South Korea ex-President Yoon indicted again as martial law probe continues
The new charges include obstruction of the exercise of others' rights by abuse of authority, ordering the deletion of records and blocking the execution of arrest warrants, the prosecutor's office said in a briefing.
Yoon has been on trial on charges of insurrection, which is punishable by death or life imprisonment, facing additional charges since the special prosecutor was appointed in June to take over the cases against him.
Yoon has denied all wrongdoing. His lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the new charges.
The impeached and deposed former leader has been jailed at Seoul Detention Center since earlier this month, and a court earlier this week rejected his request to be freed from detention.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
28 minutes ago
- Reuters
Oil dips as market weighs Trump tariff threats, surprise US stockbuild
SINGAPORE, July 31 (Reuters) - Oil prices eased on Thursday as investors weighed the risk of supply shortages amid U.S. President Donald Trump's push for a swift resolution to the war in Ukraine through more tariffs, though a surprise build in U.S. crude stocks weighed on prices. Brent crude futures for September , set to expire on Thursday, fell 18 cents, or 0.3%, to $73.06 a barrel at 0650 GMT. The more active Brent October contract was down 26 cents, or 0.4%, at $72.21. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for September dropped 17 cents, or 0.2%, to $69.83 a barrel. Both benchmarks settled 1% higher on Wednesday. "Oil contracts have been caught in a holding pattern today, oscillating within a tight range as neither buyers nor sellers muster the conviction to take prices decisively higher or lower, especially on the crux of the August 1 deadline" for new U.S. tariffs, said Priyanka Sachdeva, a senior market analyst at Phillip Nova. "On one hand, Trump's hawkish rhetoric on Russian oil sanctions continues to underpin tight-market premiums; on the other, a firm dollar, tepid global growth indicators, and that surprise EIA build are capping gains," Sachdeva added. Trump said he would start imposing measures on Russia, including 100% secondary tariffs on its trading partners, if it did not make progress on ending the war within 10-12 days, moving up an earlier 50-day deadline. "Concerns that secondary tariffs on countries importing Russian crude will tighten supplies continue to drive buying interest," said Toshitaka Tazawa, an analyst at Fujitomi Securities. The U.S. has also warned China, the largest buyer of Russian oil, that it could face huge tariffs if it kept buying. On Wednesday, the U.S. Treasury Department announced fresh sanctions on over 115 Iran-linked individuals, entities and vessels, in a sign the Trump administration is doubling down on its "maximum pressure" campaign after bombing Tehran's key nuclear sites in June. Meanwhile, U.S. crude oil inventories rose by 7.7 million barrels in the week ending July 25 to 426.7 million barrels, driven by lower exports, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. Analysts had expected a 1.3 million-barrel draw. Gasoline stocks fell by 2.7 million barrels to 228.4 million barrels, far exceeding forecasts for a 600,000-barrel draw. "U.S. inventory data showed a surprise build in crude stocks, but a bigger-than-expected gasoline draw supported the view of strong driving season demand, resulting in a neutral impact on oil market," Fujitomi Securities' Tazawa said.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Myanmar forms commission led by junta chief to hold elections, state media says
July 31 (Reuters) - Myanmar's ruling junta announced the formation of a 11-member commission led by military chief Min Aung Hlaing to hold an election in the war-torn country, state media reported on Thursday. The junta did not announce a date for the election and Min Aung Hlaing will continue to effectively remain in charge of the country, in his capacity as the interim president who will oversee the vote, MRTV reported. The proposed election, which Min Aung Hlaing on Wednesday confirmed would take place in December, will be the first national vote since a 2021 coup sparked a civil war and plunged the Southeast Asian nation into chaos. Min Aung Hlaing will remain commander in chief of the armed forces while serving as interim president.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Praise Trump and speak simply: How the South Korean team negotiated its trade deal
SEOUL, July 31 (Reuters) - The South Korean ministers tasked with negotiating a last-ditch trade deal with U.S. President Donald Trump said that to prepare they role-played and solicited tips for engaging with the unpredictable leader. Among the advice they received? Call Trump a "great person" and speak as simply as possible, Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan told reporters in Washington after the deal was announced on Wednesday. The stakes were particularly high for South Korea, a major export-driven economy, and Kim and other members of the delegation have only been on the job for a few weeks after President Lee Jae Myung won a snap election in June. Kim called Trump a "master of negotiations" and said each of the team, which included Finance Minister Koo Yun-cheol and Minister for Trade Yeo Han-koo, took turns role-playing as the U.S. president to prepare. "We tried to talk like President Trump, and President Trump's way of talking is very terse and straightforward," Kim said. "We prepared a lot of scenarios on our own on how to answer this or that question." Koo said the team only knew for sure they would be meeting Trump when they saw it on social media. The meeting itself went for about half an hour and the two sides went back and forth on the amount of the investment fund, which was eventually settled at $350 billion, Koo said. "We collected a lot of negotiation strategies used by our counterparts in advance and thought a lot about how to respond, so the negotiation was very smooth," he said. Yeo quoted Trump as saying his personal involvement is rare in dealing with officials who are not heads of state, and means "he respects South Korea very much and attaches great importance to South Korea." Earlier in the talks the U.S. had pressed South Korea to lift restrictions on imports derived from cattle older than 30 months, but Yeo helped defuse that by showing the Americans a photo of massive protests that occurred years ago over concerns about mad cow disease. "I think it helped them to understand the situation in Korea," Kim said.
