Xinhua Asia-Pacific news summary at 1000 GMT, Feb. 6

SEOUL -- A 280-member delegation of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), including cheerleaders and demonstrators of Taekwondo, a traditional Korean martial art, will come to South Korea via land route Wednesday for the 23rd Winter Olympics, Seoul's unification ministry said Tuesday.

The DPRK delegation, led by Sports Minister Kim Il-guk, is scheduled to arrive in the inter-Korean transit office at about 9:30 a.m. local time Wednesday (0030 GMT) to cross the western land border. (South Korea-DPRK-Delegation)

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KUALA LUMPUR -- Malaysia and Singapore announced Tuesday that a stock market corridor will be established for investors in the two countries to access to each other's markets with a combined market capitalization of more than 1.2 trillion U.S. dollars.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said both he and his Singaporean counterpart Lee Hsien Loong agreed that "both markets have reached a sufficient level, sophistication and degree of maturity for us to establish a market corridor connecting Malaysia and Singapore." (Malaysia-Singapore-Stock market corridor)

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MALE -- Former Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom was arrested by a special Maldivian Police team in the early hours of Tuesday, hours after President Abdulla Yameen declared a 15-day state of emergency, local media reported.

Gayoom was arrested from his house, in the capital, along with his son in law who was also taken into custody. The two were arrested on charges of plotting to overthrow the government. (Maldives-State of emergency)

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SYDNEY -- The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has decided to keep the country's cash rate on hold at 1.5 percent on Tuesday, citing low wage growth and uncertainty around household consumption as the major reasons.

February now marks the 17th consecutive month Australia's interest rate has remained at the record low level. (Australia-Bank rate) Enditem