Jean McKenzie
Appearances
Global News Podcast
Trump calls Zelensky a 'dictator'
I'm near South Korea's constitutional court where at the moment the impeached and imprisoned president is testifying and his supporters have rallied outside. They want him released, they want him returned to office and they are shouting some pretty extreme things. They're saying that the left-leaning opposition party are communists and that the leader of the opposition should be executed.
Global News Podcast
Trump calls Zelensky a 'dictator'
When the president here declared martial law, he justified this extreme move by claiming that the parliament had been infiltrated by people who were pro-North Korea, pro-communist. Now, he didn't provide any evidence, but since then, these ideas have really taken hold.
Global News Podcast
Trump calls Zelensky a 'dictator'
There's no denying these threats used to be very real. Experts say Mr Yoon has exploited these historic fears.
Global News Podcast
Trump calls Zelensky a 'dictator'
Sangshin Lee is a polling expert for the Korea Institute for National Unification.
Global News Podcast
Trump calls Zelensky a 'dictator'
It's a Saturday afternoon, and the main road through the center of Seoul has been closed off to traffic because thousands of people have come out to support Mr. Yoon. These aren't just Mr. Yoon's core supporters, older, ultra-conservatives. There are young people here today.
Global News Podcast
Trump calls Zelensky a 'dictator'
Something people keep telling me is that they don't trust mainstream media. Even the conservative press here has been very critical of Mr Yoon. And so these people have turned to YouTube, where there are these very popular right-wing channels that are amplifying these sort of messages.
Global News Podcast
Trump calls Zelensky a 'dictator'
One idea the president has dangled that has really taken hold is that China interfered in South Korea's election last year and rigged the result. I noticed that you're holding a sign which says CCP out. So Chinese Communist Party out. Why is that?
Global News Podcast
Trump calls Zelensky a 'dictator'
The protests turned violent last month when a group of young men smashed up a courthouse looking to take revenge against a judge who'd helped detain the president. These were shocking scenes for a country which prides itself on its tradition of peaceful protest. These views could create problems for the country's opposition Democratic Party.
Global News Podcast
Trump calls Zelensky a 'dictator'
I've come to the parliament to meet one of their most seasoned politicians.
Global News Podcast
Trump calls Zelensky a 'dictator'
What do you say to these claims that it is the Democratic Party that is secretly colluding with North Korea, secretly colluding with China?
Global News Podcast
Trump calls Zelensky a 'dictator'
The court is expected to rule in the next month on whether to bar Mr Yoon from office. Then there will be elections and South Korea will have the chance to move on. Politicians now are going to have to work really hard to put this country back together.
Global News Podcast
Over 100 dead in earthquake in Tibet
Can you show me some of the abusive messages that you received?
Global News Podcast
Over 100 dead in earthquake in Tibet
We're calling this woman Doreen. She draws animations for video games. And one night, after completing a big project for one of Korea's most popular games, Maple Story, she was flooded with these abusive messages.
Global News Podcast
Over 100 dead in earthquake in Tibet
Doreen had become the target of a vicious online witch hunt where young men try to get feminists fired from their jobs. They often target women who work in the gaming industry, trawling their social media to find any trace of feminism, then pressuring their companies to sack them. And way back on Doreen's timeline, they'd found a supportive post.
Global News Podcast
Over 100 dead in earthquake in Tibet
This backlash to feminism has been slowly escalating. Women here suffer from severe discrimination, misogyny and sexual violence. And as feminists have fought to improve women's rights, young men have pushed back. It's so bad. It's worse than I remember. Good God. Can you read me some of the messages?
Global News Podcast
Over 100 dead in earthquake in Tibet
I'm sitting with Minsung Kim. He's a big online gamer, and we're looking through some popular online message boards, and they're just full of misogynistic abuse. Minsung used to belong to these forums, but now he calls himself an ardent feminist, and he's working to support women who are being attacked. He even managed to convince Darim's company not to fire her.
Global News Podcast
Over 100 dead in earthquake in Tibet
Why do these men have such a problem with feminists?
Global News Podcast
Over 100 dead in earthquake in Tibet
Because these witch hunts do work, there are cases where women have lost their jobs. And for one woman, the violence spilled offline and into real life. We're calling her Chigu.
Global News Podcast
Over 100 dead in earthquake in Tibet
Chigu was working alone in a convenience store late at night when the man came in and started attacking her. Since then,
Global News Podcast
South Korea's president impeached
In a moment, a protest erupts into a street party. Rejoicing the downfall of a president many have long despised. They'd accused him of being authoritarian, of eroding their democracy. But no one could have guessed what he had planned. When Mr Yoon stole from the playbook of South Korea's past military dictators, dispatching troops to storm the parliament, he committed his final unforgivable act.
Global News Podcast
South Korea's president impeached
The biting temperatures would have been enough to force many indoors. But armed with glow sticks and hot packs, they descended here for the 11th day in a row. Young women leading the charge.
Global News Podcast
South Korea's president impeached
As the vote to impeach Mr. Yoon got underway, a solemn warning from Parliament's speaker. The weight of your ballot is heavy today. It carries the weight of history, the weight of democracy. Enough MPs heeded his words. The motion passed by just four votes. This was the biggest test South Korea's young democracy has faced. And it's passed. Those on the streets cried in relief. I am so emotional.
Global News Podcast
South Korea's president impeached
People's persistence has paid off. The politicians have listened. And tonight, this is their victory.
Global News Podcast
Trump’s demands over nuclear deal rejected by Iran
Well, what we could see is if he is removed as president, then it could open him up to a whole load of other charges that he hasn't been subjected to yet because of that presidential immunity. Because there is a separate process that's happening here. So you've got the criminal process, but then you've also got President Yoon's impeachment process.
Global News Podcast
Trump’s demands over nuclear deal rejected by Iran
And this is going to decide whether to permanently remove him from office. So he was suspended a couple of weeks after he declared martial law. The parliament suspended him. But the courts have to rubber stamp that. So they've been holding a trial for the last few weeks and going through the evidence. And they're going to rule just in the coming days, really.
Global News Podcast
Trump’s demands over nuclear deal rejected by Iran
We're expecting it next week about whether to permanently remove him from office. And, yeah, that does change his status. And that could change things quite a lot. What we weren't expecting was to have him walk free before the court decided whether or not to bar him from office.
Global News Podcast
Trump’s demands over nuclear deal rejected by Iran
Yeah, so martial law lasted for six hours in the end. But what has been staggering is how much it has polarised this country. And we're seeing still the ground and the crisis deepen here. So still more people want to see him permanently removed from office than want to see him reinstated. But the number of people who do want to see him back has been growing. And people really...
Global News Podcast
Trump’s demands over nuclear deal rejected by Iran
His supporters, what we've seen, I mean, I've been at many of these protests all along, and what I've really noticed is that they are becoming more loyal, his supporters, and more agitated. They see him as a martyr. They think that he is being mistreated, and they're out on the streets and they're celebrating because they see this as a victory.
Global News Podcast
Trump’s demands over nuclear deal rejected by Iran
So whatever the courts decide in the coming weeks about whether to remove him from office, it is going to obsess a lot of people here, and the authorities are bracing themselves for potential unrest.
Global News Podcast
Trump’s demands over nuclear deal rejected by Iran
But look, this doesn't actually change the charges that Mr Yoon is facing. So he is charged with insurrection. This is one of the most serious crimes that you can be charged with. in South Korea, which is why he, as a sitting president, has been able to be charged with it, because presidents have immunity from most crimes. So he is still going to stand trial.
Global News Podcast
Trump’s demands over nuclear deal rejected by Iran
It just means that he's not going to do it from behind bars. And his lawyers have been fighting all along, you see, to get him released. They've been arguing that it's illegal to keep him in custody. And the courts have agreed with them, essentially, on a number of legal technicalities. The prosecutors, they could have appealed this But it seems that they're playing it safe.
Global News Podcast
Trump’s demands over nuclear deal rejected by Iran
So they've chosen not to appeal it. This case is just so important. It's totally unprecedented. It's the first time a sitting president has ever been arrested. So there's just no legal precedent for this. There's no legal rulebook. And it seems that they want to avoid any disputes that come further down the line so that there's no doubt when this verdict comes in.
Global News Podcast
Ukraine's Zelensky meets US vice-president at Munich security conference
We can say this is a timely meeting because It came when we saw a number of partners decided to stop funding to a number of programs in Africa. And today, our leaders, they decided collectively to take strong action to increase domestic resources and to reduce dependence to external funds.
Global News Podcast
Ukraine's Zelensky meets US vice-president at Munich security conference
It's a combination of a number of actions, from increasing the health budget, second, for putting in place some taxes to create innovative funding, and also for providing some innovation, the innovative approach for Africa CDC and other countries.
Global News Podcast
Ukraine's Zelensky meets US vice-president at Munich security conference
Yes, what our leaders did, it was first to open the door for this kind of topics. And, you know, it was not common to discuss innovative financing mechanisms. Now they decided to put in place a committee of AU, Africa CDC and African Medicine Agency to sit together to develop with some experts a concrete plan how we can now start to raise this fund.
Global News Podcast
The Happy Pod: Getting engaged in the ashes of our home
Hello, I'm Jean Lanham and I live up in Ayrshire in Scotland. I'm a garden designer. My studio is a converted out house in the garden. My desk sits up against a big picture window looking onto the garden, which includes a very old gnarled pear tree and a bird box, which is often home to a family of blue tits. I never know if they'll return.
Global News Podcast
The Happy Pod: Getting engaged in the ashes of our home
The bird box is attached to the top of a post in a corner of the pergola, which is next to a weeping birch and has a climbing rose and a honeysuckle clambering up it. At this time of year, after brushing my Labrador, I attach her fur to a branch on the pear tree with a clothes peg for premium nesting material for the birds.
Global News Podcast
The Happy Pod: Getting engaged in the ashes of our home
I'm not sure whether this is an added attraction to this particular nesting box, but I like to think so.
Global News Podcast
The Happy Pod: Getting engaged in the ashes of our home
As I worked at my desk yesterday, I was delighted to see a pair of blue tits flitting through the branches of the birch tree, landing on the tangled old climbing rose, and as one sat on a branch of the pear tree to look out, the other flew to the bird box and started the spring cleaning, ready for nesting this year. They're back again. Such an absolute joy.
Global News Podcast
Hundreds of thousands head home in northern Gaza
This report really sets out what the full investigation is going to do. And it says that it's going to focus on two main things. So that is the role, as you say, that a bird strike played in this crash, but also the role that this localizer, this guidance system at the end of the runway, which the plane then crashed into, what role that played as well.
Global News Podcast
Hundreds of thousands head home in northern Gaza
But in terms of the bird strike, this initial report has already set out some of the findings. So it details how the pilots, when they were coming in to land at Muon Airport that day, they were talking, they were discussing this flock of birds. The plane then goes around to attempt a second landing. And that is when the air traffic controllers warn these pilots about the birds.
Global News Podcast
Hundreds of thousands head home in northern Gaza
And it is just seconds later, really, that they then make this emergency mayday landing warning. So that is the point at which we know that something has gone wrong. And the plane then comes into land, it lands on its belly, it speeds along the runway, and it crashes into this localiser, this guidance system at the end.
Global News Podcast
Hundreds of thousands head home in northern Gaza
Now, since the crash, the investigators have also looked at the engines, and what they have found is feathers from birds and bloodstains on both of the engines. So although this is an initial report, it suggests that birds got into both of the plane's engines. Perhaps they caused both of those engines to fail.
Global News Podcast
Hundreds of thousands head home in northern Gaza
And this could then explain why the plane wasn't able to get its wheels down when it came into that landing. But of course, this is an initial investigation and much more work is going to be needed to establish the exact cause of this crash.
Global News Podcast
Zelensky told to leave White House after clash with Trump
The world is playing with fire. I want to send a clear message to our partners from the US, UK, and all other Western countries that please don't come to blame Africa when there will be a pandemic coming from Africa because we decide to stop funding to critical programmes.
Global News Podcast
Nato steps up efforts to protect cables in Baltic Sea
Those absolutely dramatic scenes that you were just playing then, that we were just hearing from the Parliament. Now, this is really the opposition party who have managed to remove the Prime Minister Han. They have a huge majority in Parliament.
Global News Podcast
Nato steps up efforts to protect cables in Baltic Sea
And when they voted to impeach him, the members of the ruling party, Mr Yoon's party, got up and they surrounded the Speaker of the House and they started shouting at him, as you heard. They are angry that this vote has even been allowed to go ahead again. There is now such political animosity between these two parties and total political deadlock here in South Korea.
Global News Podcast
Nato steps up efforts to protect cables in Baltic Sea
How we got here was that over the past couple of days, this row has erupted between the opposition party and Prime Minister Han. Mr Han has refused to appoint these judges that Parliament had chosen to oversee President Yoon's impeachment trial. This is the court case that is going to decide whether Mr Yoon should be permanently barred from office or whether he should be reinstated.
Global News Podcast
Nato steps up efforts to protect cables in Baltic Sea
And the opposition party have decided that because Mr Ham was blocking the appointment of these judges, he was essentially protecting Mr Yoon and therefore wasn't fit to run the country.
Global News Podcast
Nato steps up efforts to protect cables in Baltic Sea
Well, Mr. Han has said that he is going to step aside. He listens to the vote. He's going to follow the legal processes. So what that means now is that the country's finance minister is now going to be in charge of running the country. He is the third in command.
Global News Podcast
Nato steps up efforts to protect cables in Baltic Sea
But all this does really is just add to this political vacuum that we've got here in South Korea and this uncertainty that has been playing out really since President Yoon unleashed it three and a half weeks ago when he imposed martial law. And people here are asking, well, where does this now end?
Global News Podcast
Nato steps up efforts to protect cables in Baltic Sea
because if the finance minister comes in and he too refuses to appoint these judges, then the opposition party could just impeach him as well and they could continue doing this again and again, effectively rendering South Korea without a government. And briefly, what effect does it have economically on South Korea? It's had a big one. South Korea's economy is really struggling.
Global News Podcast
Nato steps up efforts to protect cables in Baltic Sea
The stock market has taken a hit. The currency has plunged. Even just today, the South Korean won, fell to its lowest level against the dollar since the financial crisis. So in 16 years. And this is having a real impact on people's day-to-day lives. And so they are nervous. They are feeling this political uncertainty, this political instability.
Global News Podcast
Nato steps up efforts to protect cables in Baltic Sea
Yet while this is unfolding, you have the two parties just shouting and blaming each other.
Global News Podcast
US sends diplomats to Syria
In propaganda videos, soldiers from North Korea's elite special forces are seen wading through frozen rivers topless, smashing blocks of ice with their bare hands. The regime showcases them as the toughest of the tough. But according to Hanul, who served as a frontline soldier in the demilitarized zone, that's not the reality.
Global News Podcast
US sends diplomats to Syria
I've come to meet another defector, Song Hyun, who escaped fairly recently, in 2019. He says that although the special forces do get some more advanced training, they're not front-line soldiers.
Global News Podcast
US sends diplomats to Syria
How well do you think they're going to be able to adapt to fighting a war in Russia and Ukraine?
Global News Podcast
US sends diplomats to Syria
While it's unlikely these troops will turn the tide of this war, they give Vladimir Putin much-needed manpower. And all the North Koreans I've spoken to say it would be a mistake to dismiss them as just cannon fodder. Their loyalty to Kim Jong-un will count for a lot. I asked Hanul what this means for Ukrainian and South Korean hopes that many of them will simply defect.
Global News Podcast
US sends diplomats to Syria
Because of this strict discipline, Son Heung thinks it's unlikely many soldiers will even be captured.
Global News Podcast
US sends diplomats to Syria
But despite the risk, a group of former North Korean soldiers is hoping to persuade some to surrender. This is a message recorded by the defector Lee Hyun-seung, who used to train special forces. Comrades, we've been deceived, he says. There is a new path ahead. Lee hopes this message can be played to the men on the front line.
Global News Podcast
US sends diplomats to Syria
So talking about 10,000 soldiers defecting, that's very optimistic.
Global News Podcast
Police suspend efforts to arrest impeached South Korean president
The standoff started before dawn. Police blocked the roads around the president's home, pushing back his incensed supporters. As the sun rose, the first officers ran up to his house to make the arrest. But they were unable to get in. Blocked by the president's security team, who refused to open the door. By lunchtime, the officers had given up. An arrest was impossible, they said.
Global News Podcast
Police suspend efforts to arrest impeached South Korean president
Mr Yun may have been suspended, stripped of his power, but still his security is protecting him. It's been exactly a month since President Yun plunged his country into crisis, imposing martial law, ordering troops to storm the parliament.
Global News Podcast
Police suspend efforts to arrest impeached South Korean president
He quickly reversed the decision, but he's being investigated for starting an insurrection and he's refused to cooperate with authorities, ignoring all requests to come in for questioning. His supporters have camped out around his home, also determined to block his arrest. This is totally unchartered territory for South Korea. It is the first time a sitting president here has ever faced arrest.
Global News Podcast
Police suspend efforts to arrest impeached South Korean president
And even though most people here are still so upset about his decision to try and bring the country under martial law, the core of his supporters here have stayed loyal to him, and they have surrounded the president's residence this morning. They're riled up and angry, and they've been spurred on by the president himself, who has thanked them for working so hard to defend him.
Global News Podcast
Police suspend efforts to arrest impeached South Korean president
They chant the same unfounded conspiracy theories Mr Yoon himself has alluded to, that last year's elections were rigged and the country has been infiltrated by pro-North Korean forces. We will fight. They have to kill me first before they arrest President Yoon. That will not happen, never again. Mr Yoon swore he'd fight this until the end.
Global News Podcast
Police suspend efforts to arrest impeached South Korean president
This is exactly what he, his security and his supporters are doing.