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South Korea’s parliament is set to vote again on whether to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol after his short-lived attempt to declare martial law earlier this month.

It was a decision that plunged the country into a constitutional crisis and triggered calls for Mr Yoon to step down on the grounds he had broken the law.

The country’s opposition parties plan to hold the vote at 4pm today (7am in the UK) and need two-thirds of the National Assembly to back the motion, meaning at least 200 MPs.

While the opposition commands 192 seats, a vote to impeach the president failed last Saturday when all but one MP from the ruling People Power Party (PPP) boycotted the vote.

Since then at least seven PPP MPs have said they would back removing Mr Yoon from office, with party leader Han Dong-hoon urging them to do so.

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Why wasn’t the South Korean president impeached?

President’s order ‘hurts peace’

PPP MP Ahn Cheol-soo said on Facebook he would support the motion “for the sake of swift stabilisation of people’s livelihood, economy and diplomacy”.

But PPP floor leader Kweon Seong-dong said the party’s stance is still to oppose the motion, with MPs set to meet early today to discuss how to vote.

The latest impeachment motion alleges that Mr Yoon “committed rebellion that hurts peace” in South Korea “by staging a series of riots”, adding the mobilisation of military and police forces had threatened the National Assembly and the public.

Pic: AP
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Opposition MPs need at least eight of the ruling PPP’s politicians to back the motion. Pic: AP

After declaring a state of emergency on 3 December, the president sent hundreds of troops and police officers to the parliament to try to impede a vote on the decree.

Martial law only lasted about six hours after parliament voted to block the order and people took to the streets in protest. The president later apologised for the incident.

Read more on South Korea:
Disappointment for protesters as Yoon saved by party
The South Koreans who stood up to martial law

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How six hours of martial law unfolded in South Korea

Yoon vows to ‘fight to the end’

Large demonstrations are also set to take place in Seoul ahead of the vote, marking the latest in a series of protests that have seen tens of thousands calling for the ousting and arrest of the president.

Some K-pop celebrities have said they plan to donate food and drinks for those participating in the rally, while others have used delivery apps to pre-order food and coffee for protesters.

Smaller groups of Mr Yoon’s conservative supporters – still in the thousands – are also expected to join counter-protests in Seoul. They argue the opposition-led impeachment motion is “unconstitutional” and “false propaganda”.

Mr Yoon has meanwhile defied calls to resign and vowed on Thursday to “fight to the end” to stop “forces and criminal groups” he said were “threatening the future of the Republic of Korea”.

He claimed the martial law order was necessary to overcome political deadlock, despite originally saying it was to “eradicate the despicable pro-North Korean anti-state forces”.

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7 December: Seoul crowds call for president to be arrested

If impeached, Mr Yoon’s presidential powers would be suspended until the Constitutional Court decides whether to restore them or remove him from office.

He has also separately been placed under criminal investigation for alleged insurrection over the martial law declaration.

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Authorities have banned him and others – including former defence minister Kim Yong Hyun, under investigation on insurrection charges – from travelling overseas.

Officials said on Wednesday that Mr Kim, the first person arrested over the martial law decree, tried to take his own life while being held in detention. The country’s justice ministry has said he is in a stable condition.

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Stock markets slump for second day running after Trump announces tariffs – in worst day for indexes since COVID

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Stock markets slump for second day running after Trump announces tariffs - in worst day for indexes since COVID

Worldwide stock markets have plummeted for the second day running as the fallout from Donald Trump’s global tariffs continues.

While European and Asian markets suffered notable falls, American indexes were the worst hit, with Wall Street closing to a sea of red on Friday following Thursday’s rout – the worst day in US markets since the COVID-19 pandemic.

As it happened: Worst week’s trading in five years

All three of the US’s major indexes were down by more than 5% at market close; The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 5.5%, the S&P 500 was 5.97% lower, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 5.82%.

The Nasdaq was also 22% below its record-high set in December, which indicates a bear market.

Read more: What’s a bear market?

Ever since the US president announced the tariffs on Wednesday evening, analysts estimate that around $4.9trn (£3.8trn) has been wiped off the value of the global stock market.

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Mr Trump has remained unapologetic as the markets struggle, posting in all-caps on Truth Social before the markets closed that “only the weak will fail”.

The UK’s leading stock market, the FTSE 100, also suffered its worst daily drop in more than five years, closing 4.95% down, a level not seen since March 2020.

And the Japanese exchange Nikkei 225 dropped by 2.75% at end of trading, down 20% from its recent peak in July last year.

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US indexes had the worst day of trading since the COVID-19 pandemic. Pic: Reuters

Trump holds trade deal talks – reports

It comes as a source told CNN that Mr Trump has been in discussions with Vietnamese, Indian and Israeli representatives to negotiate bespoke trade deals that could alleviate proposed tariffs on those countries before a deadline next week.

The source told the US broadcaster the talks were being held in advance of the reciprocal levies going into effect next week.

Vietnam faced one of the highest reciprocal tariffs announced by the US president this week, with 46% rates on imports. Israeli imports face a 17% rate, and Indian goods will be subject to 26% tariffs.

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Do Trump’s tariffs add up?

Read more:
Markets gave Trump a clear no-confidence vote
There were no winners from Trump’s tariff gameshow

China – hit with 34% tariffs on imported goods – has also announced it will issue its own levy of the same rate on US imports.

Mr Trump said China “played it wrong” and “panicked – the one thing they cannot afford to do” in another all-caps Truth Social post earlier on Friday.

Later, on Air Force One, the US president told reporters that “the beauty” of the tariffs is that they allow for negotiations, referencing talks with Chinese company ByteDance on the sale of social media app TikTok.

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Tariffs: Xi hits back at Trump

He said: “We have a situation with TikTok where China will probably say, ‘We’ll approve a deal, but will you do something on the tariffs?’

“The tariffs give us great power to negotiate. They always have.”

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Financial markets were always going to respond to Trump tariffs but they’re also battling with another problem

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Financial markets were always going to respond to Trump tariffs but they're also battling with another problem

Global financial markets gave a clear vote of no-confidence in President Trump’s economic policy.

The damage it will do is obvious: costs for companies will rise, hitting their earnings.

The consequences will ripple throughout the global economy, with economists now raising their expectations for a recession, not only in the US, but across the world.

Tariffs latest: FTSE 100 suffers biggest daily drop since COVID

Financial investors had been gradually re-calibrating their expectations of Donald Trump over the past few months.

Hopes that his actions may not match his rhetoric were dashed on Wednesday as he imposed sweeping tariffs on the US’ trading partners, ratcheting up protectionism to a level not seen in more than a century.

Markets were always going to respond to that but they are also battling with another problem: the lack of certainty when it comes to Trump.

More on Donald Trump

He is a capricious figure and we can only guess his next move. Will he row back? How far is he willing to negotiate and offer concessions?

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There were no winners from Trump’s tariff gameshow
Trade war sparks ‘$2.2trn’ global market sell-off

These are massive unknowns, which are piled on to uncertainty about how countries will respond.

China has already retaliated and Europe has indicated it will go further.

That will compound the problems for the global economy and undoubtedly send shivers through the markets.

Much is yet to be determined, but if there’s one thing markets hate, it’s uncertainty.

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Court confirms sacking of South Korean president who declared martial law

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Court confirms sacking of South Korean president who declared martial law

South Korea’s constitutional court has confirmed the dismissal of President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was impeached in December after declaring martial law.

His decision to send troops onto the streets led to the country’s worst political crisis in decades.

The court ruled to uphold the impeachment saying the conservative leader “violated his duty as commander-in-chief by mobilising troops” when he declared martial law.

The president was also said to have taken actions “beyond the powers provided in the constitution”.

Demonstrators who stayed overnight near the constitutional court wait for the start of a rally calling for the president to step down. Pic: AP
Image:
Demonstrators stayed overnight near the constitutional court. Pic: AP

Supporters and opponents of the president gathered in their thousands in central Seoul as they awaited the ruling.

The 64-year-old shocked MPs, the public and international allies in early December when he declared martial law, meaning all existing laws regarding civilians were suspended in place of military law.

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More on South Korea

The Constitutional Court is under heavy police security guard ahead of the announcement of the impeachment trial. Pic: AP
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The court was under heavy police security guard ahead of the announcement. Pic: AP

After suddenly declaring martial law, Mr Yoon sent hundreds of soldiers and police officers to the National Assembly.

He has argued that he sought to maintain order, but some senior military and police officers sent there have told hearings and investigators that Mr Yoon ordered them to drag out politicians to prevent an assembly vote on his decree.

His presidential powers were suspended when the opposition-dominated assembly voted to impeach him on 14 December, accusing him of rebellion.

The unanimous verdict to uphold parliament’s impeachment and remove Mr Yoon from office required the support of at least six of the court’s eight justices.

South Korea must hold a national election within two months to find a new leader.

Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, is the early favourite to become the country’s next president, according to surveys.

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