AP PHOTOS: South Korea votes for a new president
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Koreans are choosing a new president Tuesday to succeed the conservative who was ousted for imposing martial law briefly last year.
Because the election was held early due to Yoon Suk Yeol's removal, the winner will take office Wednesday without the typical two-month transition. Surveys before the election indicated liberal candidate Lee Jae-myung is likely to win easily as voters remain frustrated over the martial law debacle and the main conservative candidate, Kim Moon Soo, struggles with moderates.
Here is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.
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Washington Post
an hour ago
- Washington Post
North Korea's Kim says he'll 'unconditionally support' Russia's war against Ukraine
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un told a visiting top Russian official that his country will 'unconditionally support' Russia's war against Ukraine, the North's state media reported Thursday, the latest sign of expanding cooperation between the two nations. In April, the two countries officially confirmed North Korean troops' deployment to Russia for the first time, saying that soldiers of the two countries were fighting alongside each other to repel a Ukrainian incursion into Russia's Kursk border region. At the time, Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked North Korea's participation in the war and promised not to forget their sacrifices.


Forbes
2 hours ago
- Forbes
No, China Did Not Just Ban Bitcoin Again
BEIJING, CHINA - NOVEMBER 9: Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump attend a ... More welcoming ceremony November 9, 2017 in Beijing, China. Trump is on a 10-day trip to Asia. (Photo by Thomas Peter-Pool/Getty Images) Some news and media outlets, including Financial Express, IDN Financials, and Hindustan Times, have reported that China has banned Bitcoin ownership by private individuals. News of this new 'ban' by China has spread and perhaps led to some investors to sell their Bitcoin. Yet there was no official statement from any of the relevant Chinese authorities - and it seemed like there was no link in the reporting chain - leaving many scrambling to figure out what was happening. The Financial Express report cited an unlinked "report by Binance." Though it's hard to track exactly where this was, Binance's research section (which is staffed by the official Binance team) does not feature any updates on Bitcoin and China. The contributor writing this article has reached out to X to ask them for comment, but there has been no reply. Perhaps the Financial Express referred to the following report on Binance Square, an open forum and social hub where people from outside the Binance team can sign up and post analyses. In the report, one of the earliest found on Binance Square on the topic, a link to a source goes to Binance's BAN/USDT ticker as a citation. As of the latest, there does not appear to be official announcements from the Cyberspace Administration of China (responsible for policing the app stores and the Chinese Internet), the Supreme People's Procuratorate (the highest national authority for legal prosecution in China), Chinese courts, the People's Bank of China or its subsidiary SAFE (State Administration of Foreign Exchange) - which issued many of the regulatory notices, including a 2013 ban on banks using Bitcoin that heralded the wave of restrictions. There was also no statement from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Financial Regulatory Administration (the successor of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission and China Banking Regulatory Commission that were a part of the 2013 regulatory notice that shapes much of Chinese jurisprudence on Bitcoin), the China Securities Regulatory Commission (also a 2013 regulator notice co-signer), the Central Financial Work Commission and the Central Financial Commission - two state organs set up by Xi Jinping to have oversight over the Chinese financial system and the Chinese Communist Party's role in the financial system. China has had several restrictions on Bitcoin - from province-by-province mining restrictions to an exchange ban. The history of China imposing bans on Bitcoin has led China to have a unique place in the Bitcoin ecosystem, as a sort of foil or a meme that can be used to dampen prices with new news. The market is thus primed to expect this sort of news. However, Chinese courts and regulators have consistently maintained that Bitcoin is property and private ownership of Bitcoin is protected under the law. Not understanding what is happening in China with Bitcoin can make media flurries that move Bitcoin price - unless one looks deeper. The restrictions that have taken place are focused on using Bitcoin as currency and as a potential way for "money laundering" and escape from capital controls, such as the yearly limit the Chinese government puts on foreign currency its citizens can acquire. It is essential to understand that a "ban" would be more than just a fiat announcement; it would require official announcements from one or multiple agencies. Bitcoin is stronger than any one country being able to 'ban' it completely and any one leader now. Analysis of the Bitcoin bans and current state in China shows that China is unlikely to take the step of further restricting Bitcoin, which the Chinese state authorities warned about for years when it came to mining restrictions, and which was ultimately announced in public by a Vice Premier of the State Council, Liu He, who was Xi's chief economic advisor on US-China trade relations and at the time, one of the 24 most powerful people in the Chinese system as a member of the Politburo which governs Chinese politics. Even today, many of the ways Chinese courts look at Bitcoin stem from the 2013 regulatory notice. It's also unlikely to undo the restrictions it's placed in - with any China news that is officially backed likely going to be officials studying on Bitcoin, op-eds, or opinions from professors and/or officials. China can still move Bitcoin price - from Chinese people buying it in increasing quantities to the Chinese government trying to understand what to do with seized Bitcoin. But it's unlikely to come in the form of a dramatic policy announcement. So, the likely thing to look into on China news is that if it doesn't fit the status quo, it will likely require deeper diligence. Look more carefully at news from China before making any Bitcoin decisions.


CNN
3 hours ago
- CNN
Why Trump has struggled to get Xi on the phone to talk trade
For months, President Donald Trump has suggested his personal relationship with China's Xi Jinping will be what unlocks the world's most consequential trade dispute. Yet he couldn't get Xi on the telephone for weeks. The long period of silence between the leaders will — at least in the White House's telling — come to an end this week. A string of US officials have all but confirmed a call between Trump and Xi is imminent and could occur as early as Thursday, even though Beijing remains tight-lipped. 'I am afraid we don't have comments for you right now,' a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington said in response to questions about the forthcoming conversation. The discrepancy in how each side was talking — or not talking — about the call ahead of time only underscored the widening gulf between the world's two largest economies. Each side seems convinced the call could fall through at any moment. And it's not only fights over tariffs, critical minerals, jet engine parts or computer chips that have caused a rift. It's also a matter of the two leaders' vastly different styles. While Trump is eager to apply his dealmaking tactics directly with Xi, his model of leader-to-leader haggling is entirely at odds with how Chinese officials approach global negotiations. Deeply wary of Trump's unpredictability and track record of putting foreign leaders in awkward or embarrassing situations, Chinese officials had put off a phone call, according to people familiar, even as Trump stated on multiple occasions this spring that he expected to speak with Xi soon. His Oval Office ambushes of Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and South Africa's Cyril Ramaphosa caught the attention of officials in China, those people added, and officials wanted to avoid anything similar, even in a private conversation. Former Trump and Biden administration officials describe meetings and calls with Xi as heavily scripted. Little is left to chance, they said, and even the small items – like timing and translation – are heavily negotiated among staff ahead of time. When President Joe Biden met Xi outside San Francisco two years ago, details as minute as the type of flowers sitting on the table between the two men were subject to delicate and intense discussions between the two sides, officials said at the time. On phone calls with US presidents, Xi typically reads directly from prepared talking points that are often verbatim of what he's said in previous conversations, the former officials said. When Xi briefly put down his script to offer off-the-cuff reminiscences during his final meeting last year with Biden – a man he'd known for more than a decade – US officials regarded it as a major show of respect. The stilted format makes it nearly impossible to delve into specifics that haven't been agreed to ahead of time. Any actual negotiation on trade deals or joint statements often happens among staff weeks or months ahead of time. That is not how Trump prefers to operate. As his press secretary said this week, his is a 'top-down approach,' where policy discussions originate from the Resolute Desk. 'He's very much involved in literally every policy discussion and decision that takes place,' Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday when questioned about a reduction in the size of Trump's National Security Council. That has been especially true on China, according to officials. Trump regards securing a new agreement with Beijing both as a critical component of his broader trade agenda and as a necessary follow-up from his first term, when trade deals with China got derailed during the Covid-19 pandemic. Trump views his relationship with Xi through a personal lens, harkening back to their interactions during his first term. It only took 76 days after Trump's 2017 swearing-in for Xi to fly to Mar-a-Lago, where he was served a 'beautiful' piece of chocolate cake and serenaded in Mandarin by Trump's granddaughter. Xi has proven far more difficult to reach in Trump's second term – and he's shown no similar rush to pay a visit to Florida, frustrating the US president. The last time Trump is known to have spoken with Xi was on January 17, days ahead of his second inauguration. 'It is my expectation that we will solve many problems together, and starting immediately,' Trump said afterward. But the problem-solving did not start immediately. Instead, the relationship between the two countries quickly worsened after Trump applied stiff new tariffs that eventually rose to 145%. China retaliated, creating a tit-for-tat trade war that has expanded over the course of Trump's five months in office. Talks last month in Geneva, which were intended to alleviate tensions, at first appeared to yield some progress – both sides vowed to lower some of the tariffs. But weeks later, the US accused China of reneging on an agreement to ease restrictions of certain critical minerals used to produce magnets. And instead of improving, the trade war has expanded into a battle over supply chains, which both countries see as essential to their respective national security needs. Trump has expanded punitive measures toward China to include revoking visas for Chinese students studying at American universities and restricting the export of certain software used to design advanced semiconductors. The worsening tensions emphasized the need for the two leaders to speak directly. 'The trade teams on both sides have determined that this needed to be elevated to the top,' a senior White House official said of the impending call. Trump is expected to bring up the pace at which China is exporting critical minerals – he believes Beijing is intentionally moving slower than promised during the Geneva talks, that official said. Another official said they expected Trump to do some level-setting: Trump has said publicly that China will suffer from the lack of a trade deal, a belief held by many administration officials, which in their view gives them leverage in talks with the superpower. 'I'm confident that when President Trump and Party Chairman Xi have a call that this will be ironed out,' Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said over the weekend. For his part, Trump seemed to be mulling the looming conversation in the wee hours this week. 'I like President XI of China, always have, and always will, but he is VERY TOUGH, AND EXTREMELY HARD TO MAKE A DEAL WITH!!!' Trump wrote on Truth Social at 2:17 a.m. on Wednesday.