SEOUL: South Korea’s ruling party leader said on Friday President Yoon Suk Yeol needs to be removed from power for trying to impose martial law, as the government denied reports it was preparing to issue another martial law declaration.
Yoon shocked the nation and his own ruling People Power Party on Tuesday when he gave the military sweeping emergency powers in order to root out what he called “anti-state forces” and overcome obstructionist political opponents.
He rescinded the declaration about six hours later after parliament, including some members of his party, voted to oppose the decree.
The main opposition Democratic Party has submitted a motion in parliament to impeach Yoon and scheduled a vote for Saturday evening.
Speaking after a ruling People Power Party (PPP) meeting at the parliament on Friday, leader Han Dong-hoon said Yoon had ordered the arrest of prominent politicians on the grounds they were among those “anti-state forces.”
The presidential office later denied any such order had been given, the Yonhap news agency reported.
Fearing another attempt to declare martial law, opposition lawmakers rotated through parliament’s plenary session hall on Friday to block any such attempt, a Democratic Party official said.
Acting Defense Minister Kim Seon-ho said reports there may be another attempt to impose martial law were not true.
Han said earlier there was “a high risk of extreme actions such as this emergency martial law being repeated” while Yoon remained in power, putting the country in “great danger.”
On Thursday, the ruling party said it was against impeachment, but Han suggested that stance may be shifting in light of “credible evidence” that Yoon had intended to arrest and detain political leaders at Gwacheon, just south of Seoul.
“I believe that President Yoon Suk Yeol’s immediate suspension of office is necessary to protect the Republic of Korea and its people in light of the newly revealed facts,” Han said.
He did not explicitly call for impeachment or respond to reporters when asked for clarification.
Some party members urged Yoon to resign before the vote, saying they did not want a repeat of the 2016 impeachment of then-President Park Geun-hye, which triggered the implosion of the conservative party and a victory by liberals in presidential and general elections.
“We cannot impeach the president tomorrow and hand over the regime to Lee Jae-Myung’s Democratic Party,” PPP lawmaker Yoon Sang-hyun told reporters.
To succeed, an impeachment bill would need support from two-thirds of the 300-member assembly. Yoon’s party has 108 legislators, so eight would have to side with the opposition for the bill to pass.
If parliament votes to impeach, the president is suspended from exercising his powers until an impeachment trial is held by the Constitutional Court. The prime minister serves as leader in acting capacity.
UNDER INVESTIGATION
Yoon has not been seen in public since rescinding martial law early on Wednesday and did not attend the PPP meeting on Friday.
Following media reports Yoon was on his way to parliament, opposition lawmakers poured out to the main lobby of the parliament building and set up a scrum to block him if he came.
The assembly speaker asked Yoon not to come to parliament even if he planned to, and Yoon’s office denied any such plans.
National police have launched investigations into the president and Kim Yong-hyun, the defense minister who allegedly encouraged him to declare martial law and who has since resigned.
Government and military prosecutors had also decided to conduct a joint investigation into the martial law decision, according to broadcaster YTN.
Details were slowly emerging about the chaos that engulfed Seoul on Tuesday night following Yoon’s surprise declaration, which stirred painful memories of the country’s long years of military rule following World War Two.
Kwak Jong-geun, the special warfare commander, said he defied an order from then-defense minister Kim to drag lawmakers out of parliament, and instead ordered his troops not to enter the area where lawmakers were meeting.
“I knew it would be disobedience, but I did not order that mission. I told them not to go in,” Kwak told an opposition lawmaker’s YouTube channel. Kwak also said he ordered his troops not to carry live ammunition.
Ahn Gwi-ryeong, a spokesperson for the opposition Democratic Party, said she believed the people had already psychologically impeached Yoon.
Images of Ahn grappling with a soldier and grabbing hold of his gun outside parliament on Tuesday went viral on social media as a symbol of the country’s defiance against martial law.
“Who could trust a president declaring martial law almost like a child playing games or entrust the nation to such leadership?” she said on Thursday.
Yoon’s approval rating plunged to a new low of 13 percent, according to the latest Gallup Korea poll released on Friday.
South Korea’s President Yoon must be suspended, his party leader says
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South Korea’s President Yoon must be suspended, his party leader says
- Yoon Suk Yeol shocked the nation on Tuesday when he suddenly imposed martial law
- He rescinded the declaration about six hours later after parliament voted to oppose the decree
Biden commutes roughly 1,500 sentences and pardons 39 people in biggest single-day act of clemency
- The commutations are for people who have served out home confinement sentences for at least one year after they were released
- It is customary for a president to grant mercy at the end of his term, using the power of the office to wipe away records or end prison terms
The commutations announced Thursday are for people who have served out home confinement sentences for at least one year after they were released. Prisons were uniquely bad for spreading the virus and some inmates were released in part to stop the spread. At one point, 1 in 5 prisoners had COVID-19, according to a tally kept by The Associated Press.
Biden said he would be taking more steps in the weeks ahead and would continue to review clemency petitions. The second largest single-day act of clemency was by Barack Obama, with 330, shortly before leaving office in 2017.
“America was built on the promise of possibility and second chances,” Biden said in a statement. “As president, I have the great privilege of extending mercy to people who have demonstrated remorse and rehabilitation, restoring opportunity for Americans to participate in daily life and contribute to their communities, and taking steps to remove sentencing disparities for non-violent offenders, especially those convicted of drug offenses.”
The clemency follows a broad pardon for his son Hunter, who was prosecuted for gun and tax crimes. Biden is under pressure from advocacy groups to pardon broad swaths of people, including those on federal death row, before the Trump administration takes over in January. He’s also weighing whether to issue preemptive pardons to those who investigated Trump’s effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and are facing possible retribution when he takes office.
Those pardoned Thursday had been convicted of nonviolent crimes such as drug offenses and turned their lives around, White House lawyers said. They include a woman who led emergency response teams during natural disasters; a church deacon who has worked as an addiction counselor and youth counselor; a doctoral student in molecular biosciences; and a decorated military veteran.
The president had previously issued 122 commutations and 21 other pardons. He’s also broadly pardoned those convicted of use and simple possession of marijuana on federal lands and in the District of Columbia, and pardoned former US service members convicted of violating a now-repealed military ban on consensual gay sex.
Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., and 34 other lawmakers are urging the president to pardon environmental and human rights lawyer Steven Donziger, who was imprisoned or under house arrest for three years because of a contempt of court charge related to his work representing Indigenous farmers in a lawsuit against Chevron.
Others are advocating for Biden to commute the sentences of federal death row prisoners. His attorney general, Merrick Garland, paused federal executions. Biden had said on the campaign trail in 2020 that he wanted to end the death penalty but he never did, and now, with Trump coming back into office, it’s likely executions will resume. During his first term, Trump presided over an unprecedented number of federal executions, carried out during the height of the pandemic.
More pardons are coming before Biden leaves office on Jan. 20, but it’s not clear whether he’ll take action to guard against possible prosecution by Trump, an untested use of the power. The president has been taking the idea seriously and has been thinking about it for as much as six months – before the presidential election – but has been concerned about the precedent it would set, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss internal discussions.
But those who received the pardons would have to accept them. New California Sen. Adam Schiff, who was the chairman of the congressional committee that investigated the violent Jan. 6 insurrection, said such a pardon from Biden would be “unnecessary,” and that the president shouldn’t be spending his waning days in office worrying about this.
A president has the power to both pardon, in which a person is relieved of guilt and punishment, or commute a sentence, which reduces or eliminates the punishment but doesn’t exonerate the wrongdoing. It’s customary for a president to grant mercy at the end of his term, using the power of the office to wipe away records or end prison terms.
Before pardoning his son, Biden had repeatedly pledged not to do so. He said in a statement explaining his reversal that the prosecution had been poisoned by politics. The decision prompted criminal justice advocates and lawmakers to put additional public pressure on the administration to use that same power for everyday Americans. It wasn’t a very popular move; only about 2 in 10 Americans approved of his decision, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Russia will ‘definitely’ respond to Ukraine ATACMS strike: Kremlin
- Russia’s defense ministry accuses Ukraine of firing the missiles in an overnight attack on an airfield in the port city of Taganrog
- Both sides have escalated aerial attacks in recent months as Russia’s troops advance on the battlefield
MOSCOW: Russia will “definitely” respond to a Ukrainian attack on a southern airfield using US-supplied ATACMS missiles, the Kremlin said Thursday.
President Vladimir Putin has previously threatened to launch its new hypersonic ballistic missile, named Oreshnik, at the center of Kyiv if Ukraine does not halt its attacks on Russian territory using US-supplied ATACMS missiles.
Russia’s defense ministry on Wednesday accused Ukraine of firing the missiles in an overnight attack on an airfield in the port city of Taganrog in the southern Rostov region.
A response “will follow when, and in a way that is deemed, appropriate. It will definitely follow,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
He did not provide details of how Russia might retaliate.
Washington only recently gave Kyiv permission to fire ATACMS on Russian territory, following months of requests.
The United States warned Wednesday that Russia could be preparing to fire Oreshnik missiles at Ukraine again.
The US warning was “based on an intelligence assessment that it’s possible that Russia could use this Oreshnik missile in the coming days,” Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told journalists.
Both sides have escalated aerial attacks in recent months as Russia’s troops advance on the battlefield.
Russia’s defense ministry said Thursday its troops had captured the tiny settlement of Zarya in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.
Indian troops kill seven Maoist rebels
- More than 10,000 people have died in the decades-long insurgency waged by the Naxalite movement
- The insurgency has drastically shrunk in recent years and a crackdown by security forces has killed over 200 rebels this year
RAIPUR, India: Indian troops shot dead seven Maoist rebels in a fierce gunbattle on Thursday, as security forces step up efforts to crush the long-running armed conflict.
More than 10,000 people have died in the decades-long insurgency waged by the Naxalite movement, as the Maoist insurgents are known, who say they are fighting for the rights of marginalized Indigenous people in India’s resource-rich central regions.
The insurgency has drastically shrunk in recent years and a crackdown by security forces has killed over 200 rebels this year, according to government data.
The latest gunbattle took place in a remote forested area of Bastar region in Chhattisgarh state, the heartland of the insurgency.
“So far seven bodies of Maoists, who were in their uniforms, have been recovered during search operations,” police inspector general P. Sunderraj said, adding that the toll was likely to rise.
Indian home minister Amit Shah warned the Maoist rebels in September to surrender or face an “all-out” assault, saying the government expected to quash the insurgency by early 2026.
The Naxalites, named after the district where their armed campaign began in 1967, were inspired by the Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong.
They demanded land, jobs and a share of the region’s immense natural resources for local residents, and made inroads in a number of remote communities across India’s east and south.
The movement gained in strength and numbers until the early 2000s when New Delhi deployed tens of thousands of security personnel against the rebels in a stretch of territory known as the “Red Corridor.”
Authorities have since invested millions of dollars in local infrastructure and social projects.
Taiwan detects 16 Chinese warships around island
- Beijing has been holding its biggest maritime drills in years
- Around 90 Chinese warships and coast guard vessels involved
TAIPEI: Taiwan said Thursday it detected 16 Chinese warships in waters around the island, one of the highest numbers this year, as Beijing intensifies military pressure on Taipei.
The navy vessels, along with 34 Chinese aircraft, were spotted near Taiwan in the 24 hours to 6:00 a.m. Thursday, according to the defense ministry’s daily tally.
Beijing has been holding its biggest maritime drills in years from near the southern islands of Japan to the South China Sea, Taiwan authorities said this week.
Around 90 Chinese warships and coast guard vessels have been involved in the exercises that include simulating attacks on foreign ships and practicing blockading sea routes, a Taiwan security official said Wednesday.
There has been no announcement by Beijing’s army or Chinese state media about increased military activity in the East China Sea, Taiwan Strait, South China Sea or Western Pacific Ocean.
However, a recent Pacific tour by Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te that included two stops in US territory drew fury from Beijing, which claims the democratic island as part of China’s territory.
The security official said that China began planning the massive maritime operation in October and aimed to demonstrate it could choke off Taiwan and draw a “red line” ahead of the next US administration.
The sea drills were “significantly larger” than Beijing’s maritime response to then-US House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei in 2022, the security official said. Those war games were China’s largest-ever around Taiwan.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry said Wednesday that China’s increased military activity around the island was evidence that Beijing was a “troublemaker.”
But China’s foreign ministry – whose spokesperson neither confirmed nor denied that drills were taking place – directed blame at Taiwan.
James Char, an expert on China’s military at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, said Beijing’s silence “serves as a way of demonstrating that the Taiwan Strait as well as the waters and airspace around the island falls under Chinese sovereignty – hence unnecessary to announce (the drills) to the world.”
“This is another means by the mainland to force its position upon others,” Char said, though he did not rule out Chinese confirmation at a later date.
Taiwan said Monday that Beijing’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) had reserved airspace off the Chinese coast until Wednesday.
Vietnam-based maritime security analyst Duan Dang said Thursday that aviation data showed the airspace zones had “fully returned to normal.”
Taiwan lives under the constant threat of invasion by China, which has not ruled out using force to bring the island under its control.
Beijing has ramped up the deployment of fighter jets and warships around the island in recent years, and also opposes any international recognition of self-ruled Taiwan – especially when it comes to official contact between Taipei and Washington.
Lai spoke last week with Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson in addition to his two recent stopovers on US soil.
The defense ministry’s tally of Chinese warships on Thursday was the highest since May 25, when 27 navy vessels were detected during Chinese military drills held days after Lai’s inauguration.
Suspense mounts as Macron prepares to unveil new French PM
PARIS: French politics was on hold Thursday during a day trip to Poland by President Emmanuel Macron, who is expected to name a new prime minister a week after MPs toppled the government.
Macron had promised to name a replacement government chief within 48 hours after meeting party leaders at his Elysee Palace office Tuesday, participants said.
But he remains confronted with the complex political equation that emerged from July’s snap parliamentary poll: how to secure a government against no-confidence votes in a lower house split three ways between a leftist alliance, centrists and conservatives, and the far-right National Rally (RN).
Greens leader Marine Tondelier urged Macron on Thursday to “get out of his comfort zone” as he casts around for a name.
“The French public want a bit of enthusiasm, momentum, fresh wind, something new,” she told France 2 television.
Former prime minister Michel Barnier, whose government had support only from Macron’s centrist camp and his own conservative political family, was felled last week in a confidence vote over his cost-cutting budget.
His caretaker administration on Wednesday reviewed a bill designed to keep the lights of government on without a formal financial plan for 2025, allowing tax collection and borrowing to continue.
Lawmakers are expected to widely support the draft law when it comes before parliament on Monday.
At issue in the search for a new prime minister are both policies and personalities.
Mainstream parties invited by Macron on Tuesday, ranging from the conservative Republicans to Socialists, Greens and Communists on the left, disagree deeply.
One totemic issue is whether to maintain Macron’s widely loathed 2023 pension reform that increased the official retirement age to 64, seen by centrists and the right as necessary to balance the budget but blasted by the left as unjust.
On the personality front, Macron’s rumored top pick for a new PM, veteran centrist Francois Bayrou, raises hackles on both left and right.
For the left he would embody a simple “continuation” of the president’s policies to date, Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure has said.
Meanwhile Bayrou is personally disliked by former president Nicolas Sarkozy, still influential on the right and reported to have Macron’s ear.
Other contenders include former Socialist interior minister and prime minister Bernard Cazeneuve, serving Defense Minister and Macron loyalist Sebastien Lecornu, or former foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.
But a name could still emerge from outside the pack, as happened with Barnier in September.
Those in circulation “are names that have been around for years and haven’t seduced the French. It’s the past. I want us to look to the future,” Greens boss Tondelier said.
While the suspense over Macron’s choice endures, there has been infighting on the left over whether to play along in the search for stability or stick to maximalist demands.
Once a PM is named, “we will then have to have a discussion with whoever is named,” Socialist chief Faure said, saying the left must “be able to grab some victories for the French public.”
The Socialists’ openness to cooperation has been denounced by their nominal ally Jean-Luc Melenchon, figurehead of the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI).
“No coalition deals! No deal not to vote no confidence! Return to reason and come home!” he urged on Tuesday.
Hard-line attitudes are not necessarily vote-winners, with just over two-thirds of respondents to an Elabe poll published Wednesday saying they want politicians to reach a deal not to overthrow a new government.
But confidence in the elite is limited, with around the same number saying they did not believe the political class could reach agreement.
In a separate poll from Ifop, RN leader Marine Le Pen is credited with 35 percent support in the first round of a future presidential election — well ahead of any likely opponent.
She has said she is “not unhappy” her far-right party has been left out of the horse-trading around government formation, appearing for now to benefit from the chaos rather than suffer blame for bringing last week’s no-confidence vote over the line.
