Trending Now
We have updated our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use for Eurasia Group and its affiliates, including GZERO Media, to clarify the types of data we collect, how we collect it, how we use data and with whom we share data. By using our website you consent to our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy, including the transfer of your personal data to the United States from your country of residence, and our use of cookies described in our Cookie Policy.
{{ subpage.title }}
A barbed-wire fence is seen at the site of the former Nazi German concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau prior to the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the camp in Brzezinka, Poland.
Hard Numbers: Commemorating Auschwitz liberation, South Korea’s Yoon indicted, Trump fires IGs, Germans protest far right, Rubio freezes US aid, Ancient statue trashed
80: Monday marks 80 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp in Poland. Dozens of survivors of the Nazi camp — where 960,000 Jews and 1.1 million people total were murdered — will be on hand for the commemoration alongside world leaders and royalty. The US Presidential Delegation includes Steve Witkoff, US Special Envoy to the Middle East, Howard Lutnick, nominee for Secretary of Commerce, and Charles Kushner, father of Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.
1: Impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol was indicted on Sunday, becoming the first sitting South Korean president formally charged while still in office. He faces charges of insurrection for briefly imposing martial law on Dec. 3. The indictment keeps Yoon in detention — something prosecutors decided to do after the court refused to extend Yoon’s arrest warrant.
18: Late Friday, the Trump White House fired 18 inspectors general, including IGs for the Defense Department, State Department, Health and Human Services Department, and the Department of Labor, sparing those at the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security. One of the fired IGs says he expects legal challenges to result, and, on Saturday, Democratic lawmakers decried the move as unlawful, expressing their “grave concern” in a letter to the president.
4,500: Protests erupted across Germany on Saturday in a “sea of light” rally against the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, party ahead of the country’s general election on Feb. 23. The protests kicked off as the AfD launched its campaign, with party leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla set to address an audience of 4,500 supporters in the central city of Halle. Billionaire Elon Musk again shared his support for AfD, appearing via video link at the event before Weidel’s speech.
60 billion: Sec. of State Marco Rubio ordered a freeze on US foreign aid on Friday, threatening what amounted to roughly $60 billion in 2023. While Rubio exempted emergency food programs, the move imperils aid used to support health, education, and development programs, as well as anti-corruption and security efforts. The full extent of the impact is still being assessed, and a review will be conducted over the next three months, resulting in Rubio making recommendations on future US foreign aid to President Donald Trump.
2,000: One man’s trash is indeed another man’s treasure. Archaeologists in Greece are analyzing a marble statue of a woman found in a garbage bag in Neoi Epivates, near the port city of Thessaloniki. The headless statue is believed to be more than 2,000 years old, dating from the Hellenistic era between 320 and 30 BCE. Once the evaluation is completed, the statue will be returned to the local antiquities authority for preservation and further study.
FILE PHOTO: Supporters of impeached South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol participate in a rally outside the Seoul Detention Center in Uiwang, South Korea, January 18, 2025.
Yoon dodges questioning after supporters storm court
Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeolrefused to accompany police officers for questioning on Monday, after his supporters stormed a court that approved his continued detention on Sunday. Ninety people were detained during the clash, and other people who participated are being identified for prosecution.
The authorities might not have to search that hard. The rioters livestreamed themselves blasting lines of police with foam from fire extinguishers and entering the courthouse by force. They broke into at least one judge’s chamber during the brief incursion.
Yoon said through his lawyers that he found the rampage “shocking and unfortunate” but that he understood the “rage and unfairness” many Koreans felt. His lawyers have argued that his arrest last Wednesday was illegal and that the court has no jurisdiction in this matter.
Politics are in the most precarious place in years. While impeached, Yoon has still not been formally removed from office, and the long delay has allowed his political allies to consolidate. Elections will be held 60 days after Yoon is formally removed by the Constitutional Court.
In the meantime, markets are suffering through the uncertainty, and the central bank downgraded economic growth forecasts for the coming year to between 1.6% and 1.7%.South Korean President Yoon arrested
Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was arrested by officers from the national corruption authority after an hours-long standoff on Wednesday morning. His detainment comes six weeks after his short-lived imposition of martial law, for which he was impeached and suspended from office, but his final removal is pending a ruling from the Constitutional Court.
Yoon, the first South Korean president to be arrested while technically still in office, was taken via motorcade to a detention center in the suburbs of Seoul. In a statement posted to social media, Yoon said he chose to submit to arrest to avoid violence, but he reportedly refused to answer questions during police interrogation. Police now have less than 48 hours to formally charge him before they must obtain a warrant to continue holding him.
Eurasia Group’s Jeremy Chan says Yoon can’t keep dragging his feet. “Now that he has been removed from his official residence, Yoon will likely be unable to avoid answering the questions of CIO investigators, the Constitutional Court, and parliamentary hearings.”
The arrest blows South Korea further into uncharted waters. When former President Park Geun-hye was impeached in 2017, prosecutors waited for her removal before bringing charges and arrest warrants. South Korean presidents may be arrested for insurrection, which is what Yoon is facing, but otherwise enjoy immunity from prosecution.
Part of the rush has to do with opposition leader Lee Jae-myung’s own legal problems. If the Supreme Court rules against him in corruption cases related to his earlier political positions, he could be barred from standing for president — but if he can force Yoon out and hold elections in time, it renders the issue moot.
Still, Lee is looking like much less of a sure bet than he was in mid-December. His party’s support among voters has fallen from 52% in the beginning of December to 42% in January, barely ahead of Yoon’s party at 40%.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken holds a joint press conference with South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae Yul following their talks in Seoul on Jan. 6, 2025.
South Korean authorities get extension to Yoon arrest warrant
South Korean anti-corruption authorities reached a deal with police to extend their warrant against impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol on Monday after failing to arrest him on Friday. A six-hour standoff with presidential security in the official residence amounted to nothing, and the corruption investigators have asked the National Police Agency to take over the responsibility of detaining Yoon. Authorities have not disclosed the new extension's expiration date.
Police are in uncharted waters, however, as no previous South Korean president has been arrested before being removed from office. Yoon was impeached in December, but vacancies on the constitutional court have prevented his official removal. Meanwhile, his party is playing for time – hoping to stall long enough to allow the high court to rule on a case that could render the opposition leader ineligible to run in elections to replace Yoon.
The gridlock is starting to chafe allies, and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he had expressed “serious concerns” during talks in Seoul with his counterpart on Monday. But Blinken also praised the strong response of South Korean institutions to Yoon’s attempt to seize power through martial law.
North Korea, which has taken a cautious approach thus far amid Seoul’s domestic upheaval, used Blinken’s visit as an opportunity to test a medium-range missile with a supposedly hypersonic capacity. We’re watching how Pyongyang approaches potential provocations once the Biden administration leaves the scene.
Police vans are lined up in front of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's official residence in Seoul on Jan. 3, 2025.
Authorities try to arrest impeached South Korean president
While reports indicated that officers were able to enter the building, they were stopped from executing the warrant by a military unit.
South Korea has sent multiple presidents to jail following their terms — in fact, two of the three presidents immediately before Yoon served time. But this arrest is unorthodox, says Eurasia Groupexpert Jeremy Chan. Usually, presidents have left office, either through impeachment or the end of their terms, before they are investigated on criminal charges.
“Yoon is a former public prosecutor who knows how to use the legal system,” says Chan. “His supporters are also rallying behind his claims that the insurrection investigation is invalid, further complicating efforts to seek his arrest.”
“The urgency with which the investigators have sought a warrant for Yoon's detention has also fed perceptions that politics rather than legal processes are to blame,” Chan adds.
Yoon has not yet been removed by the court because three of its seats were vacant. Former acting President Han Duck-soo refused to confirm their replacements, which led to him being impeached too, and his replacement agreed earlier this week to nominate for two of the three vacancies.
“Yoon will likely live to fight another day,” says Chan. But the Constitutional Court is also holding its second preparatory hearing for Yoon's impeachment trial on Friday. With eight justices, it is only a matter of time before the court rules to uphold the impeachment motion and formally remove Yoon from office.
“Today's standoff will likely only accelerate the urgency with which the court will proceed in making a ruling on the impeachment motion.”
Demonstrators opposing the court's approval of an arrest warrant for impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol protest outside his official residence in Seoul, South Korea, on Dec. 31, 2024.
South Korea calls for arrest of former president
South Korea’s political drama continues into 2025 after the issuance ofan unprecedented arrest warrant against impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol. Yoon ignored three summonses to appear for questioning over the past two weeks on charges of insurrection and abuse of power. The charges stem from Yoon’s short-liveddeclaration of martial law on Dec. 3, 2024, over what he deemed “anti-state forces” and obstructionism by opposition rivals.
Since then, South Korea has impeached two presidents, including Yoon, and threatened to impeach its finance minister, new acting President Choi Sang-mok. But on Tuesday, Choi appointed two justices to the Constitutional Court, making it less likely that he’ll face the chop. Now there are eight sitting justices, and only six are required to uphold Yoon’s impeachment. This, says Eurasia Group regional expert Jeremy Chan, means the ruling will likely be made by March.
The turmoil comes at a fraught time, as the country faces increased belligerence from North Korea, which is growing ever closer to Russia. South Korea is also reeling from Sunday’s Jeju Air crash landing at Muan International Airport, which killed 179 passengers.
What happens now? Yoon has until Jan. 3 to surrender voluntarily, but his legal team says it will challenge the warrant. Yoon’s allies say he will also fight the underlying charges, and his supporters have organized protests against what they call a politically motivated prosecution.
Oh Dong-woon, head of South Korea’s Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, warned that the arrest warrant against Yoon would be executed by Jan. 6, and that anyone seeking to block Yoon’s arrest could be prosecuted.
“Yoon will continue to defend the legitimacy of imposing martial law as a presidential prerogative while fighting against a separate criminal investigation into his actions,” says Chan. “He is nevertheless likely to face a lengthy imprisonment along with the officials who helped him plan and execute the martial law order.”
Fire authorities search for the missing and recover the deceased at the site of an accident near Muan International Airport in Jeollanam-do, South Korea, on Dec. 29, 2024.
South Korea devastated by deadly crash
South Korea is in mourning after the crash of Jeju Air flight 7C 2216 during an emergency landing attempt at Muan International Airport on Sunday. The Boeing 737-800 was en route from Bangkok to Muan when it suffered a suspected landing gear failure, possibly caused by a bird strike. The aircraft skidded off the runway, collided with a concrete barrier, and burst into flames, killing 179 people aboard. Only two flight attendants survived.
The tragedy is South Korea’s deadliest aviation disaster since 1997. It comes at a politically volatile time, two days afterChoi Sang-mok became acting president, replacing Han Duck-soo, who was on the job for just two weeks. Han had replaced President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was impeached on Dec. 14 for attempting to impose martial law on the country on Dec. 3. But Han was shown the door for failing to appoint three new Constitutional Court justice nominees to review Yoon’s impeachment. Choi now faces calls for accountability over airport safety regulations and infrastructure maintenance and has pledged a thorough investigation into the cause of the crash. He has demanded that the country's airlines undergo an emergency safety inspection and declared a weeklong period of national mourning.
The Jeju Air disaster came on the heels of another deadly crash – that of an Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer E190, which went down in western Kazakhstan, killing 38 of 67 people aboard last Wednesday. Experts believe a Russian air-defense missile downed the plane. While Vladimir Putin apologized for the incident, he did so without taking responsibility. On Sunday, Azerbaijan demanded that Russia admit responsibility and compensate the government and affected families.
The incident brings the number of deaths due to missile strikes to over 500 in the past decade, making missiles the number one cause of deadly plane crashes, according to the Flight Safety Foundation’s Aviation Safety Network. Other examples include a second case attributable to Russia, the midair destruction in 2014 of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 flying over Ukraine, which killed all 298 aboard, and the 2020 shooting by Iranian forces of a Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 departing Tehran, which killed all 176 people onboard.
Han Duck-soo, now the acting South Korean prime minister, gives a speech during the opening ceremony of the AI Global Forum in Seoul, South Korea, on May 22, 2024.
South Korea: Guy who replaced the impeached guy gets impeached
This story gets wilder by the day. On Friday, less than two weeks after President Yoon Suk Yeol was stripped of his duties for attempting to impose martial law, the opposition impeached his successor, Yoon’s fellow People Party member Han Duck-soo.
Why? Yoon’s impeachment becomes official only when confirmed by the Constitutional Court. But at the moment three of the court’s nine seats are vacant, meaning a single dissenting vote would overturn Yoon’s removal.
The opposition Democratic party wanted acting president Han to appoint new justices, but he refused to do so unless it was part of a broader agreement between his party and the opposition. The opposition said this showed he was incapable of “upholding the constitution” and filed papers to impeach him.
Increasing tensions, National Assembly speaker Woo Won-shik announced that only 151 votes were needed to pass the impeachment vote — not 200 like they needed to impeach Yoon.
The measure passed with 192 votes on Friday, but it has prompted protests from ruling party lawmakers who say the impeachment vote was an “abuse of power” — and they, in turn, want the speaker to resign.
Once Han is officially notified by parliament of the impeachment, he will be suspended, and Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok is set to replace him.
So South Korea’s most bizarre and explosive political crisis in decades just got even weirder.