Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at a failed attempt to arrest impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, U.S. President Joe Biden blocking an acquisition deal with a Japanese steel company, and European efforts to improve ties with Syria.
Seoul’s ‘Stop the Steal’ Moment
Efforts to arrest impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol failed on Friday after a “human wall” consisting of hundreds of his supporters blocked authorities from entering the presidential compound. “It was judged that it was virtually impossible to execute the arrest warrant due to the ongoing standoff,” the country’s Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials (CIO) said in a statement.
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at a failed attempt to arrest impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, U.S. President Joe Biden blocking an acquisition deal with a Japanese steel company, and European efforts to improve ties with Syria.
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Seoul’s ‘Stop the Steal’ Moment
Efforts to arrest impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol failed on Friday after a “human wall” consisting of hundreds of his supporters blocked authorities from entering the presidential compound. “It was judged that it was virtually impossible to execute the arrest warrant due to the ongoing standoff,” the country’s Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials (CIO) said in a statement.
A mix of presidential guards, military troops, and Seoul residents, who adopted the “Stop the Steal” slogan popularized by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s followers, assembled to prevent the CIO from executing the arrest order. Yoon was never seen during the standoff, which lasted six hours, and the CIO ultimately called off the arrest attempt due to safety risks to its personnel.
If the operation had been successful, Yoon would have become the first sitting South Korean president to be arrested.
Yoon is under criminal investigation for alleged insurrection over his short-lived martial law order on Dec. 3. On Tuesday, a Seoul court approved issuing an arrest warrant, the first for a sitting president, after Yoon ignored multiple summonses to appear for questioning. The warrant is viable until Jan. 6 and can only hold Yoon for 48 hours, after which authorities must issue a detention warrant or release him. Insurrection is one of the only criminal charges that a South Korean president does not have immunity from.
Already, several high-ranking South Korean officials have been arrested in connection with the martial law order. Last week, former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun was indicted on insurrection and abuse of power charges, and on Friday, local media reported that two military officials, including the martial law order’s commander, had been indicted for insurrection.
Yoon had previously promised to take legal and political responsibility for his actions, but those vows have quickly taken a back seat, with Yoon publishing a letter on Wednesday that said he would “fight until the end” against the arrest warrant and a separate impeachment case that is meant to determine whether he should be reinstated as president or permanently removed. That case held its second hearing before the Constitutional Court on Friday; oral arguments are set to begin on Jan. 14.
Yoon’s legal team has called the arrest warrant illegal, and according to local media, his security staff has been “in negotiation” with the investigators seeking to access the president. Park Chan-dae, the floor leader of the opposition Democratic Party, criticized Yoon on Friday for not upholding his accountability promises, calling them a “complete lie.” Park added that the CIO should once again attempt to arrest Yoon.
Today’s Most Read
What We’re Following
Takeover denied. U.S. President Joe Biden formally blocked Japan’s Nippon Steel on Friday from acquiring U.S. Steel. The order requires both companies to abandon the deal within 30 days unless the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States agrees to extend the timeline of its review panel, which spent months determining the acquisition’s potential national security risks.
“Today’s action reflects my unflinching commitment to utilize all authorities available to me as president to defend U.S. national security, including by ensuring that American companies continue to play a central role in sectors that are critical for our national security,” Biden said in a statement, making good on his promise in March 2024 to block the sale. The proposed $14.9 billion takeover would have placed one of the United States’ largest steel producers under foreign control, which some experts worried could have risked critical supply chains.
U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel condemned Biden’s decision as “unlawful” in a joint statement on Friday, and they accused the White House of manipulating the review process for political gain. “[W]e are left with no choice but to take all appropriate action to protect our legal rights,” they said. U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt had previously warned that the company would have to close some of its plants if the deal fell apart.
Shaping Syria’s future. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot traveled to Damascus on Friday to meet with de facto Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa. The two top diplomats encouraged Sharaa to include all ethnic groups and genders in the formation of Syria’s new government, including Kurds and women, who have both been historically left out of Syria’s governance.
Baerbock and Barrot also warned Sharaa not to allow European funds to fall into the hands of “new Islamist structures.” Sharaa used the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham militant group to overthrow dictator Bashar al-Assad last month, and some analysts worry that Assad’s ouster could create a power vacuum for militant organizations seeking to boost their influence.
Several Western countries are hoping for closer ties with the new Syria. Germany and France both said on Friday that they want to forge bilateral relations with Damascus on behalf of the European Union, but they added that the removal of sanctions currently imposed on Syria would depend on the success of democratic progress. Sharaa recently said it could take around three years to draft a new constitution and another year until elections could be held.
Wanted. Venezuela’s government issued a $100,000 reward on Thursday for any information concerning the whereabouts of opposition candidate Edmundo González. Opposition leaders and independent election observers argue that González defeated President Nicolás Maduro in last July’s presidential election, but Maduro disputes this claim. A government-supported warrant for González’s arrest forced him to flee Venezuela in September 2024 for exile in Spain.
The reward offer came just eight days before the next presidential term is set to begin. González has vowed to return to Caracas before the National Assembly swears in the new president. However, Maduro has already received his inauguration ceremony invitation.
Meanwhile, González’s campaign team said on Thursday that the opposition candidate would be kicking off an international tour in the coming days, starting with a trip to Argentina on Saturday to meet with President Javier Milei.
What in the World?
In January 2024, three countries declared their intent to leave the Economic Community of West African States. Which nation was not among them?
A. MaliB. Burkina FasoC. GhanaD. Niger
Odds and Ends
It’s Sister Act meets The Karate Kid for a Nepali nunnery. This week, a group of nuns who are members of the 1,000-year-old Drukpa lineage showed off their martial arts skills to celebrate the reopening of Druk Amitabha Monastery, which was forced to close due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Unlike most nuns, who are not allowed to engage in martial arts, those at Druk Amitabha Monastery are considered equal to monks and are taught kung fu to improve their health and spiritual well-being.
And the Answer Is…
C. Ghana
A spate of coups across sub-Saharan Africa has eroded the regional bloc’s credibility, Jessica Moody wrote last June.
To take the rest of FP’s 2024 international news quiz, click here, or sign up to be alerted when a new one is published.
The post South Korean Authorities Abandon Initial Efforts to Arrest Yoon appeared first on Foreign Policy.
