Top Asian News 3:25 a.m. GMT

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — During the 70 years that the Kim family has ruled, North Korea's 30-plus massive military parades have been used as much for propaganda, intimidation and internal unity as for commemorating important anniversaries. A look at how the parades have evolved ahead of another march on Sunday, the 70th anniversary of the founding of North Korea's authoritarian government: ___ KIM IL SUNG (1948-1994) Kim Il Sung, a former guerrilla who gained fame battling Japan's colonial rule, established the Democratic People's Republic of Korea on Sept. 9, 1948. The North's first military parade occurred seven months earlier, on Feb.

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) — North Korea will be staging a major military parade, huge rallies and revived iconic mass games on Sunday to mark its 70th anniversary as a nation. Here's a look at what's in store and why it matters: ___ SEEKING INTERNATIONAL ACCEPTANCE Sunday is the 70th anniversary of North Korea's founding day, when it officially became an independent country. Marking anniversaries with spectacular rallies or other events is a North Korean tradition, but this one is especially important because it comes as leader Kim Jong Un is trying to establish himself as a powerful player on the world stage and gain international acceptance of North Korea as a nuclear weapons state.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Former Associated Press photojournalist Kim Chonkil, whose images captured South Korea's turbulent transition from dictatorship to democracy, has died. He was 89. Kim's son, Kim Kuchul, confirmed he died in New York on Thursday. Kim covered South Korea for AP for nearly 40 years until leaving the company in 1987, a period during which the country rose from the devastation of the 1950-53 Korean War into an Asian industrial power and a full-fledged democracy following a bloody struggle against dictatorship. He will be remembered for one of the most iconic photos in South Korea's history — a May 1961 photo of military strongman Park Chung-hee, in an army cap and sunglasses, observing a march of military cadets in capital Seoul, two days after seizing power in a coup.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — North Korea and South Korea asked the United Nations on Friday to circulate a peace declaration their leaders agreed to in April that vows to remove nuclear weapons from the Korean peninsula and work toward a formal end to the Korean War. North Korea's U.N. Mission said ambassadors of the two countries sent a letter to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and General Assembly President Miroslav Lajcak requesting that they circulate the "Panmunjom Declaration on Peace, Prosperity and Reunification of the Korean Peninsula" as an official U.N. document. U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said the letter had been received and was being processed.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The New York Times is reporting that Jack Ma, the co-founder and executive chairman of Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba Group, is retiring. The Times said that in an interview, Ma said he planned to step down as executive chairman on Monday to pursue philanthropy in education. He will remain on Alibaba's board of directors. Ma started Alibaba in 1999 in his apartment in the Chinese city of Hangzhou and is now among the richest people in the world. The company went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014 and has a market value of about $421 billion.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Friday he is pushing for "irrevocable progress" in efforts to rid North Korea of its nuclear weapons by the end of this year as he prepares for his third summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump said he was expecting to get a "positive" letter from Kim after South Korean special envoys traveled to Pyongyang this week to help resolve the nuclear stalemate and pave the way for the Sept. 18-20 Moon-Kim summit. South Korean officials say the summit in Pyongyang will focus on how to achieve denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula — the goal that Kim and Trump agreed to at their own historic face-to-face meeting in Singapore in June.

FARGO, N.D. (AP) — President Donald Trump says he's expecting get a letter in the coming days that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is sending him through Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Trump tells reporters traveling with him on Air Force One that Kim's recent overtures amount to "a very positive statement what he said about me and also what he said about he wants to denuclearize during the Trump administration." South Korean officials who met with Kim this week say they forwarded a message from Trump and that Kim gave them a message to deliver to Trump. They're not discussing the contents of the messages.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States has recalled its envoys to the Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Panama after decisions by those nations to cut ties with Taiwan in favor of diplomatic relations with China. The State Department says it has called back Ambassador to the Dominican Republic Robin Bernstein, Ambassador to El Salvador Jean Manes, and Charge d'Affaires in Panama Roxanne Cabral "to discuss ways in which the United States can support strong, independent, democratic institutions and economies throughout Central America and the Caribbean." While the United States formally recognizes only China, it remains a close Taiwanese ally and maintains a de facto embassy in the island's capital, Taipei.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Friday that he's prepared to impose tariffs on an additional $267 billion in Chinese imports. Such a step would significantly escalate his trade war with Beijing and would likely increase costs for a broad range of U.S. businesses and consumers. Those potential tariffs would come on top of tariffs Trump has said he's poised to slap on $200 billion worth of goods from China — everything from handbags to bicycle tires. It would also be in addition to tariffs his administration has already imposed on $50 billion in Chinese imports, for which Beijing has retaliated with an equal amount of import taxes on U.S.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Even two decades after he fled North Korea, even with an abiding hatred of the ruling dictatorship, Sim Ju-il sometimes still relives the days when he goose-stepped past the nation's revered founder, Kim Il Sung, as a young man. Alone on a Seoul street, he'll pretend his umbrella is a rifle and present arms as he lifts his now aged legs in a rigid, still springy march and remembers the long-ago, exalted feeling. "I was proud of myself because not too many people got to take part in these marches, and I still have that pride," said Sim, 67, who participated in military parades in 1972 and 1985 — first as a goose-stepper and later riding on a military vehicle — before later defecting to South Korea.