Top Asian News 4:42 a.m. GMT

BEIJING (AP) — The motorcade of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un headed out Wednesday morning to an unannounced destination on the second full day of a visit to China that has been shrouded in secrecy but is seen as part of preparations for a possible second summit with President Donald Trump. Kim could not be seen but the limousine he uses was observed zipping east down a main thoroughfare in Beijing and then returning about an hour later. His trip to China, the fourth in the past 10 months, is believed to be an effort to coordinate with his only major ally ahead of a possible second meeting with Trump.

SYDNEY (AP) — Several foreign consulates in Melbourne were evacuated Wednesday as Australian officials noted they were responding to multiple "hazardous material" events in the city. The Australian Federal Police said that police and emergency services were examining suspicious packages delivered to the foreign consulates. "The circumstances surrounding these incidents are being investigated," the police said in a statement. The government Vic Emergency website noted at least 10 "hazardous material" incidents. Police, fire crews and ambulances were seen at a number of diplomatic offices, including those of India, Italy, Spain and Germany. The incidents come after a suspicious package was intercepted at the Argentine consulate in Sydney on Monday.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A South Korean district court said Wednesday it has decided to freeze the local assets of a Japanese company involved in compensation disputes for wartime Korean laborers. Last October, South Korea's top court ordered Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. to pay 100 million won ($88,000) each to four plaintiffs forced to work for the company when Japan colonized the Korean Peninsula from 1910-45. The Daegu District Court's branch office in the southeastern city of Pohang said Wednesday it had approved a request by lawyers for the plaintiffs to seize Korean assets held by the Japanese company as it was refusing to compensate the former laborers.

TOKYO (AP) — While President Donald Trump waits in the wings, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Beijing on Tuesday for his fourth summit with China's Xi Jinping — yet another nod to the leader Kim most needs to court as he tries to undermine support for international sanctions while giving up little, if any, ground on denuclearization. Kim's four-day visit comes after he expressed frustration in his annual New Year's address over the lack of progress in negotiations with Washington since his unprecedented summit with Trump in Singapore seven months ago. If things don't improve — meaning that if sanctions relief and security guarantees aren't in the offing — Kim warned that Pyongyang might have to find "a new way" forward.

BEIJING (AP) — U.S. and Chinese envoys extended trade talks into a third day Wednesday, as President Donald Trump said negotiations aimed at ending a tariff war were "going very well!" The two governments have announced no details, but Asian stock markets rose on news the negotiations that originally were planned for two days were extended. The two sides are meeting face-to-face for the first time since Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping agreed on Dec. 1 to suspend further punitive action against each other's imports for 90 days while they negotiate over the fight sparked by American complaints Beijing steals or pressures companies to hand over technology.

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand's immigration police chief met Tuesday with officials from the Saudi Embassy in Bangkok, as Saudi Arabia tried to distance itself from accusations that it attempted to block a young woman's effort to flee from her family and seek asylum abroad. Rahaf Mohammed Alqunun arrived in Bangkok from Kuwait late Saturday after slipping away from her family, whom she accused of abusing her. The 18-year-old was stopped by officials in Thailand who confiscated her passport. Her urgent pleas for help over Twitter from an airport hotel room garnered tens of thousands of followers and the attention of the U.N.'s refugee agency, the U.N.

TORONTO (AP) — Canadian consular officials have visited a detained Canadian in China who was arrested in apparent retaliation for the arrest of a top Chinese tech executive last month. Global Affairs on Tuesday provided no further details on how entrepreneur Michael Spavor is being treated. China detained Spavor and Canadian ex-diplomat Michael Kovrig on Dec. 10 on vague allegations of "engaging in activities that endanger the national security" of China. Kovrig has been granted just one consular visit while Spavor has now been granted two. The arrests came after a top Chinese executive was arrested in Canada on Dec. 1 at the request of the United States.

HONOLULU (AP) — A tugboat is searching for crew members who weren't rescued when the ship they were on caught fire while transporting automobiles from Japan to Hawaii. The Sincerity Ace had 21 crewmembers on board when the fire started last week. The crewmembers abandoned the burning vessel, which stretches 650 feet (198 meters). Ships in the area rescued 16. Four were listed as unresponsive in the water. The U.S. Coast Guard suspended its search for one missing crewmember. Japanese shipping company Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd. owns the Panamanian-flagged vessel. Company spokesman Darrell Wilson says tugboat crewmembers who arrived Monday are trying to find the remaining crewmembers before towing the ship.

BEIJING (AP) — For more than six years, the leader of North Korea remained cloistered inside his country. Then Kim Jong Un emerged. His arrival in Beijing on Tuesday marked his sixth foreign visit in less than 10 months. His travels started in China in March 2018, followed one month later with a step over the border to the southern side of the demilitarized zone that divides the two Koreas, where he met South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in. Four of Kim's trips have been to China, signaling its importance to North Korea. The most sensational was his June 2018 summit in Singapore with President Donald Trump.

BEIJING (AP) — A 49-year-old man injured 20 children with a hammer Tuesday inside a primary school in China's capital, officials said. Three of the children have serious but non-life-threatening injuries, the Xicheng district government said on its social media account, adding that the attack took place at 11:17 a.m. The suspect, surnamed Jia, was apprehended at the scene, the statement said. A native of northern Heilongjiang province, Jia was employed through a labor service company to perform daily maintenance work at the school. His contract was set to expire this month and had not been renewed. As an expression of his dissatisfaction, Xicheng district said, Jia wielded a hammer that he normally used for work to injure students during a class.