Anthony Kuhn
Appearances
NPR News Now
NPR News: 11-11-2024 2PM EST
No candidate won a majority of votes in the House of Representatives, so it came down to the first runoff vote in 30 years. The opposition could not unite around a single candidate either, so lawmakers voted for incumbent Shigeru Ishiba to stay on. Without a majority in Parliament, he'll have to scrape together enough votes to get individual bills and policies through the legislature.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 11-11-2024 2PM EST
Another challenge Ichiba faces is warding off tariffs that a second Trump administration could levy on Japanese exports. Ichiba is trying to arrange a meeting with the president-elect before or after a G20 summit in Brazil this month. Anthony Kuhn, NPR News, Seoul.
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Well, this time, all lawmakers in South Korea's parliament called the National Assembly voted. The vote ended up 204 to 85. Here's what it sounded like when the vote was announced in the main chamber.
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Of course, there's a lot of celebrating in the streets as well. Now, Yoon's original rationale for martial law was that opposition politicians who were sympathetic or in league with North Korea were paralyzing the government. But he never really stood that charge up. It never really resonated beyond his base of conservative supporters.
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And it became clear that there was no war or breakdown of public order or anything that legally justified martial law. And as his ministers and generals were arrested or questioned, it became clear that Yoon and not his subordinates was the one who was orchestrating martial law.
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Well, Yoon's official duties have already been suspended, and South Korea's Prime Minister Han Dok-soo will stand in as acting president. Next, South Korea's Constitutional Court will have 180 days to reject or uphold the impeachment. If they uphold it, Yoon will be officially removed from office, and a new election for president will have to be held within 60 days.
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It seems that way. One thing that happened was that Yoon tried to hand power over to his ruling party. He said, I'm not going to manage things. They will. But experts said that's an unconstitutional arrangement. So for a while, people were not really sure who was leading South Korea. And so many top generals were suspended from their duties. There was also concern about military vulnerability.
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S. Korea President, Texas Abortion Lawsuit, Coffee Prices
The country technically remains at war with North Korea. I think South Korea's public image has taken somewhat of a beating. This is a country that, with the U.S., co-hosted a summit for democracy, and yet here was its leader trying to use the military to roll back people's civil rights. And, you know, a lot of people are celebrating right now, people who wanted Yoon impeached.
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S. Korea President, Texas Abortion Lawsuit, Coffee Prices
But I think the sense you get from living here is that this has been a very stressful, even traumatic 11 days for South Koreans.
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S. Korea President, Texas Abortion Lawsuit, Coffee Prices
Well, publicly, at least, the U.S. said it was relieved that Yoon's declaration of martial law was lifted. But I think privately, Biden administration officials have got to be absolutely exasperated that Yoon shot himself in the foot because Yoon was instrumental in forging a three-way coalition of the U.S., Japan, and South Korea to help deter North Korea from
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S. Korea President, Texas Abortion Lawsuit, Coffee Prices
support Ukraine, enforce export controls on China, all these policy goals. Then again, think about this. Yoon is likely to be replaced by a liberal North Korea-friendly administration. And if the Trump administration and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un want to do the diplomatic dance again, South Korea could help broker some diplomacy.