Deep Dive
- President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law, then reversed the decision hours later.
- The move was met with opposition from lawmakers and protesters.
- Calls for Yoon's resignation or impeachment are growing.
- The incident is viewed as a potential threat to South Korea's democratic norms.
Shownotes Transcript
Today, South Korea's president faces impeachment after the martial law debacle. Joe Biden pledges U.S. support for Africa on the final overseas visit of his presidency. And the AI race is coming for your dirty laundry.
It's Wednesday, December 4th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, every weekday. I'm Carmel Crimmins in Dublin. And I'm Christopher Waljasper in Chicago. When you hear LSEC data and analytics, what do you think of?
Comprehensive data you can trust. Exclusive access to Reuters news. Industry-leading analytics and unique insights. Discover new possibilities with Elsec Data & Analytics. Chaotic scenes in Seoul. South Korean lawmakers clash with troops as they try to seize control of the parliament. Outside, police scuffle with protesters as helicopters hover overhead.
A surprise declaration of martial law by President Yoon Seok-yool, plunging the country into crisis. Lawmakers defied the move. Forcing themselves inside the parliament building, they unanimously passed a motion requiring the law to be lifted, forcing Yoon into a dramatic about-face. The martial law order reversed just hours after it was imposed.
Lawmakers are now calling on Yoon to resign or face imminent impeachment proceedings. Here with the latest from Seoul is Bureau Chief Josh Smith. Josh, Yoon talked about the need to defend South Korea from nuclear-armed North Korea and pro-North anti-state forces when he declared this law. But in reality, it seemed to be focused on the opposition. The reason why he imposed martial law saying that they...
had basically brought the country to a standstill by blocking his agenda at the parliament. He's been clashing for some time with the opposition-led parliament, and while in the past they had claimed that he was not referring to domestic critics with these terms of anti-state forces and pro-North Korean forces, in this case it seemed pretty clear that's who he was referring to because he did not, in fact, cite any threats from the
the nuclear-armed North. What's next? Now it appears that Yoon will be fighting for his political life as his move seems to have united not only the opposition but some members of his own party who opposed his move. He is now facing an impeachment effort in Parliament. We may see the results of that in coming days, but unless he steps down preemptively, then we may be looking at a long political and legal fight here.
It's been a long time since something like this has happened in South Korea. It caught many people off guard while South Korea does have a history of authoritarian rule in the early and mid 20th century. Since the 1980s, it hasn't had this kind of martial law imposed. And so that really caught a lot of people off guard. And they saw it as kind of a throwback to a period of the country that a lot of people fought to move beyond when they pushed for more democratic norms.
It's a situation that the U.S. is watching closely. So we are watching the recent developments in the ROK with grave concern. Kurt Campbell, U.S. Deputy Secretary of State. I also want to just underscore that we have every hope and expectation that any political disputes will be resolved peacefully and in accordance with the rule of law. Korean stocks fell and the won plunged to two-year lows after martial law was declared.
Markets later stabilized after the move was reversed. They were helped by suspected central bank intervention and a pledge of unlimited liquidity from the finance ministry. But investors are now wary about longer-term stability. Political turmoil in France as well, where lawmakers look set to oust Prime Minister Michel Barnier. Today's no-confidence vote is all that's certain to collapse the government and throw France into deeper political crisis.
President-elect Donald Trump says he'll be traveling to Paris this weekend to attend the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral after it was severely damaged by fire in 2019. It'll be Trump's first international trip since winning re-election, but it's unclear if Trump will meet with any foreign leaders while in Paris. A second dropout among Donald Trump's picks for top administration jobs.
Chad Chronister, Trump's choice to lead the Drug Enforcement Administration, has withdrawn from consideration. The Florida sheriff posted on X that as the gravity of the job set in, he concluded that he must withdraw. The Trump transition team has not responded to a request for comment. In Syria, rebels are advancing close to the major city of Hama. That's according to Rebels and War Monitor, the Syrian observatory for human rights. It comes on the heels of their sudden capture of Aleppo last week.
Moves which are piling pressure on President Bashir al-Assad and his Russian and Iranian allies. China is banning exports to the U.S. of critical minerals used for military applications. The move comes after D.C. cracked down on China's chip sector, curbing exports to 140 Chinese companies. Now, this ban includes gallium, germanium, and antimony, as well as some forms of graphite.
Some of these minerals are used in semiconductors, infrared technology, fiber optics cables, solar cells, bullets, other weaponry, and even electric vehicle batteries. And speaking of electric vehicle batteries, that's the topic of this week's Reuters Econ World Show. We're looking at China's dominance of that space and what it means for the West. It's out later today on the Reuters app, reuters.com, or wherever you listen to your podcasts.
You've heard me say it before, Mr. President. The United States is all in on Africa. U.S. President Joe Biden on his first trip to sub-Saharan Africa, speaking to Angola's President, Jao Lourenco.
The visit this week is meant to solidify economic ties with the African nation, even as the Biden administration prepares for a transition to Trump's presidency. Our White House reporter Trevor Honeycutt is with Biden in Angola reporting on the president's legacy on the continent. So this is the president's final...
And with it, he wants to kind of leave a legacy marker for improving relations with Africa at a time when China and Russia have deep ties across the continent. China especially has been incredibly strategic in terms of developing these relationships, inviting the heads of state to China. And the image of the United States in some of these
Smaller and lower income countries has also taken a hit because of the close ties between the U.S. and Israel. And so one of the Biden administration's big investments in four years abroad has been pumping millions of dollars into this new rail corridor that they hope by the end of the decade will stretch from one end of the continent to the other. We're building railroad lines from Angola to the port of Libido.
in Zambia and the DRC. And that will be a major way that some of the critical minerals that are produced in Africa are brought out to the United States. It will be the first transcontinental railroad in Africa.
and the biggest American rail investment outside of America. And so Biden was here to take a look at part of that project and optimism that even in a Trump administration, that that project will continue because it muscles away some of the infrastructure investment that China wants to do in Africa.
If you're still one of those people who's not quite sure how to use AI in your daily life, there's a tech company out there that thinks it has an answer. That's the sound of footsteps of an AI-powered humanoid robot named NEO.
The robot is wearing a gray jumpsuit, a hoodie pulled over its silver glassy head, and is shuffling around the Oslo headquarters of a tech company called One X. We're starting with the simple things, nothing simple in robotics, but the laundry, tidying, general cleaning, and...
One X's CEO Bernd Bornitzsch says a pilot program is rolling out that will place these robots in homes and eventually they'll be able to provide companionship as well as help around the house.
and also be able to have your friends visit in a different embodied version of remote presence, which I think is going to be really exciting to explore in the coming years. One X is just one of several companies trying to be the first to bring an AI robot to market. Tesla CEO Elon Musk says he expects 10 billion humanoid robots to be in the world by 2040, including Tesla's bot, which he calls Optimus.
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And before we go, a shout out for our recommended read. It's a deep dive into President-elect Donald Trump's plan for Ukraine. His advisors are floating proposals to end the Ukraine war that would cede large parts of the country to Russia for the foreseeable future. That's according to a Reuters analysis of their statements and interviews with several people close to Trump. There's a link to the story in the pod description.
For more on any of the stories today, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast player. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.