South Korea: The howling Yoon
Also: Kosovo, Serbia, Syria, the DRC, and Namibia.
The five things you need to know today:
SOUTH KOREA. After six hours of martial law, the president’s days are numbered.
KOSOVO. SERBIA. Another unresolved conflict gets reheated.
SYRIA. As rebels reach Hama, the US strikes targets in Deir ez-Zor.
DR CONGO. As the ceasefire breaks down, a mystery virus breaks out.
NAMIBIA. An election more Zimbabwe than Botswana.
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SOUTH KOREA. The howling Yoon
After six hours of martial law, the president’s days are numbered.
Six opposition parties submitted a bill to impeach Yoon Suk Yeol Wednesday, after the president declared, then withdrew, martial law, causing a standoff with parliament. The leader of Yoon's party called for the cabinet to resign.
INTELLIGENCE. The events of Tuesday night and early Wednesday were among the weirdest in Korean history. Imposing martial law on account of government gridlock was a step too far for even Yoon’s most ardent supporters in the People’s Party. The upside, whether Yoon quits or is pushed, is that a clear victory is now possible for the main opposition Democratic Party, ending legislative deadlock, rolling strikes, and (hopefully) tit-for-tat political lawsuits.
FOR BUSINESS. The Democratic Party, like many institutions, isn’t clean (Yoon built a career on indicting its cadres) but a government with a mandate is better than one that can’t work. Yoon has discredited his reform efforts, and lean towards the West, meaning the structural problems that have created Seoul’s brittle politics may only get worse. Yet martial law (last invoked in 1980) was no solution. Especially for an economy so vital to the technology supply chains.
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KOSOVO. SERBIA. Unfrozen 2
Another unresolved conflict gets reheated.
The leaders of Kosovo and Serbia met with the EU Tuesday amid mutual recriminations, including over an alleged terror attack on a canal. NATO rejected Pristina's request for a Kosovar military deployment to the Serb-majority north.
INTELLIGENCE. Like other frozen conflicts, from Syria to Korea, unresolved tensions in the Balkans threaten to flare up in the absence of