South Korea's political crisis deepens as rival protests erupt over impeached President
SEOUL — There was no letup in South Korea's simmering political crisis as thousands gathered in Seoul on Sunday, staging rival demonstrations both in support of and against impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol following his release from detention.
Some 4,500 pro-Yoon protesters held an outdoor Sunday service near the presidential residence, demanding the Constitutional Court dismiss the impeachment.
The service was organized by Sarang Jeil Church, led by conservative activist pastor Jeon Kwang-hoon, according to Yonhap news agency.
"With President Yoon's release, the impeachment trial has become meaningless. It's over," Jeon was quoted as saying.
"In the event the Constitutional Court does something funny, we will exercise the people's right to resist and get rid of them with a single slash," he added.
Yoon was released on Saturday after a Seoul court ruled his detention invalid. He had been held since mid-January over his botched martial law attempt in December.
However, he still faces trial on charges of leading an insurrection and awaits the Constitutional Court's verdict on whether to uphold or dismiss his impeachment.
An opposing rally by activists demanding Yoon's immediate removal was held overnight outside Seoul's Gyeongbok Palace.
The group later held a news conference outside the nearby government complex to declare a week of "emergency action" urging his ouster.
They also planned a march from the National Palace Museum later in the day, claiming it would draw 100,000 participants.
Meanwhile, the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) called for the immediate resignation of Prosecutor General Shim Woo-jung, blaming him for the prosecution's decision to release Yoon after the court ruling.
The party threatened to consider "all possible" measures, including Shim's impeachment, if he refused to step down.
"Prosecutor General Shim released Yoon Suk Yeol, the ringleader of an insurrection, after voluntarily giving up the opportunity to immediately appeal the court decision (to release him) and receive the judgment of a higher court," DP floor leader Park Chan-dae said following an emergency meeting of lawmakers.
The DP and four other minor opposition parties jointly called for Shim's resignation and vowed to push for his impeachment if he did not comply.
On the other hand, the ruling People Power Party intensified its calls for the Constitutional Court to dismiss Yoon's impeachment and reinstate him.
"The Constitutional Court must keep in mind that it will face unbearable backlash in the event it hastily removes the president from office and he is later acquitted of the insurrection charges," a party spokesperson warned. — Agencies
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Saudi Gazette
2 days ago
- Saudi Gazette
Russian aerial assault kills four in Kyiv days after Ukraine's attack on bomber fleet
KYIV — Russia launched drones and ballistic missiles at multiple targets across Ukraine, Kyiv authorities said on Friday, in a deadly air assault that left at least four people dead and 20 wounded in the capital. Ukraine is hit by nightly barrages of Russian drones and missiles. But the country has been bracing for a major retaliatory strike promised by President Vladimir Putin following its daring raids on airfields deep inside Russia. It was unclear whether the assault into Friday was that strike or if further barrages can be expected in the coming days. Fires caused by falling debris and drone strikes were reported in buildings across Kyiv, as Ukraine attempted to repel the Russian attack, the Head of Kyiv City Military Administration Tymur Tkachenko said. A CNN producer in the Kyiv region reported hearing at least two explosions. Tkachenko accused Russia of hitting residential areas with the drone attack, saying a high-rise building the the Solomyansky district of Kyiv was damaged. Kyiv's Mayor Vitali Klitschko also reported fires in the districts of Holosiivskyi and Darnytskyi of the Ukrainian capital. Ukrainian air defense units were activated in the Obolon area of Kyiv, Klitschko said on Telegram early Friday morning local time. 'The attack on the capital continues. Stay in shelters!' he said. Photos published by Reuters showed Kyiv residents, some accompanied by children sitting in prams, taking shelter in an underground car park. Search and rescue operations are ongoing as of Friday morning. In the northwestern city of Lutsk – around 60 miles from the border with Poland – Russian strikes wounded five people, its mayor Ihor Polishchuk wrote on Telegram early Friday. Separately, a Ukrainian drone attack hit an industrial site in the southern Russian city of Engels, the governor of the region said on Friday. Footage that CNN has geolocated to the Engels site – about 460 kilometers (285 miles) from the border with Ukraine – shows flames burning and plumes of smoke billowing into the air. In January, a Ukrainian drone attack hit the Kombinat Kristall oil depot that serves a military airfield in the city. Russia's latest drone and missile attack on Ukraine comes days after Ukraine's security service launched a series of daring, large-scale drone attacks deep inside Russia, striking airfields and hitting multiple military aircraft, including some its prized nuclear-capable heavy bomber aircraft. On Tuesday, Ukraine also launched an attack on the Kerch Bridge, the only direct connection point between Russia and the annexed Crimean Peninsula, with 1,100 kilograms of explosives that had been planted underwater. The assault took Moscow by surprise and has sparked an outpouring of calls for huge retaliation from nationalist and pro-Kremlin firebrands inside Russia. Russia's heavy bomber fleet have been instrumental in the routine bombardments of Ukrainian cities since Moscow's full scale invasion, able to fire hard to intercept cruise missiles at a safe distance from Kyiv's anti-aircraft batteries. Putin told his US counterpart Donald Trump that Russia would respond to those attacks in the two leaders' latest phone call on Wednesday. Trump's account of the call gave no indication he had called on the Russian president to temper his response, or put pressure Putin to end his invasion of Ukraine. That stance has sparked widespread anger and disappointment in Ukraine. 'When Putin mentioned he is going to avenge or deliver a new strike against Ukraine, we know what it means. It's about civilians,' Ukrainian lawmaker Oleksandr Merezhko told CNN earliuer this week. 'And President Trump didn't say, 'Vladimir, stop.'' And on Thursday, Trump compared the war to a brawl between children, saying in the Oval Office: 'Sometimes you're better off letting them fight for a while and then pulling them apart.' Analysts – and Ukraine's air defense forces – are watching closely for whether Russia might deploy some of its latest weaponry as a way to retaliate against Kyiv for its latest attacks. For example, Russia launched a new non-nuclear medium-range ballistic missile at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro last November, in an attack Putin said was a response to the use of American and British long-range weapons by Ukraine's military. That particular missile contained multiple warheads and its use in anger was seen by analysts at the time as a crossing the Rubicon moment. Russia has expanded its drone and missile production in the past year, allowing for mass attacks using several hundred projectiles at once. The Russian strategy seeks to overwhelm Ukraine's air defenses with scores of low-cost drones so that simultaneous missile strikes can succeed. Ukraine relies on US technology to defend itself against the nightly barrages of drones and missiles. But the Trump administration has signaled it expects European allies to do far more of the heavy lifting when it comes to protecting Ukraine. Last week the Pentagon notified Congress that it will be diverting critical anti-drone technology that had been allocated for Ukraine to US Air Force units in the Middle East, according to correspondence obtained by CNN and people familiar with the matter. — CNN
Saudi Gazette
5 days ago
- Saudi Gazette
South Korea is voting for a new president after six months of political chaos
SEOUL — After half a year of political turmoil, uncertainty and division, South Koreans began voting on Tuesday for a new president to succeed Yoon Suk Yeol, the disgraced former leader who plunged the democratic nation into chaos by declaring martial law in December. This election feels particularly significant; the country, a US ally and Asian economic and cultural powerhouse, has floundered for months with a revolving door of interim leaders while navigating Yoon's impeachment trial and a multipronged investigation into the fateful night of his short-lived power grab. All the while, South Korea's economy has suffered, with US President Donald Trump's trade war and a potential global recession looming in the background. Two men are each promising to help the country recover if elected – a lawyer turned politician dogged by legal cases who survived an assassination attempt, and a former anti-establishment activist turned conservative minister. Polls opened on Tuesday morning and a winner is likely to be declared overnight or into Wednesday. Here's what you need to know. The frontrunner is Lee Jae-myung, 60, of the liberal opposition Democratic Party.A former underage factory worker from a poor family, Lee became a human rights lawyer before entering politics. He is a former mayor and governor, and most recently served as a lawmaker after narrowly losing to Yoon in the 2022 presidential survived an assassination attempt in January 2024 when a man stabbed him in the neck during a public again made headlines on December 3, 2024 – the night Yoon declared martial law and sent troops to parliament. Lee was among the lawmakers who rushed to the legislature and pushed past soldiers to hold an emergency vote to lift martial law. He live streamed himself jumping over a fence to enter the building, in a viral video viewed tens of millions of the campaign trail, Lee promised political and economic reforms, including more controls on a president's ability to declare martial law, and revising the constitution to allow two four-year presidential terms instead of the current single five-year has emphasized easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula while holding on to the longtime goal of denuclearizing North Korea; he also supports boosting small businesses and growing the AI Lee has also been dogged by legal cases, including several ongoing trials for alleged bribery and charges related to a property development he was convicted of violating election law in another ongoing case that has been sent to an appeals denies all the charges against him. Speaking to CNN in December, he claimed he had been indicted on various charges 'without any evidence or basis,' and that the allegations are politically main rival is Kim Moon-soo of the conservative People Power Party (PPP).When Yoon left the party in May, he urged supporters to back Kim – a 73-year-old former labor minister, who had been a prominent labor activist at university, even being expelled and imprisoned for his protests. He eventually joined a conservative party, and stepped into the nomination after several rounds of party PPP initially selected Kim as its candidate; then dropped him, eyeing former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo instead. The party finally chose Kim after he filed legal the PPP remains deeply divided and its candidate trailed Lee in pre-election polling. In a statement after his nomination, Kim vowed to seek unity and build a 'big tent' coalition to take on Lee, according to has also promised to reform the country's politics, judiciary and election management systems to rebuild public trust. His campaign emphasized making South Korea business-friendly through tax cuts and eased restrictions, and by promoting new technologies and nuclear third-party and independent candidates are also running for the presidency. They include Lee Jun-seok, a former PPP leader who founded his own conservative New Reform Party last the forefront of voters' minds is the country's flailing economy and rising cost of living. Youth unemployment has surged and consumption has declined, with the economy unexpectedly contracting in the first quarter of this of that is due to Trump's trade war – which has hit South Korea's export-reliant economy hard. South Korea's exports to the US fell sharply in the first few weeks of April after US tariffs kicked in, and the nation's largest airline has warned the downturn could cost it up to $100 million a officials from both nations have met for tariff talks, the political turmoil at home is likely slowing progress and hampering a possible trade deal until a new South Korean president is why both main candidates have focused on the economy, promising to stabilize the cost of goods and improve opportunities in housing, education and there's a host of other problems the next president will have to tackle, too – such as the country's rapidly aging society and plummeting birth rates, which represent an urgent demographic crisis also seen in other countries in the region like Japan and China. Among the common complaints of young couples and singles are the high cost of childcare, gender inequality and discrimination against working there are regional tensions. There's the ever-present threat from North Korea, which has rapidly modernized its armed forces, developing new weapons and testing intercontinental ballistic missiles that can reach almost anywhere in the United States. Experts have warned in recent years that the country may also be preparing to resume nuclear tests, which it paused in the Yellow Sea lies China, which South Korea has a strong trade relationship with – but historically fraught diplomatic Korea also maintains a close security alliance with the US, and hosts nearly 30,000 American troops in the country. In recent years, South Korea, Japan and the US have drawn closer together, working to counter Chinese influence in the strategically important Asia-Pacific was removed from office in April following months of legal wrangling, after parliament voted to impeach him late last was a remarkable fall from grace for the former prosecutor turned politician, who rose to prominence for his role in the impeachment of another president – only to eventually meet the same after, Yoon moved out from the presidential residency and into an apartment in the capital Seoul. But his legal battles are ongoing; he faces charges including insurrection, an offense punishable by life imprisonment or death (though South Korea has not executed anyone in decades). Yoon denies all charges against him. — CNN
Saudi Gazette
5 days ago
- Saudi Gazette
Suspect in Colorado fire attack planned for a year, FBI says
WASHINGTON — A man accused of throwing Molotov cocktails at demonstrators attending a march for Israeli hostages in Colorado on Sunday planned the attack for a year, investigators say. Mohammed Sabry Soliman, 45, who is charged with a federal hate crime as well as state charges of attempted murder, assault and use of an explosive device, made a brief appearance in court on Monday. Officials say the Egyptian national targeted a group of pro-Israel protesters at an outdoor mall in Boulder and shouted "Free Palestine" as he threw incendiary devices, injuring eight of them. At least 16 unlit Molotov cocktails were found nearby afterwards. Investigators say he targeted the group after finding them online. The weekly demonstration was organized by Run for Their Lives, which raises awareness about Israeli hostages still held in Gaza. Officials say Soliman threw two incendiary devices into the gathering at the Pearl Street Mall, with eight of the victims suffering burns. Twelve people, including four men and four women between the ages of 52 and 88, were taken to the hospital, with injuries ranging from minor to serious. Officials previously said there were eight victims, but on Monday four more came forward with minor injuries. The eldest of the victims is a Holocaust survivor, Rabbi Israel Wilhelm, the Chabad director at the University of Colorado Boulder, told the BBC's US partner CBS News. The attack happened on the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Shavuot. The suspect appeared in court on Monday via a video feed from the Boulder County Jail for less than five minutes, standing and wearing an orange jumpsuit. He answered "yes" to some procedural questions from the judge, but otherwise did not speak. The court scheduled a date for the formal filing of charges this Thursday. Officials said on Monday they believe he acted alone. In an interview after his arrest, Soliman told police he had been planning the attack for a year, to take place after his daughter's high school graduation, according to an arrest warrant affidavit from the FBI. He told police he wanted to "kill all Zionists" and would carry out the attack again, the court documents stated. In addition to the unlit Molotov cocktails, backpack weed sprayer containing octane gasoline was found nearby. Soliman dressed up as a gardener with an orange vest to get as close to the group of people as possible, according to police. He said he had been watching YouTube videos on how to make Molotov cocktails, according to the affidavit. Investigators say he told them he learned to shoot a gun in hope of obtaining a concealed-carry permit, but ended up using Molotov cocktails because his immigration status prevented him from accessing firearms. Soliman drove from his home in Colorado Springs to Boulder, arriving five minutes before the group's meeting, according to court documents. He allegedly said he bought petrol on his way to the attack. According to the FBI, throughout the interview, Soliman said he hated Zionists and targeted them because they need to stop taking over "our land", which he said was a reference to the Palestinian territories. Soliman allegedly told officials he left his iPhone hidden in a desk drawer with messages to his family, wife and five children. His wife later brought the iPhone to officials, according to court documents. Law enforcement officials said on Monday there was no previous indication that the defendant was a threat. "We fully intended to hold Soliman accountable for his actions, and these charges are the first step," Acting US Attorney for the District of Colorado J Bishop Grewell told a press conference on Monday. Soliman moved to Colorado Springs three years ago and previously spent 17 years living in Kuwait. In 2022, Soliman arrived in California on a non-immigrant visa that expired in February 2023, multiple sources have told CBS News. Homeland security officials said he filed for asylum a month after arriving, but did not provide details about the outcome of that immigration case or whether it was resolved. President Donald Trump's deputy chief of staff for policy, Stephen Miller, said on X that Soliman was given a work permit by the Biden administration after he had overstayed his visa. "In light of yesterday's horrific attack, all terrorists, their family members, and terrorist sympathizers here on a visa should know that under the Trump administration we will find you, revoke your visa, and deport you," US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on X. Soliman has been working as a food delivery driver for Uber since 2023, a company spokesperson told CBS. According to the company, when he began working for them, he met all Uber requirements, including passing a criminal and driving history background check, providing a photo ID and holding a valid Social Security number. Trump said in a social media post that attacks like the one Soliman allegedly carried out would not be tolerated. "This is yet another example of why we must keep our Borders SECURE, and deport Illegal, Anti-American Radicals from our Homeland," he said. The Jewish community in the US has faced a series of attacks during the Israel-Gaza war, which erupted on 7 October 2023 when Hamas attacked southern Israel, triggering an Israeli military campaign that is ongoing. Last month two Israel embassy aides were shot and killed outside Washington DC's Capital Jewish Museum. Investigators said the assailant shouted "Free Palestine". In April, a suspect firebombed the residence of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish. Officials said they were considering hate crime charges. — BBC
