Jean Mackenzie Seoul correspondent Watch: BBC on the ground in Seoul as new president is announced South Korea’s new president, Lee Jae-myung, has secured a storming victory, but his honeymoon will barely last the day. The former opposition leader is not getting to enjoy the two-month transition period usually afforded to new leaders, so they...
South Korea is heading to the polls to elect a new leader, after their former president Yoon Suk Yeol was impeached and removed from office for briefly placing the country under martial law in December. The BBC’s Jean Mackenzie explains what you need to know about the main candidates – and the challenges they’ll face...
Getty Images Lee Jae–myung has emerged from South Korea’s recent political crisis as a frontrunner to be the next president Before the events of 3 December 2024, Lee Jae–myung’s path to South Korea’s presidency was littered with obstacles. Ongoing legal cases, investigations for corruption and allegations of abusing power all looked set to derail the...
Juna Moon and Tessa Wong BBC News Reporting fromSeoul and Singapore BBC Korean Han Tae-soon had spent decades looking for her daughter Kyung-ha The last memory Han Tae-soon has of her daughter as a child is in May 1975, at their home in Seoul. “I was going to the market and asked Kyung-ha, ‘Aren’t you...
Koh Ewe and Yuna Ku BBC News Reporting fromSingapore and Seoul Getty Images A pro-Yoon fringe movement, stoked by right-wing YouTubers, has become both more energised and extreme Pained cries rang out in front of former South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s official residence on Friday, as judges of the Constitutional Court judges confirmed his...
Jean Mackenzie Seoul correspondent Getty Images On Friday, South Korea’s Constitutional Court ruled Yoon Suk Yeol had abused his power by declaring martial law last December, and permanently removed him from office. Before that, South Korea was not somewhere you might expect a military takeover – a peaceful and proud democracy, admired across the globe...