South Korea prosecutors file request to detain ex-President Yoon
SEOUL (Reuters) -- South Korean special prosecutors filed a new request on Sunday to detain former President Yoon Suk Yeol, a day after he appeared before them for questioning over his declaration of martial law last year.
Yoon, who is facing a criminal trial on insurrection charges over the martial law declaration in December, was arrested in January after resisting authorities trying to take him into custody, but was released after 52 days on technical grounds.
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Yomiuri Shimbun
2 hours ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Japan's Nikkei Stock Average Buoyed by Weak Yen as Trump Tariff Deadline Delayed
TOKYO, July 8 (Reuters) – Japan's Nikkei share average rose on Tuesday, buoyed by a weakening yen and as U.S. President Donald Trump gave an additional three-week grace period for tariff negotiations. The Nikkei .N225 gained 0.2% to 39,679.13 as of 0220 GMT. The broader Topix .TOPX added 0.1%. On Monday, Trump began telling selected trade partners that they will see higher tariff rates from August 1, with the original three-month moratorium on 'Liberation Day' reciprocal levies expiring on Wednesday. Japan will now see a rate of 25%. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said his administration would continue negotiations with the White House to seek a mutually beneficial bilateral deal. Initially touted by Trump's team as a likely early success, talks with Tokyo remain stalled for weeks, largely over a 25% tariff on Japanese auto imports. 'It's very clear that it be will very difficult' to overcome the obstacles to an agreement on autos, said the chief macro strategist at Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management, Masayuki Kichikawa, who sees the 25% duty on the sector sticking. Japan's best outcome would be a lowering of the universal 25% rate to the baseline 10% the U.S. is levying on all trading partners, he said. According to Kichikawa, 'there is no choice other than to wait and see' for now as the July 20 Japanese upper house elections leave Ishiba's team little room to show flexibility in trade negotiations until after the result. Japanese stocks rose on the day even after the tariff announcements, which also included South Korea along with a host of smaller nations, sent Wall Street sliding from record highs. Japan's heavyweight exporters were supported by a sharply weaker yen, with Trump's new tariff rates spurring a broad rally in the U.S. currency overnight. A weaker yen inflates the value of overseas revenues. The chip sector was a standout, with Advantest 6857.T gaining 2.2% and Furukawa Electric 5801.T jumping 7.7%. Automakers advanced, with Mazda 7261.T climbing 2.5% and Toyota 7203.T up 0.5%. However, shares of embattled Nissan 7201.T slumped for a third day, shedding an additional 2.9%.
Asahi Shimbun
2 hours ago
- Asahi Shimbun
Wall Street falls as Trump pressures trading partners with new tariffs
Currency traders watch monitors near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, July 7, 2025. (AP Photo) Stocks on Wall Street closed broadly lower Monday as the White House stepped up pressure on major trading partners to make deals before punishing tariffs imposed by the U.S. take effect. The S&P 500 fell 0.8% for its biggest loss since mid-June. The benchmark index remains near its all-time high set last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gave back 0.9%. The Nasdaq composite also finished 0.9% lower, not too far from its own record high. The losses were widespread. Decliners outnumbered gainers by nearly 4-to-1 on the New York Stock Exchange. Tesla tumbled 6.8% for the biggest drop among S&P 500 stocks as the feud between CEO Elon Musk and President Donald Trump reignited over the weekend. Musk, once a top donor and ally of Trump, said he would form a third political party in protest over the Republican spending bill that passed last week. The selling accelerated after the Trump administration released letters informing Japan and South Korea that their goods will be taxed at 25% starting on Aug. 1, citing persistent trade imbalances with the two crucial U.S. allies in Asia. 'If for any reason you decide to raise your Tariffs, then, whatever the number you choose to raise them by, will be added onto the 25% that we charge,' Trump wrote in the letters to Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung. Trump also announced new tariff rates on Malaysia, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Laos and Myanmar. Just before hefty U.S. tariffs on goods imported from nearly every country around the globe were to take effect in April, Trump postponed the levies for 90 days in hopes that foreign governments would be more willing to strike new trade deals. That 90-day negotiating period was set to expire before Wednesday. On Sunday, Trump said he would impose an additional 10% in tariffs against the BRICS bloc of developing nations, which had condemned tariffs increases at its summit in Brazil. In addition to Brazil, the BRICS countries also include Russia, India, China and South Africa. This latest phase in the trade war heightens the threat of potentially more severe tariffs that's been hanging over the global economy. Higher taxes on imported goods could hinder economic growth, if not increase recession risks. 'Just bringing back that meaty topic back into focus, after a strong week last week, has given a little bit of a pause in the market,' said Bill Northey, senior investment director at U.S. Bank Asset Management. The near-term outlook will likely hinge on several key factors like the extent to which trading partners are included in Trump letters, the rate of tariffs, and the effective date of such tariffs, according to analysts at Nomura. Last week, the Trump administration announced that it reached a deal with Vietnam that would allow U.S. goods to enter the country duty-free, while Vietnamese exports to the U.S. would face a 20% levy. That was a decline from the 46% tax on Vietnamese imports he proposed in April. 'The type of deal struck with Vietnam may be a blueprint for similar countries in the region with economies heavily reliant on large trade deficits with the U.S.,' said Jason Pride, chief of investment strategy and research at Glenmede. Monday's market sell-off came on the first day of trading in the U.S. after a holiday-shortened week. Nearly all of the sectors in the S&P 500 index closed in the red, with technology, financial and consumer-related stocks among the biggest weights on the market. Apple fell 1.7%, JPMorgan Chase dropped 1.4% and Home Depot slid 1.1%. Molina Healthcare fell 2.9% after the insurer lowered its profit guidance due to rapidly accelerating costs. UnitedHealth Group also recently reported a spike in costs that forced it to cut its forecast, sending its stock tumbling in April. In deal news, software company CoreWeave agreed to acquire cryptocurrency mining company Core Scientific in an all-stock transaction valued at about $9 billion. Shares in Core Scientific sank 17.6%, while CoreWeave fell 3.3%. Bond yields mostly rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.39% from 4.34% late Thursday. The downbeat start to the week follows a strong run for stocks, which pushed further into record heights last week after a better-than-expected U.S. jobs report. All told, the S&P 500 fell 49.37 points to 6,229.98. The Dow lost 422.17 points to 44,406.36, and the Nasdaq slid 188.59 points to 20,412.52. Stock indexes in Europe ended mostly higher. Asian markets closed mostly lower. Oil prices fluctuated after OPEC+ agreed on Saturday to raise production in August by 548,000 barrels per day. U.S. benchmark crude settled 1.4% higher at $67.93 per barrel, while Brent crude, the international standard, rose 1.9% to settle at $69.58 per barrel. This week will be relatively light on economic data. On Wednesday the Federal Reserve will release minutes from its policymaking committee's meeting last month. The Fed's chair, Jerome Powell, has been insisting that the central bank wants to wait and see how Trump's tariffs affect the economy and inflation before making its next move on interest rates. While lower rates give a boost to the economy by making it easier to borrow money, they can also give inflation more fuel. That could be dangerous if the Trump administration's tariffs send inflation higher.
Asahi Shimbun
2 hours ago
- Asahi Shimbun
South Korea to step up U.S. trade talks before tariffs kick in on August 1
Rolled steel are seen at a Hyundai Steel plant in Dangjin, about 130 km southwest of Seoul, on June 15, 2011. (REUTERS) SEOUL--South Korea said it planned to intensify trade talks with the United States and considered U.S. President Donald Trump's plan for a 25% tariff from August 1 as effectively extending a grace period on implementing reciprocal tariffs. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the new deadline as set out by Trump in a letter addressed to South Korean President Lee Jae Myung meant there was still time for the countries to work out an agreement, Lee's office said later. Trump said on Monday he would impose the tariff on goods from South Korea starting on August 1, posting the letter to President Lee on his social media platform along with one to Japan's leader. South Korea's Industry Ministry said in a statement that the letter effectively extended a grace period on the implementation of reciprocal tariffs by the United States. 'We will step up negotiations during the remaining period to reach a mutually beneficial result to quickly resolve the uncertainties from tariffs,' it said. 'We also plan to use it as an opportunity to improve domestic systems and regulations to resolve the trade deficit that is a major interest of the United States and advance key industries through a manufacturing renaissance partnership between the two countries,' it said. South Korea earned a record surplus of $55.6 billion from trade with the U.S. in 2024, up 25% from 2023, led by rising car exports, according to Korea Customs Service data. Trump said in the letter to Lee that 'our relationship has been, unfortunately, far from reciprocal,' inviting South Korea to present a proposal to open 'your heretofore closed trading markets' and eliminate tariff and non-tariff barriers. South Korea's effective tariff rates stand at near-zero under a free trade agreement first signed in 2007 then revised in 2018 under Trump's first term, according to economists. South Korea's top trade envoy and the country's presidential security adviser have traveled to the United States in recent days for trade and defense talks as Asia's fourth-largest economy raced to seek an exemption from Trump's threatened tariffs. National Security Advisor Wi Sung-lac met Rubio in Washington on Monday to discuss the countries' alliance and ongoing trade negotiations and agreed that a summit meeting between Lee and Trump would help advance cooperation, Lee's office said. 'Tariff letters to major trading partners including South Korea were sent out today but there is still time until tariffs are implemented on August 1 so he hopes the two countries can communicate closely to reach an agreement before that,' Lee's office cited Rubio as saying. Trump also appeared to indicate that he was open to negotiation. Asked if the deadline was firm, Trump said: 'I would say firm, but not 100% firm. If they call up and they say we'd like to do something a different way, we're going to be open to that.' South Korea was slow to negotiate for an exemption from Trump's tariffs, first agreeing to work out a package deal but holding 'technical discussions' before moving to high-level negotiations after Lee took office in June 4. Lee won a snap election after his predecessor's December martial law declaration, which he said had greatly impaired the country's response to U.S. trade policy and new tariffs. The Industry Ministry in the statement conceded it did not have enough time after the start of a new administration in South Korea to reach an agreement with the United States on all issues despite intense negotiations.
