South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday boycotted the formal opening of parliament as his squabbles with the opposition deepen over allegations of wrongdoing by top officials and his wife.
It is a tradition for South Korean presidents to deliver a speech at opening ceremonies for National Assembly sessions, and Yoon is the first to skip the event since the nation’s transition from a military dictatorship to democracy in the late 1980s.
Yoon, a conservative who narrowly won election in 2022, has struggled to navigate a parliament controlled by liberals who have stymied his agenda, and called for investigations into allegations of corruption and abuse of power involving his wife and government officials.
Photo:AP
Yoon also faces declining approval ratings, as concerns grow over his government’s ability to deal with a worsening job market, soaring household debt and a prolonged strike by thousands of doctors that is straining medical services.
Asked about his decision to skip the legislature’s opening ceremony, Yoon’s office said lawmakers must first “normalize the National Assembly, which overissues demands for special prosecutor investigations and impeachments,” before inviting Yoon.
Jo Seoung-lae, spokesperson of the main opposition Democratic Party, said Yoon’s refusal to attend the ceremony displayed his “arrogance” and disregard for the assembly’s role to check and balance the executive branch.
“It’s impossible to produce results in national governance without having respect for the National Assembly,” Speaker Woo Won-shik said during the opening ceremony as he lamented Yoon’s absence.
Following parliamentary elections in April in which the liberals extended their majority, the current assembly began meeting in May. However, its official opening ceremony was delayed for months because of political bickering.
Opposition lawmakers are pushing for an investigation by special prosecutors into allegations that top government and military officials tried to cover up the circumstances surrounding the death of a marine who drowned during a search for flood victims in 2023.
They want another independent investigation into allegations that Yoon’s wife, Kim Keon-hee, was involved in stock price manipulation and other wrongdoing. Yoon has denied the accusations.
Yoon’s office, which rejected a previous bill calling for special prosecutors to investigate the marine’s death, described the allegations as groundless and politically motivated.
Yoon and his party also criticized the opposition’s move to hold a parliamentary hearing last month to address online petitions signed by tens of thousands calling for his impeachment.
South Korea’s Constitution limits a president to a single five-year term, so Yoon cannot seek re-election.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
RSS