
South Korea investigators seek to arrest former President Yoon
Yoon was formally stripped of office in April, after being impeached and suspended by lawmakers over his Dec. 3 attempt to subvert civilian rule, which saw armed soldiers deployed to parliament.
He is already standing trial on insurrection charges, personally attending court to defend himself against the allegations.
However, he has refused several summons issued by a special counsel formed to investigate the martial law declaration that parliament voted to launch earlier in the month.
'Today, the special counsel requested an arrest warrant for former president Yoon Suk Yeol on charges including obstruction of official duties,' the special counsel said in a statement.
'The arrest warrant was requested in order to conduct the suspect's interrogation,' it said, adding that 'he has clearly indicated his intention not to respond to future summons.'
Prosecutor Park Ji-young, a member of the special counsel, said in a news conference that Yoon was just 'one of several suspects' that they had summoned to be questioned.
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Arab News
5 hours ago
- Arab News
‘Japanese First' party emerges as election force with tough immigration talk
TOKYO: The fringe far-right Sanseito party emerged as one of the biggest winners in Japan's upper house election on Sunday, gaining support with warnings of a 'silent invasion' of immigrants, and pledges for tax cuts and welfare spending. Birthed on YouTube during the COVID-19 pandemic spreading conspiracy theories about vaccinations and a cabal of global elites, the party broke into mainstream politics with its 'Japanese First' campaign. Public broadcaster NHK projected the party to win as many as 22 seats, adding to the single lawmaker it secured in the 248-seat chamber three years ago. It has only three seats in the more powerful lower house. 'The phrase Japanese First was meant to express rebuilding Japanese people's livelihoods by resisting globalism. I am not saying that we should completely ban foreigners or that every foreigner should get out of Japan,' Sohei Kamiya, the party's 47-year-old leader, said in an interview with local broadcaster Nippon Television after the election. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner Komeito will likely lose their majority in the upper house, leaving them further beholden to opposition support following a lower house defeat in October. 'Sanseito has become the talk of the town, and particularly here in America, because of the whole populist and anti-foreign sentiment. It's more of a weakness of the LDP and Ishiba than anything else,' said Joshua Walker, head of the US non-profit Japan Society. In polling ahead of Sunday's election, 29 percent of voters told NHK that social security and a declining birthrate were their biggest concern. A total of 28 percent said they worried about rising rice prices, which have doubled in the past year. Immigration was in joint fifth place with 7 percent of respondents pointing to it. 'We were criticized as being xenophobic and discriminatory. The public came to understand that the media was wrong and Sanseito was right,' Kamiya said. Kamiya's message grabbed voters frustrated with a weak economy and currency that has lured tourists in record numbers in recent years, further driving up prices that Japanese can ill afford, political analysts say. Japan's fast-aging society has also seen foreign-born residents hit a record of about 3.8 million last year, though that is just 3 percent of the total population, a fraction of the corresponding proportion in the United States and Europe. Inspired by Trump Kamiya, a former supermarket manager and English teacher, told Reuters before the election that he had drawn inspiration from US President Donald Trump's 'bold political style.' He has also drawn comparisons with Germany's AfD and Reform UK although right-wing populist policies have yet to take root in Japan as they have in Europe and the United States. Post-election, Kamiya said he plans to follow the example of Europe's emerging populist parties by building alliances with other small parties rather than work with an LDP administration, which has ruled for most of Japan's postwar history. Sanseito's focus on immigration has already shifted Japan's politics to the right. Just days before the vote, Ishiba's administration announced a new government taskforce to fight 'crimes and disorderly conduct' by foreign nationals and his party has promised a target of 'zero illegal foreigners.' Kamiya, who won the party's first seat in 2022 after gaining notoriety for appearing to call for Japan's emperor to take concubines, has tried to tone down some controversial ideas formerly embraced by the party. During the campaign, Kamiya, however, faced a backlash for branding gender equality policies a mistake that encourage women to work and keep them from having children. To soften what he said was his 'hot-blooded' image and to broaden support beyond the men in their twenties and thirties that form the core of Sanseito's support, Kamiya fielded a raft of female candidates on Sunday. Those included the single-named singer Saya, who clinched a seat in Tokyo. Like other opposition parties Sanseito called for tax cuts and an increase in child benefits, policies that led investors to fret about Japan's fiscal health and massive debt pile, but unlike them it has a far bigger online presence from where it can attack Japan's political establishment. Its YouTube channel has 400,000 followers, more than any other party on the platform and three times that of the LDP, according to Sanseito's upper house breakthrough, Kamiya said, is just the beginning. 'We are gradually increasing our numbers and living up to people's expectations. By building a solid organization and securing 50 or 60 seats, I believe our policies will finally become reality,' he said.


Al Arabiya
11 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Putin meets top Iranian adviser Larijani, discusses Middle East tensions, nuclear issues
Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting on Sunday with Ali Larijani, a senior adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Russian state-run RIA news agency reported, citing Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. The two discussed the escalating situation in the Middle East and issues surrounding Iran's nuclear program.


Arab News
12 hours ago
- Arab News
Marcos flies to US to secure deal ahead of tariff policy
MANILA: Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. left for Washington, D.C. on Sunday for meetings with Donald Trump and his administration ahead of the implementation of US tariffs on Southeast Asian countries. Trump raised reciprocal tariffs on Philippine exports to 20 percent this month, up from the 17 percent initially threatened in April. Some other Southeast Asian nations, including Indonesia and Vietnam, were hit with over 30 percent rates, forcing them to step up negotiations. According to Trump's announcements, both countries agreed to zero tariffs on American exports, while accepting rates of 19 percent and 20 percent on their own goods, respectively. Marcos, whose visit will be the first by an ASEAN head of state since Trump took office in January, vowed to push for 'greater economic engagement' and focus on security and defense. 'I intend to convey to President Trump and his cabinet officials that the Philippines is ready to negotiate a bilateral trade deal that will ensure strong, mutually beneficial, and future-oriented collaborations that only the United States and the Philippines will be able to take advantage of,' he told reporters ahead of his departure from the Villamor Air Base in Pasay City. 'During this visit, we will reaffirm our commitment to fostering our long-standing alliances as an instrument of peace and a catalyst of development in the Asia-Pacific region and around the world.' Besides Trump, the Philippine president will also have a meeting with US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday. Philippine businesses were hoping that the fact that Marcos was the only ASEAN leader to negotiate the tariffs in person could offer some concessions for Washington's key security partner in Asia, which, under a decades-long alliance, allows the US to build and operate facilities on Philippine military bases. 'For Manila, this development, along with President Marcos being the first ASEAN leader invited for a state visit under the current Trump administration, enhanced the country's diplomatic profile and affirms its strategic relevance in the Indo-Pacific region,' Nunnatus Cortez, president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry-Makati, told Arab News. 'The Philippine delegation would probably push for a bilateral agreement with the US, particularly on food security and semiconductors … We could only negotiate for a lower tariff than 20 percent. Difficult to get a zero percent tariff, as the latest news showed revenues from tariffs added close to $90 billion to the US in the first six months.'