President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that Pakistan had agreed to a deal with the United States that involved &#8220;developing their massive Oil Reserves,&#8221; and said that several other countries were already waiting in the wings to offer trade deals in exchange for lower tariffs.
Trump shared the news first via his Truth Social platform, saying that in addition to the deal with Pakistan, he planned to speak with a trade delegation from South Korea later in the day.
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&#8220;We are very busy in the White House today working on Trade Deals. I have spoken to the Leaders of many Countries, all of whom want to make the United States &#8216;extremely happy,'&#8221; Trump began his post. &#8220;I will be meeting with the South Korean Trade Delegation this afternoon. South Korea is right now at a 25% Tariff, but they have an offer to buy down those Tariffs. I will be interested in hearing what that offer is.&#8221;
&#8220;We have just concluded a Deal with the Country of Pakistan, whereby Pakistan and the United States will work together on developing their massive Oil Reserves,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;We are in the process of choosing the Oil Company that will lead this Partnership. Who knows, maybe they’ll be selling Oil to India some day!&#8221;
The president went on to say that other countries were lining up to make similar deals — an important detail given that the imminent tariff deadline, August 1, is less than two full days from taking effect. Several other eleventh-hour deals have already been inked in the last week before the deadline, including one with the European Union during Trump&#8217;s weekend trip to Scotland.
&#8220;Likewise, other Countries are making offers for a Tariff reduction,&#8221; Trump concluded. &#8220;All of this will help reduce our Trade Deficit in a very major way. A full report will be released at the appropriate time. Thank you for your attention to this matter. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!&#8221;

Donald Trump

‘Other Countries Are Making Offers’: Trump Announces Oil Reserve Deal With Pakistan

'Other Countries Are Making Offers': Trump Announces Oil Reserve Deal With Pakistan

Economy

Pakistan

South Korea

Tariffs

trade

President Donald Trump announced on Monday that the United States would impose 25% tariffs on imports from Japan and South Korea, following his extension of the &#8220;Liberation Day&#8221; tariff deadline, initially scheduled for April.
On Truth Social, Trump posted letters addressed to the leaders of both countries informing them of the new tariffs. The 25% blanket tariffs will be in addition to sector-specific tariffs already in place. The tariffs on Japan and South Korea will go into effect on August 1.
&#8220;Please understand that the 25% number is far less than what is needed to eliminate the Trade Deficit disparity we have with your Country,&#8221; Trump wrote to both Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and South Korea&#8217;s new president, Lee Jae-myung. Trump added that Japanese and South Korean companies can avoid the tariffs if they manufacture their products in the United States.
Trump then warned the countries against retaliating against the United States with reciprocal tariffs, stating that he would respond by increasing tariffs on them, in addition to the 25% blanket tariffs.
&#8220;If you wish to open your heretofore closed Trading Markets to the United States and eliminate your Tariff, and Non Tariff, Policies and Trade Barriers, we will, perhaps, consider an adjustment to this letter,&#8221; Trump wrote to both nations. &#8220;These tariffs may be modified, upward or downward, depending on our relationship with your Country. You will never be disappointed with the United States of America.&#8221;
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Trump posted the letters shortly after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bessent-promises-several-trade-announcements-over-the-next-48-hours">told</a> CNBC on Monday morning that &#8220;several&#8221; trade announcements would come &#8220;in the next 48 hours.&#8221; Trump hinted last week that he would soon send letters to countries outlining their new tariff rates. Japanese economy minister Ryosei Akazawa has <a href="https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/stock-market-today-dow-sp-500-nasdaq-06-30-2025/card/trump-says-japan-will-get-letter-outlining-new-tariff-rate-11aR4lQ9f3AsmCBVtOq8?mod=article_inline">traveled</a> to Washington, D.C., seven times in recent weeks for ongoing trade talks with the Trump administration, but so far, the talks have yielded no results.
Last week, Trump said that there likely wouldn&#8217;t be a trade deal with Japan, calling the country &#8220;spoiled,&#8221; The Hill <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5381161-trump-japan-trade-deal-tariffs-rice/">reported</a>.
“We dealt with Japan. I’m not sure if we’re going to make a deal. I doubt it with Japan — they’re very tough. You have to understand, they’re spoiled. I love Japan. I really like the new prime minister, too,&#8221; he said, adding, “But they and others are so spoiled from having ripped us off for 30, 40 years that it’s really hard for them to make a deal. You know, it’s very hard. As an example, with Japan, they won’t take rice, and yet they desperately need rice,” he said. “They won’t take any cars, but they’ll sell millions. So, we told them, ‘Sorry you can’t do that.’”
South Korean Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo met with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in D.C. over the weekend, where he called on the United States to eliminate or reduce tariffs on steel and vehicles, Bloomberg <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-07-06/south-korea-seeks-us-trade-deadline-extension-as-tariffs-loom">reported</a>. Yeo&#8217;s meeting with Greer marked his second trip to D.C. since the new administration took over in South Korea.

Trump Slaps 25% Tariff On Japan, South Korea, Warns Against Retaliation

Executive

Japan

Politics

Trade War

Trump Administration

A deal with India is &#8220;very close,&#8221; Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Tuesday, signaling what could be a major breakthrough in negotiations with a significant trade partner.
Many foreign countries, including India, face a 10% baseline tariff after President Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause for harsher &#8220;Liberation Day&#8221; tariffs he unveiled at the beginning of April. The tariffs for India could rise to 26%, which was the initial rate, if a deal is not reached.
At a White House press briefing, a reporter asked Bessent if he had anything to share on whether &#8220;something could happen&#8221; this week or the next. He <a href="https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2025/04/29/bessent_trade_talks_with_india_korea_japan.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">chose</a> to focus on India.
&#8220;I think we’re very close on India,&#8221; Bessent said. &#8220;India — just a little inside baseball. India, in a funny way, is easier to negotiate with than many other countries because they have very high tariffs and lots of tariffs.&#8221;
He added: &#8220;So, it’s much easier to confront the direct tariffs when, as we go through these unfair trade deals that have been put in over decades, that the non-tariff trade barriers can be much more insidious and also harder to detect. So, a country like India, which has the posted and ready tariffs, it’s much easier to negotiate with them. I think the India negotiations will move well.&#8221;
Last week, Vice President JD Vance travelled to India and met with the country&#8217;s prime minister, Narendra Modi.
Vance <a href="https://x.com/EricLDaugh/status/1914650218940805207" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> the United States and India finalized the “terms of reference” for a trade negotiation, adding that he believed it was a &#8220;vital step toward realizing President Trump&#8217;s and Prime Minister Modi&#8217;s vision because it sets a roadmap toward a final deal.&#8221;
India, along with Japan and South Korea, seem to be making the greatest amount of headway in talks with the United States.
These &#8220;Asian trading partners and allies,&#8221; Bessent said, &#8220;have been the most forthcoming in terms of doing the deals &#8230; Vice President Vance was in India last week. I think that he and President Modi made very good progress, so I could see some announcements on India. I could see the contours of a deal with the Republic of Korea coming together, and then we&#8217;ve had substantial talks with the Japanese.&#8221;
Because Japan and South Korea have elections coming up in the months ahead, Bessent sees an opportunity to reach agreements with them sooner rather than later.
&#8220;I think from our talks that these governments actually want to have the framework of a trade deal done before they go into the elections to show that they have successfully negotiated with the United States,&#8221; Bessent said. &#8220;So, we’re finding that they’re actually much more keen to come to the table, get this done, and then go home and campaign on it.&#8221;
Trump implemented the &#8220;Liberation Day&#8221; tariffs by declaring a <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/04/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-declares-national-emergency-to-increase-our-competitive-edge-protect-our-sovereignty-and-strengthen-our-national-and-economic-security/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">national emergency</a> to combat what his administration says are unfair trade practices, protect American workers, and strengthen national security. While most countries received a 90-day reprieve, the United States <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-issues-90-day-pause-on-most-tariffs-raises-chinas-to-125" target="_blank" rel="noopener">increased</a> the overall tariff level on China to 145%. Beijing responded by <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/11/china-strikes-back-with-125percent-tariffs-on-us-goods-starting-april-12.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">raising</a> tariffs on U.S. goods to 125%.
Bessent would not say during the briefing whether Trump administration officials have been talking with their counterparts from China about tariffs, but he did <a href="https://grabien.com/story?id=525096" target="_blank" rel="noopener">express</a> the view that, &#8220;over time, we will see that the Chinese tariffs are unsustainable for China.&#8221;

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent

Sorry, China: Bessent Says Deal With Massive Trade Partner ‘Very Close’

China

Global Politics

India

Scott Bessent

World

The Supreme Court hands President Donald Trump two wins – one on deportation and another on downsizing the government. The stock market sees another turbulent day, leading to China increasing its reciprocal tariffs on U.S. imports to 84%. And, Trump is set for nuclear negotiations with Iran but warns that the regime might be in jeopardy if talks go south.
It’s Wednesday, April 9, and this is the news you need to know to start your day. If you’d rather listen to your news, today’s edition of the Morning Wire podcast can be heard below:
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<h2>Supreme Court Clears The Way For Deportations &amp; DOGE</h2>
<div id="attachment_905039" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-905039" class="size-large wp-image-905039" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/SCOTUS-Facade-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/SCOTUS-Facade-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/SCOTUS-Facade-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/SCOTUS-Facade-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/SCOTUS-Facade-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/SCOTUS-Facade-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/SCOTUS-Facade-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/SCOTUS-Facade-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />(Photo by Al Drago/Getty Images)</div>
Topline: The Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for the Trump administration to deport alleged illegal alien gang members under a 1798 law. 
The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that President Trump may use the Alien Enemies Act to deport suspected gang members –  but the court also said those potential deportees have a right to due process. The decision had both sides of the case claiming victory.
“Today is a bad day to be a terrorist in the United States of America,&#8221; Kristi Noem, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, said on Monday. “Today, the Supreme Court came out with a decision that reaffirmed that President Trump was correct in using his authority on using the Alien Enemies Act to deport terrorists out of this country. Thank you President Trump for your leadership in making America safe again.”
However: The justices unanimously agreed that in each case, the alien has a right to have his deportation order reviewed by a judge. 
The case was brought by a group of Venezuelan nationals. They filed suit in the D.C. District Court and the case fell to Judge James Boasberg – who has frequently ruled against the administration. Boasberg put a freeze on not only the deportations. The Supreme Court said the lawsuit should have been filed in Texas, where the deportees were being held.
The illegal immigration case was related to a lower court judge’s deadline for the administration to return a mistakenly deported Salvadoran national to the United States. Kilmer Abrego Garcia, 29, was mistakenly deported to El Salvador – he had previously said he would face violence if deported back to his home. A judge had given the Trump administration until midnight on Monday to get him back to the United States. The administration said that timeline was impractical, and the Supreme Court agreed.
In other news: The Supreme Court knocked down a lower court order that blocked Trump from cutting 16,000 probationary workers from the federal government
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<h2>The Trade War Continues: Allies Seek Detente, Rivals Escalate</h2>
<div id="attachment_905041" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-905041" class="size-large wp-image-905041" src="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Trade-War-NYSE-Floor-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Trade-War-NYSE-Floor-864x576.jpg 864w, https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Trade-War-NYSE-Floor-300x200.jpg 300w, https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Trade-War-NYSE-Floor-768x512.jpg 768w, https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Trade-War-NYSE-Floor-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://www.dailywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Trade-War-NYSE-Floor-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />(Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)</div>
Topline: One week after Liberation Day, President Trump says he is gearing up for formal tariff negotiations with trade partners, offering optimism for consumers and markets as China raises its reciprocal tariffs on U.S. goods to 84%. 
On Tuesday, the president announced major developments on a trade deal with South Korea, America’s sixth-largest trading partner. Writing on Truth Social, Trump said he’d just finished a “great call” with acting President Han Duck-soo, <a href="https://x.com/annmarie/status/1909597238260625410">adding,</a> “We have the confines and probability of a great DEAL for both countries. Their top TEAM is on a plane heading to the U.S., and things are looking good.” 
According to the South Korean government, they’re willing to import more American products, particularly natural gas, in exchange for reduced tariffs. Likewise, the president said <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-spoke-ishiba-set-tough-141853292.html">Japan</a>, our fourth-largest trade partner, is sending a negotiating team to Washington to meet directly with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
In the coming days, the Trump administration will host representatives from Vietnam, our tenth-largest trading partner. And on April 17, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will visit the White House to negotiate on behalf of the European Union. All told, the White House says nearly 70 countries have expressed a desire to negotiate.
“To countries around the world, bring us your best offers and [President Trump] will listen,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt <a href="https://x.com/RapidResponse47/status/1909660284568109505">told</a> reporters on Tuesday. “Deals will only be made if they benefit American workers and address our nation’s crippling trade deficits. America does not need other countries as much as other countries need us and President Trump knows this.”
However: Beijing appears to be digging its heels in for a drawn-out trade war. On Wednesday, China, America’s largest trading partner, said it would increase its reciprocal tariffs on U.S. imports to 84%. This was after China had doubled down, saying it would “never accept such treatment” before slapping additional 34% tariffs on U.S. imports. China accused the White House of economic “blackmail,” and Trump responded with a 50% tariff on top of those already in place — starting at midnight on April 9, when the Chinese began facing 104% tariffs on all goods coming to America. It’s not exactly breaking news that the U.S. imports a lot of stuff from China — the expected price increases on those goods are clearly spooking investors.
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<h2>Trump Announces “Top Level” Talks With Iran</h2>
<div id="attachment_905047" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-905047" class="size-large wp-image-905047" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Trump-with-Netanyahu-Co-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Trump-with-Netanyahu-Co-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Trump-with-Netanyahu-Co-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Trump-with-Netanyahu-Co-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Trump-with-Netanyahu-Co-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Trump-with-Netanyahu-Co-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Trump-with-Netanyahu-Co-1800x1200.jpg 1800w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/04/Trump-with-Netanyahu-Co-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />(Photo by Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images</div>
Topline: On Monday, President Trump announced that his administration will have “top-level” direct talks with Iran.
During a meeting in the Oval Office with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Trump announced that he would be open to negotiations with Iran on Saturday. If these talks do not go well, Trump said that the Iranian regime will be in “great danger.”
“It’s not a complicated formula,” Trump <a href="https://x.com/KassyAkiva/status/1909339143026663769?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1909339143026663769%7Ctwgr%5E7d8fe0700f7a5f78c5fbe98930a68e6e11b7c20f%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailywire.com%2Fnews%2Ftrump-says-iran-will-be-in-great-danger-if-saturdays-nuclear-talks-fail">said</a>. “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, that’s all there is. Right now we have countries that have nuclear power that shouldn’t have it but I’m sure we will be able to negotiate out of that too as part of this later and down the line. But Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and if the talks aren’t successful, I actually think it will be a very bad day for Iran.”
President Trump said the talks would be high-level and direct but declined to say where they would occur. However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi later said the talks would take place in Oman and be indirect. In a post on <a href="https://x.com/araghchi/status/1909381747709546786">X</a>, Araqchi wrote, “It is as much an opportunity as it is a test. The ball is in America’s court.” Iranian state-run media gave some more <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx25e5rd2v9o">purported details</a> – they reported that the talks would be between Araqchi and U.S. Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff, with Oman’s foreign minister Badr al-Busaidi as a mediator.
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Iran and the United States will meet in Oman on Saturday for indirect high-level talks.
It is as much an opportunity as it is a test. The ball is in America&#39;s court.
&mdash; Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) <a href="https://twitter.com/araghchi/status/1909381747709546786?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 7, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Remember: Trump was an outspoken critic of former President Barack Obama’s 2015 nuclear deal with the Iranian regime, calling it “one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into” and withdrew from it in 2018. Throughout his entire first term, Trump waged a “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran in hopes of curbing both its nuclear program and its support of terror around the world. Under President Joe Biden, Iran’s various proxy groups in the Middle East ramped up their aggression: in Yemen, the Houthis began attacking shipping vessels in the Red Sea, and in Gaza, Hamas launched the October 7 terror attacks, killing roughly 1,200 people in Israel. 
Trump is pursuing a deal now because Iran is reportedly <a href="https://isis-online.org/isis-reports/detail/the-iran-threat-geiger-counter-extreme-danger-grows">weeks away</a> from producing a nuclear weapon. The Trump administration has taken<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-shares-footage-of-military-strike-on-houthis-they-will-never-sink-our-ships-again"> extensive military action</a> against the Houthis, which could be construed as a show of force against their Iranian backers, and American military assets have <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/irans-military-commanders-locked-and-loaded-for-preemptive-strike-on-u-s-bombers-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">surged</a> to the region in preparation for a possible strike.

Gavel And U.S. Supreme Court Building

Morning Brief: Trump SCOTUS Wins, Trade War & Nuclear Talks With Iran

European Union

Immigration

Iran

Iran Nuclear

Israel

Media

Morning Wire

Supreme Court

Impeached <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/south-korea" target="_blank" rel="noopener">South Korean</a> President Yoon Suk Yeol was taken into custody on Wednesday, more than a month after his martial law declaration sent shockwaves through the country.
Yoon <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/impeached-south-korean-president-defies-arrest-warrant-as-his-supporters-block-police" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defied</a> a previous arrest attempt as his security forces and thousands of his supporters stood between the police and his presidential compound in Seoul. In a second attempt to detain Yoon, more than 3,000 police officers were sent to the president&#8217;s compound and arrested him with &#8220;no significant physical clashes,&#8221; the Corruption Investigation Office for High Ranking Officials (CIO) said, according to <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/15/south-korean-president-yoon-suk-yeol-detained-local-media-reports-.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CNBC</a>. The CIO added, &#8220;This time, there were no individuals or security staff actively obstructing the execution.&#8221;
Yoon was questioned by officials and sent to a detention center after his arrest, the Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/article/south-korea-yoon-martial-law-detain-8dd7f03661be39729741de9a3b5d1714" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. Before his arrest, Yoon said in a recorded video that the “rule of law has completely collapsed in this country,” arguing that the CIO investigation into his actions was &#8220;illegal.&#8221; The president added that he would willingly appear before the CIO for questioning to “prevent an unpleasant bloodshed.”
Hundreds of Yoon&#8217;s supporters showed up outside the CIO office where he was being questioned, with some protesters holding signs that read, &#8220;We will fight alongside President Yoon Suk Yeol,&#8221; according to the AP.
The CIO was granted an arrest warrant for Yoon by a Seoul court late last month. Yoon is accused of abusing his power when he declared martial law and dispatched the military to the National Assembly as lawmakers gathered to undo the martial law decree on December 3. He was later <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/south-korean-lawmakers-move-to-impeach-president-over-short-lived-martial-law-order" target="_blank" rel="noopener">impeached</a>, and his presidential powers were suspended. To be removed from office, six of the nine justices on South Korea’s Constitutional Court must vote in favor of his removal.
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?_gl=1*1lail3r*_gcl_aw*R0NMLjE3MzIyMDEyNDkuQ2owS0NRaUEwZnU1QmhEUUFSSXNBTVhVQk9JSkM0VnNsMFVreURxYXUxVWVEVWdOdjZkNzR2Y1pEeEZQeHVBcGl2R3BLaTdBMjVzT1p5TWFBdG1nRUFMd193Y0I.*_gcl_au*NDUxNDQ0NzYwLjE3MzY3ODI2NDY.*_ga*MTc2NzM0NDQ2NS4xNzI4OTA5Nzkx*_ga_CZKR9ZYKJP*MTczNjk1NzYwMy4zNDAuMS4xNzM2OTU3NzE2LjYwLjAuMA.." target="_blank" rel="noopener">CELEBRATE #47 WITH 47% OFF DAILYWIRE+ MEMBERSHIPS + A FREE $20 GIFT</a>
The CIO has 48 hours to request a court order for Yoon&#8217;s formal arrest, which, if granted, could lead to the impeached president being detained for up to 20 days before his indictment. An indictment on rebellion and abuse of power charges could keep Yoon in police custody for up to six months or when the court makes its initial ruling on the case, the AP reported.
Yoon declared martial law last month, arguing it was necessary “to defend the free Republic of Korea from the threats of North Korean communist forces and to eradicate the shameless pro-North Korean anti-state forces.”
Yoon cited an unworkable relationship with the opposition-led National Assembly, which had targeted 22 officials for impeachment since Yoon took office in 2022 and, according to Yoon, planned to target 10 more officials. The president also cited National Assembly reductions in the national budget, which he said “undermined the essential functions of the state and turned Korea into a drug paradise and a public order panic.”
Tim Pearce contributed to this report.

President Yoon Suk Yeol

South Korean President Arrested After Thousands Of Police Officers Sent To His Residence

arrest

Impeachment

Police

The impeached <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/south-korea" target="_blank" rel="noopener">South Korean</a> conservative president, Yoon Suk Yeol, is defying an arrest warrant as his supporters stand between the police and his presidential compound in Seoul.
Yoon is accused of abusing his power when he sent shockwaves through the country on December 3 by declaring martial law. The Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials was granted an arrest warrant for Yoon by a Seoul court on Tuesday. The president was impeached last month after he declared martial law and dispatched the military to the National Assembly as lawmakers gathered to undo the martial law decree.
Thousands of Yoon&#8217;s supporters, some of them waving South Korean and American flags, have gathered near his residence this week where they voiced support for Yoon and blocked police from arresting the impeached president. Officers arrested some of the supporters who lay down on the road in front of Yoon&#8217;s residence.
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&quot;South Korean citizens gather in front of the presidential residence to prevent the arrest of President Yoon Suk-yeol immediately after a warrant was issued for his arrest.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/Hrw2TRFgGS">pic.twitter.com/Hrw2TRFgGS</a>
&mdash; 김정현 (Alfred J Kim) (@AJKim38836296) <a href="https://twitter.com/AJKim38836296/status/1874226744850596205?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 31, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Yoon addressed his supporters in a written message on Wednesday, vowing to “fight to the end” against “anti-state forces,” the Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/article/south-korean-yoon-martial-law-impeachment-detention-1779809dc6b2c7e5a9478bac17ca7585" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. Yoon&#8217;s lawyers warned on Thursday that law enforcement officers who attempt to arrest Yoon could be detained by the president&#8217;s security team or even by civilians. The president&#8217;s legal team argues that warrants for the arrest of Yoon and for the search of his residence violate the country&#8217;s constitution and criminal laws, according to the AP.
In Yoon&#8217;s message to supporters, he called out forces “violating our sovereignty” and thanked his supporters for fighting for “liberal democracy and constitutional order.” When he announced martial law last month, Yoon said it was necessary “to defend the free Republic of Korea from the threats of North Korean communist forces and to eradicate the shameless pro-North Korean anti-state forces.”
Yoon also cited an unworkable relationship with the opposition-led National Assembly, which had targeted 22 officials for impeachment since Yoon took office in 2022 and, according to Yoon, planned to target 10 more officials. The president also cited National Assembly reductions in the national budget, which he said “undermined the essential functions of the state and turned Korea into a drug paradise and a public order panic.”
The National Assembly voted 190-0 to end martial law shortly after it was declared. The Democratic Party&#8217;s floor leader Park Chan-dae has called for the immediate arrest of Yoon, arguing that the &#8220;presidential security service must cooperate with the lawful execution of the detainment warrant.&#8221;
“They should be aware that obstructing the execution of the detainment warrant could result in punishment for interference with official duties and complicity in rebellion,” he said.
Nine justices of South Korea’s Constitutional Court must determine whether to remove Yoon from office following his impeachment. Six justices must vote in favor of the impeachment for Yoon to be removed from office. Yoon&#8217;s presidential powers were suspended when he did not fill three Constitutional Court vacancies for the court to review his case. Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, the acting president, filled two of the court vacancies on Tuesday.
Tim Pearce contributed to this report.

South Korea protest

Impeached South Korean President Defies Arrest Warrant As His Supporters Block Police

South Korean President Defies Arrest Warrant As His Supporters Block Police

General

Martial Law

Law enforcement officials in South Korea requested a court warrant to detain President Yoon Suk Yeol on Monday, nearly a month after the country&#8217;s National Assembly unanimously struck down the president&#8217;s martial law decree.
The arrest warrant was requested by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials, which is leading a joint investigation with police and military into Yoon&#8217;s martial law decree, the Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/article/south-korea-yoon-martial-law-detain-rebellion-d00aa71be342df39b9775e49f90f5756" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. Yoon was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/south-korean-lawmakers-move-to-impeach-president-over-short-lived-martial-law-order" target="_blank" rel="noopener">impeached</a> by the National Assembly on December 14, and now, the nine justices of South Korea’s Constitutional Court must determine whether to remove Yoon from office.
Yoon&#8217;s lawyer slammed the arrest warrant request and filed a challenge in the same court, according to the AP.
“An incumbent president cannot be prosecuted for abuse of power,” the lawyer said. “Of course, there are differing academic opinions on whether a president can be investigated for abuse of power and some assert that investigations are possible. But even when investigations are allowed, the prevailing opinion is that they should be exercised with the utmost restraint.”
Yoon, a conservative, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/south-korea-declares-martial-law-to-guard-against-communist-forces" target="_blank" rel="noopener">declared</a> martial law on December 3 in what he said was an effort &#8220;to defend the free Republic of Korea from the threats of North Korean communist forces and to eradicate the shameless pro-North Korean anti-state forces.” The declaration sent shockwaves across the country and the world.
Yoon was also accused of sending the military to prevent the National Assembly from voting to undo the president&#8217;s martial law decree. The National Assembly eventually voted 190-0 to end martial law.
Former South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun was arrested following the martial law decree and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/south-korea-martial-law-3210438b8663fe609bfe4cb8b748a114" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly</a> tried to commit suicide while in detention. Kim is accused of urging Yoon to declare martial law. The former defense minister was the first official arrested over the martial law decree. He said in a statement that he “deeply apologizes for causing significant anxiety.”
Yoon maintains that martial law was necessary and said he did not send the military to disrupt the National Assembly. The president argued that the martial law decree was a warning to the liberal Democratic Party, which has the majority in the National Assembly.
In a speech announcing martial law, Yoon cited an unworkable relationship with the opposition-led National Assembly, which had targeted 22 officials for impeachment since Yoon took office in 2022 and, according to Yoon, planned to target 10 more officials. The president also cited National Assembly reductions in the national budget, which he said “undermined the essential functions of the state and turned Korea into a drug paradise and a public order panic.”
Last April, liberals won the parliamentary elections in a landslide, strengthening the Democratic Party&#8217;s hold on the National Assembly.
Tim Pearce contributed to this report.

Yoon Suk Yeol

Authorities Seek To Arrest South Korean President Over Martial Law Decree

Dozens of people were killed when a Boeing 737-800 exploded on Sunday in South Korea after the plane skidded off a runway and slammed into concrete wall.
The South Korean Jeju Air flight had taken off from Bangkok and was landing at Muan International Airport at approximately 9 a.m. local time when the incident unfolded.
Out of the 181 people who were on board, including passengers and crew, at least 179 people were killed.
Footage of the crash showed that the plane&#8217;s landing gear failed to deploy as it skidded down the runway upon landing.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Horrifying footage emerging of a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 (not a Max) with 175 onboard involved in a crash at Muan International Airport in South Korea — video shows the aircraft attempting a ‘belly landing’ (without its landing gear extended) before impacting the perimeter wall <a href="https://t.co/C3JCUz8Iw8">pic.twitter.com/C3JCUz8Iw8</a>
— Alex Macheras (@AlexInAir) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlexInAir/status/1873176582480912728?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 29, 2024</a></blockquote>
The Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/article/south-korea-plane-fire-68da9b0bd5196feed6e7d2db849f461a">reported</a> that South Korean Transport Ministry officials indicated that communications showed that the airport control tower warned the plane about a potential bird strike shortly before it landed and gave the pilot permission to land in a different area.
Additional footage appeared to show a potential explosion in one of the airplane&#8217;s engines shortly before landing — potentially from a bird strike.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
South Korea’s MBC TV has released Footage appearing to show an Explosion, possibly a Bird Strike, in the Right-Wing Engine of Jeju Air Flight 2216, right before it Crashed earlier at Muan International Airport in South Korea. <a href="https://t.co/Vsy23dmuFZ">pic.twitter.com/Vsy23dmuFZ</a>
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) <a href="https://twitter.com/sentdefender/status/1873185457288429583?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 29, 2024</a></blockquote>
The plane crash was the worst aviation disaster the country has experienced in approximately 30 years, The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/12/28/world/south-korea-plane-crash">reported</a>.
&#8220;We are in contact with Jeju Air regarding flight 2216 and stand ready to support them,&#8221; Boeing said in a statement. &#8220;We extend our deepest condolences to the families who lost loved ones, and our thoughts remain with the passengers and crew.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<a href="https://t.co/TIrIUBw4RB">pic.twitter.com/TIrIUBw4RB</a>
— The Boeing Company (@Boeing) <a href="https://twitter.com/Boeing/status/1873240531771285768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 29, 2024</a></blockquote>

The Muan Airport Plane Crash Is Suspected To Have Been Caused By A Bird Strike

Plane Crashes While Trying To Land In South Korea Killing Nearly Everyone On Board

Boeing

Plane Crash

The second season of the popular <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/netflix">Netflix</a> series “Squid Game” has some <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/lgbtq">LGBT</a> activists up in arms because a “cis man” was cast to play the part of a transgender-identified character.
The series, which became a massive hit in 2021, is a dystopian survival thriller about broke contestants vying to win a cash prize on a game show. To be victorious, they have to participate in a series of children’s games such as Red Light/Green Light and Marbles, but losing a game is a death sentence.
Actor Park Sung-hoo was cast in the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/south-korea">Korea</a><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/south-korea">n</a>-language show’s second season to play the role of Hyun-Ju, a transgender woman. But activists wish an actual trans-identifying star had been cast instead.
“This is not how you give representation&#8230; a cis man pretending to be part of a minority group just doesn’t sit right with me, especially when they could’ve hired an actual trans actress,” one person <a href="https://x.com/dawnmoer/status/1864457966948139257">wrote</a> on X.
“Could they not cast an actual transgender woman… this gonna piss me off,” a second commenter <a href="https://x.com/arianaunext/status/1864456453035307202">wrote</a>.
There were plenty of people in the comments pointing out the flaw in the argument that an actor couldn’t pretend to be someone he wasn’t.
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“People mad they cast a man to play a man,” one person <a href="https://x.com/DPGBehler/status/1864720287423443265">wrote</a>.
“An actor pretending to be someone pretending. Wokeception!” another <a href="https://x.com/The_VA_Ginge/status/1864692372048683322">joked</a>.
Park said during a “Meet the Cast” interview that the character Hyun-Ju is a former special forces soldier who is working to raise money for gender reassignment surgery.
“Even though she faces prejudices and tough situations, she shows incredible strength, decisiveness, and natural leadership. Through her resilience, she breaks down stereotypes and shines as an inspiring character,” the actor said.
The second season of “Squid Game” premieres on December 26. 
This issue has come up before on the topic of straight actors playing gay roles in Hollywood. 
“There’s no part I’ve ever played where I wasn’t playing something I’m not. It’s part of the gig,” actor Eric McCormack, who played Will on the sitcom “Will &amp; Grace,” <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/will-grace-star-weighs-in-on-straight-actors-playing-gay-characters">said</a> on the topic earlier this year.
The actor continued, “If gay actors weren’t allowed to play straight actors, Broadway would be over. So this is what we do.”
Meanwhile, Tom Hanks believes the opposite is true.
“Could a straight man do what I did in ‘Philadelphia’ now? No, and rightly so,” he told The New York Times in a 2022 interview.
“The whole point of ‘Philadelphia’ was don’t be afraid. One of the reasons people weren’t afraid of that movie is that I was playing a gay man,” he added. “We’re beyond that now. I don’t think people would accept the inauthenticity of a straight guy playing a gay guy. It’s not a crime, it’s not boohoo, that someone would say we are going to demand more of a movie in the modern realm of authenticity.”

Squid Game

LGBT Activists Complain That ‘Squid Game 2’ Trans Character Is ‘A Cis Man Pretending’

LGBT Activists Complain That 'Squid Game 2' Trans Character Is 'A Cis Man Pretending'

Entertainment

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Television

Transgender

There was an attempt at a military dictatorship in South Korea in which the president of South Korea issued a command for martial law. It was reversed hours later, but what exactly was going on there? 
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is a member of a party that controls the presidency but is in the minority in the actual parliament of the country. He claimed the majority in the parliament (a party called the Democratic Party in South Korea) is basically a tool of the North Koreans, citing them to be crypto-communists preventing the functioning of the government. 
Essentially, the Democratic Party of South Korea, which represents a large majority in the National Assembly, has been threatening and attempting to impeach the state prosecutors who are looking into the Democratic Party leadership. The prosecutors were supposed to be looking into the family of the president of South Korea, and they had apparently decided to exonerate the president’s wife. Meanwhile, the same prosecutors were additionally looking into the leadership of the Democratic Party regarding corruption charges. In turn, the Democratic Party attempted to impeach these prosecutors. 
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So, the South Korean president looked at the opposition party (which controls the National Assembly) and contended they were attempting to clean out the prosecutorial part of the government in order to protect themselves or weaponize it against him. Therefore, he would declare martial law. 
The South Korean parliament voted unanimously to defy the country&#8217;s president and lift his martial law declaration.  
But there’s something deeper happening here. 
This sort of constitutional crisis is now taking place in a variety of countries. It’s happening in Israel, where there are fights between the prosecutorial wing of the government and the government of Benjamin Netanyahu. It&#8217;s happening in Hungary, where they&#8217;ve been fighting over state prosecutors. It&#8217;s happening in Brazil, where Lula da Silva, the authoritarian Left-wing leader of the country, is now attempting to militarize the justice system against Jair Bolsonaro, his predecessor. And, of course, there are shades of this in the United States. 
Why, exactly, is all this happening right now? 
To understand that, we must understand the role of the prosecutorial system in democratic republics, because that has changed over time. And this has implications, by the way, for everything, up to and including the Hunter Biden pardon and the Biden DOJ weaponizing itself against Donald Trump.
Democratic republics typically rely on checks and balances to prevent the government from engaging in authoritarianism; that is the basis of the United States Constitution. The House and the Senate check one another. Both are checked by the presidency, and all three of those bodies are checked by the judiciary and vice versa. 
Traditionally, one of the checks and balances to avoid tyranny was impeachment. If you didn&#8217;t like members of the government or you suspected that members of the government were corrupt, a bipartisan majority would work to oust those corrupt officials. 
This is obviously problematic when it comes to getting rid of corrupt officials because if the corrupt official happens to be a member of your party, then you are very unlikely to vote for their impeachment. 
In Democratic republics, the question of how to police corruption is a very real question if there is a corrupt public official. The United States Constitution says that person is impeached in the House, and then there is a full trial in the Senate. 
When the Constitution was designed, Alexander Hamilton and the rest of the Founding Fathers believed the Senate would be the most objective body. United States senators were not appointed by party or by public approval. They were appointed by the state legislatures, and they served six-year terms. The goal was for them to be more independent of the public passions than the House.
The judiciary could not do it because the judiciary could be hijacked. But the Senate was sort of half political: answerable but also indirectly answerable to the public — and thus more insulated from public pressure.
Hamilton pointed out that setting up a separate impeachment court (which we might now call the DOJ) wouldn&#8217;t actually solve the problem because that, too, could be politicized.
The problem is that over time, in a wide variety of countries, as democratic republics and their checks and balances have transitioned into administrative bureaucracies in which enormous power is centralized in the executive branch, checks and balances have atrophied until Donald Trump was impeached twice. The impeachment power was almost never used by the Congress of the United States, for example.
We made a decision at the outset of the 20th century that was echoed in other burgeoning democracies that law enforcement checking corruption was not to be done by the elected bodies of government. Instead, it was outsourced to so-called independent branches of government.
In the United States, that is the Department of Justice; in South Korea, it is the state prosecutor&#8217;s office; in Brazil, the prosecutors, the police, the judiciary; in Israel, the attorney general, and so forth.
There is a problem that happens here, and this is a problem with the administrative state. The problem is that state prosecutors can also be corrupted by politics, as we have seen in the United States. And then the solution isn&#8217;t to change the people in government anymore, because these are independent branches, and they&#8217;re unelected. It&#8217;s not a matter of replacing some people with other people.
If you fire some people, that&#8217;s considered interference with the magical “objective branch.” If you leave people in place and they target your political opponents, it&#8217;s weaponization.
That&#8217;s what leads to constitutional crises. Once the job of policing corruption from the elected branches of government — like the Senate of the United States or the National Assembly in South Korea — is outsourced to state prosecutors, sooner or later, state prosecutors will attempt to go after the wrong people, the legislature after state prosecutors, or the president after state prosecutors, in order to prevent weaponization.
This is the problem with sending up fake “objective legal enforcement” bodies. It creates constitutional crises because the only solution to a politicized law enforcement branch is to either overthrow the government for interfering with the system, which is what the president of South Korea attempted to do, or to call for the overthrow of the government for weaponizing the system.
Constitutional crises are the result of supposedly untouchable, nonpartisan institutions that can either be weaponized or interfered with.
This is happening across the West. It&#8217;s a major, major problem. It&#8217;s the problem with administrative governments. It&#8217;s a major problem in regards to the idea that it is the job of impartial legal bodies to police corruption.
So democracies are throwing themselves into crisis, specifically over this.
Let&#8217;s say that you are in the United States and you are really, really angry that Donald Trump became president in 2016. What do you do? You could try to impeach him, but it will probably fail if you don&#8217;t have the votes because it&#8217;ll break down along strictly partisan lines. 
What do you do instead? You rely on the DOJ; you rely on the FBI. You weaponize those institutions against Trump. And that prompts Trump, if he becomes president, to clean out those institutions, in which case he will be accused of weaponizing those institutions. And so the constitutional crisis just continues to roll on, all because this sort of bipartisan consensus around impeaching presidents who are guilty of crimes has gone away in the United States. 
You could say it died during the Clinton era. And the United States is now feeling the aftereffects. 
The same is true in Israel. In Israel, the attorney general&#8217;s office has put Benjamin Netanyahu under three separate prosecutions; all of them appear to be somewhat specious. The goal is obviously political. Netanyahu has been in power for some 14 of the last 15 years in Israel. He&#8217;s a masterful Machiavellian politician, just in pure, raw talent terms. And so the attorney general&#8217;s office has been weaponized against him, as claims Netanyahu, which I think is largely correct in a wide variety of cases. 
But every time he tries to mess with the prosecution, he&#8217;s accused of tampering with democracy.
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Once these institutions are set up as the final arbiter of guilt and innocence, then anyone who tampers with them on either side is then considered a threat to democracy, even if the person who is actually militarizing law enforcement is the person who is in power.
In Brazil, the law enforcement mechanisms have been weaponized by Lula da Silva against Jair Bolsonaro. That means as Lula is cleaning out the judiciary institutions, he&#8217;s being lauded as someone upholding the norms of democracy while he, at the same time, engages in widespread censorship. Instead of corruption being seen as a political issue to be answered by the political branches and eventually the people, because it&#8217;s been outsourced to law enforcement, the law enforcement branch can be routinely corrupted.
Not all that long ago Lula himself had been banned from running because of his own corruption convictions. Then, in 2021, a Left-wing Supreme Court judge annulled his corruption convictions and allowed him to run again. After he ran and won, the Brazilian police formally accused former President Bolsonaro and his aides of an alleged 2022 coup attempt. That happened just last week.
Bolsonaro has said he would fight the case. Meanwhile, Lula is openly consolidating power in the executive branch in wildly anti-democratic ways. But he has been praised by many members of the media as an anti-authoritarian politician. Yet the reality is that Lula has been a close ally of Venezuela&#8217;s Nicolas Maduro, who&#8217;s been a close ally of the Cuban regime. In fact, it&#8217;s rare to find some sort of authoritarian regime that Lula doesn&#8217;t like. From China to Nicaragua, from Iran to Russia, he has cozied up to authoritarians everywhere. But because he&#8217;s a Left-wing authoritarian, the perception is that he&#8217;s not really an authoritarian, even if he engages in widespread censorship.
This is what happens when democratic republics delegate the power to check political opposition to a supposedly objective, nonpartisan branch of government. It&#8217;s not real. It doesn&#8217;t work. Administrative states do not work for precisely this reason because they&#8217;re never dispassionate, ever.
It&#8217;s true in a wide variety of countries, from South Korea to Israel to Hungary to Brazil.
It&#8217;s always a problem.
Again, all of this breakdown is happening because so many people across so many Westernized countries have decided they no longer trust the mechanisms of checks and balances of the democratic republic and, instead, are going to delegate all power to these impartial institutions.
Then, those institutions break down.
And then, the entire country starts to break down.

South Korean Lawmakers Overturn President’s Declaration Of Martial Law

WTF Just Happened In South Korea?

Brazil

Democratic Party

Founding Fathers

Opinion

Parliament

prosecutors

South Korean lawmakers are moving to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over a short-lived martial law declaration that was unanimously shot down in the National Assembly on Tuesday.
Opposition parties in South Korea introduced a motion to impeach Yoon on Wednesday. That motion could be voted on as early as this week and would require a two-thirds majority to pass the unicameral National Assembly. Six of the nine justices on South Korea’s Constitutional Court would then have to approve the motion to remove Yoon from office, according to the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/south-korea-yoon-martial-law-25a2a7c957e77a19f771b6b7c56a2173" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Associated Press</a>.
The opposition coalition in the National Assembly, led by South Korea’s Democratic Party, holds 191 seats in the 300-seat parliament, so the impeachment motion would need support from some members of Yoon’s own People Power Party to pass.
Parliament members voted unanimously 190-0 in an emergency session early Wednesday to rescind Yoon’s Tuesday martial law declaration. That vote included more than a dozen members from Yoon’s party.
The situation means that Yoon, a conservative politician who has been friendly with the United States, may be nearing the end of his political career. His martial law order shocked even members of his own party and inspired widespread backlash. Armed soldiers surrounded the National Assembly and clashed with protesters in a scene reminiscent of South Korea’s military rule of the 1980s.
Yoon’s gamble has left experts wondering what the president believed would happen.
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“I was in Seoul less than two weeks ago meeting with very senior officials and there was no indication that Yoon would do this, or even a warning of Yoon’s growing anger,” said Bruce Klingner, a senior research fellow and expert on northeast Asia for The Heritage Foundation. “It really was quite a shocking development. I think it caught everyone by surprise.”
“I think the implications are that Yoon, perhaps, is a dead man walking, and that he may well be impeached to be replaced by someone who will not be in line with U.S. objectives,” Klingner told The Daily Wire.
Yoon delivered a speech denouncing “shameless pro-North Korean anti-state forces that are plundering the freedom and happiness of our people” before declaring martial law. The military rule, which placed strict regulations on the media and political activity, was to remain in effect until Yoon could &#8220;eradicate anti-state forces … and normalize the country,” he said.
The president cited an unworkable relationship with South Korea’s opposition-led National Assembly, which had targeted 22 officials for impeachment since Yoon took office in 2022 and, according to Yoon, planned to target 10 more officials. The president also cited National Assembly reductions in the national budget, which he said “undermined the essential functions of the state and turned Korea into a drug paradise and a public order panic.”
Yoon&#8217;s complaints about the parliament fell short of justifying a declaration of martial law, however. The National Assembly’s behavior, while obstructionist, was carried out through constitutional means, according to Klingner.
“It does seem to be extra-constitutional actions by the president,” Klingner said. “There is a clause, which he cited in his declaration, as allowing the president to declare martial law, but that is reserved for war, armed conflict, or a national emergency, none of which seems to be prevalent here.”

South Korean Lawmakers Move To Impeach President Over Short-Lived Martial Law Order

Heritage Foundation

<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/south-korea" target="_blank" rel="noopener">South Korean</a> President Yoon Suk Yeol said early Wednesday morning local time that he has lifted the &#8220;emergency martial law&#8221; decree that he signed into effect just six hours earlier.
&#8220;I declared emergency martial law at 11 p.m. last night as an act of national resolve against the anti-state forces that are trying to paralyze the essential functions of the state and disrupt the constitutional order of our liberal democracy,&#8221; he said in a statement.
&#8220;However, a short time ago, the National Assembly demanded that martial law be lifted, so I withdrew the military forces that had been deployed to carry out martial law,&#8221; he continued, &#8220;I will lift martial law as soon as we have a quorum in the cabinet. It’s early in the morning, so we don’t have a quorum yet.&#8221;
Yoon&#8217;s decision to end the martial came after 190 members of South Korea’s 300 National Assembly members quickly gathered for an emergency session in which all 190 voted to block the move.
He called on the National Assembly to &#8220;immediately stop the outrageous behavior that is paralyzing the functioning of the country with impeachments, legislative manipulation and budget manipulation.&#8221;
The decree from Yoon, who has seen his approval ratings plummet in recent months, comes after the country ended its military dictatorship in the 1980s.
The New York Times noted that the conservative president won his election by campaigning on being tougher toward North Korea and calling for strengthening the country’s alliance with the U.S.
Yoon declared martial law in an attempt to bring an end to the paralysis in operating the government that was caused by the National Assembly being won by the opposing party, the country’s Democratic Party, earlier this year.
In his speech announcing the martial law, Yoon said that the political opposition inside the country had paralyzed the government’s ability to operate by initiating 22 impeachment proceedings against government officials over the last six months in addition to nearly a dozen more that were planned.
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“This is a situation that is not only unprecedented in any country in the world, but has never been seen since the founding of our country,” he said late on Tuesday night local time. “It is paralyzing the judiciary by intimidating judges and impeaching a number of prosecutors, and it is paralyzing the executive branch by trying to impeach the Minister of the Interior, the Chairman of the Communications Commission, the Chair of the Board of Audit, and the Defense Minister.”
He said that the country’s security was being weakened by members of the National Assembly who had “undermined the essential functions of the state” by cutting key measures from the country’s national budget.
He added that the country’s Democratic Party had a “legislative dictatorship” that it was using “as a means of political struggle.”
He said the National Assembly had turned into a “den of criminals” that was committing “obvious anti-state act[s]” and plotting “insurrection.”
Yoon said martial law was needed “to defend the free Republic of Korea from the threats of North Korean communist forces and to eradicate the shameless pro-North Korean anti-state forces that are plundering the freedom and happiness of our people and to protect the free constitutional order.”
CNN said that the South Korean public was upset over the way Yoon handled a tragedy after he was elected when more than 150 people were crushed to death at a Halloween party.
The report said there was also a controversy involving a designer handbag that his wife, Kim Keon See, was accused of accepting valued at more than the $750 limit.
This is a breaking news story; refresh the page for updates.

Key Speakers At The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO Summit

South Korea’s President Lifts ‘Emergency Martial Law’ Decree

North Korea

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