reuters that many from the Indigenous communities were upset with ongoing industry and development projects in the forest. Raoni Metuktire, also known as Chief Raoni, urged Brazil to empower native peoples to preserve the Amazon.— Reuters