South Korean investigators say they are questioning President Yoon Suk-yeol after detaining him Wednesday morning, but they say he's refusing to testify.
He faces insurrection charges over his brief declaration of martial law last month. Yoon spoke before he was taken in, remainingdefiant.
I cannot help but feel disappointed to see that the investigators are pushing ahead with an invalid detention warrant. But I have decided to accept the request despite it being an illegal investigation to prevent bloodshed as investigators force their way into the residence. But I stand against this investigation.
Yoon relented after about 1,000 officers reportedly swarmed his residence, bypassing barricades with ladders. There were no reports of clashes with presidential security. Yoon's security service blocked a previous attempt to detain him earlier this month. Yoon has avoided leaving his residence since facing charges over his actions in December. On Tuesday, he skipped the first hearing of his impeachment trial in the Constitutional Court. The next hearing is scheduled for Thursday.
Earlier, I spoke with NHK World's Kim Chan-ju. She told us about the mood outside the corruption investigation office near Seoul, where Yoon was taken.
The motor gauge carrying Yoon arrived a few hours ago and it's been a bit ruckus since the president's supporters began rattling here.
They've been chanting, calling for his release. There's major police presence keeping order as well as a lot of media teams from around the world. It kind of shows how historic this moment is. This is the first time a South Korean president has been detained while in office, and there's a lot of outrage. But there's also relief among Yoon's critics and those who feared the standoff with investigators would drag on.
Among politicians, the floor leader of Yoon's ruling People's Power Party, Kwon Seong-dong, has called the detention illegal. But the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, Lee Jae-myung, says now is the time to quickly restore constitutional order.
So now that he's detained, what's next for Yoon?
Well, we understand he's being treated as the main suspect for inciting an insurrection through martial law. So investigators has a lot of a lot to ask him. They say they have over 200 pages of questions. Before he was president, Yoon served as prosecutor general, so he does have some legal savvy.
We've heard local media speculate he will likely choose to remain silent during his time here.
Well, investigators can detain Yoon for up to 48 hours, so the clock is ticking.
Right now, we are waiting to see whether they will seek an arrest warrant. That will allow them to significantly expand the time they have with Yoon in detention.
Officials from Japan's ruling coalition met Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Beijing on Wednesday. Discussion topics included China's possible resumption of Japanese imports such as seafood and beef.
Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Moriyama Hiroshi and his Komeito counterpart Nishida Makoto led the Japanese delegation. They attended a meeting of the Japan-China ruling Party Exchange Council.
Lee said at the start of the meeting that bilateral ties are now at a crucial point for improvement and development. He said he hopes both countries will continue to work to develop healthy and stable ties.
Moriyama said ahead of the meeting he hoped to strengthen the relationship.
I hope to frankly discuss with Lee what is necessary to make the people of both countriesfeel satisfied with improved bilateral relations.
The delegation asked Li to visit Japan and handed him a letter from Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru to Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The Chinese President has called for greater cooperation between his country and the European Union in a phone call with the European Council President.
On Tuesday, Xi spoke with Antonio Costa, who assumed the presidency in December.
China's foreign ministry says Xi expressed hope that the EU will prove to be a trustworthy cooperation partner.
He added that economic and trade cooperation is mutually beneficial.
The EU says Costa agreed that cooperation is preferable to competition. But he also stressed the need to ensure a level playing field and to rebalance the existing trade and economic imbalances.
China and the EU have been at odds over the bloc's tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and other matters. Xi's move may reflect concerns over potential trade tensions between the U.S. and China that could follow Donald Trump's inauguration as president. Trump is an advocate of protectionist policies.
U.S. President Joe Biden says he will remove Cuba from a list of state sponsors of terrorism,The latest in a series of diplomatic reversals for the Caribbean nation.
Biden informed Congress of his decision on Tuesday. He noted that Cuba has not provided support for international terrorism in the past six months, and has given assurances it will not do so in the future. But some Republicans oppose the decision. Their leader, Donald Trump, is set to return to the presidency on Monday. In 2015, the administration of then-President Barack Obama removed Cuba from the list.
It also normalized diplomatic relations between Washington and Havana for the first time in 54 years.
Cuba went back on the list during the first Trump administration in January 2021, and has remained there since.
Britain's Princess of Wales has revealed her cancer is in remission. This comes after 10 months after she first disclosed her diagnosis.
Catherine made the announcement on Tuesday through a social media account she shares with her husband, Prince. William. She wrote, it is a relief to now be in remission, and I remain focused on recovery. As anyone who has experienced a cancer diagnosis will know, it takes time to adjust to a new normal. She said she is looking forward to the year ahead and thanked the public for their support.
Earlier in the day, Catherine visited a hospital in London where she underwent treatment. There, she talked with patients and staff. The princess announced in March of last year that tests showed she had cancer, and in September reported that she had completed chemotherapy. Catherine, who turned 43 this month, has been gradually resuming her public duties. Remission means that symptoms have decreased or disappeared. Britain's King Charles also revealed that he had received a cancer diagnosis last February, and has since been receiving treatment. The 76-year-old king is reportedly making a steady recovery.
He is due to visit Poland later this month.
Japan's highest peak, Mount Fuji, is treasured by Japanese people attracting many local and overseas tourists due to its breathtaking beauty. It's also an active volcano. It hasn't erupted in 300 years, but officials say when the mountain blows, volcanic ash could paralyze wide areas, including Tokyo.
A report done five years ago says over 10 centimeters of volcanic ash could settle on the ground in Greater Tokyo areas, depending on the wind. This simulation shows what the capital could face. The estimate is based on Mount Fuji's last major eruption in the early 1700s, or Japan's Edo period. Fuji spewed huge amounts of ash during the 16-day eruption, covering about 1.7 billion cubic meters. It takes just 0.5 millimeters of ash accumulating on train tracks to bring rail services to a halt. And if ash gets into aircraft engines, planes may be unable to fly. The ash also could leave cars and other vehicles useless, delivering a blow to the logistics sector.
This purification plant supplies drinking water to the Tokyo area. Officials are devising measures to reduce the risk to water quality from ash fall.
These are wires to support the sheet.
He says a cover will be placed over them to stop ash getting in if an eruption occurs.
We want to have easy to understand information as quickly as possible from forecasters so that we can do it right away if necessary.
The agency says it's considering whether to establish a new warning level based on a scenario of over three centimeters of ash falling. But others said it won't be easy to accurately forecast the amount of volcanic ash or where it will fall, and more discussions are needed.
Fujii Doshitsugu is chair of the meeting.
Society today depends on cars or airplanes, and an eruption will result in unprecedented disasters. We have to discuss what kind of data need to be conveyed to the public.
The panel plans to wrap up their discussions by March on how to prepare if Mount Fuji erupts.
It's now time for a check on the weather with our meteorologist Jonathan Oh. The snow is picking up across northern areas of Japan. So Jonathan, how's the area looking for Thursday?
And so that's where we're seeing some of that snowfall from Sapporo into Niigata.
Now Tokyo was on the warmer side on Wednesday, but reality is about to smack you a little bit here. 8 degrees for the high on Thursday, 9 Osaka Fukuoka also topping off at 8 as we have that cold air pushing in.
Meanwhile, we're looking at what's happening across North America. Southern areas of California still seeing those Santa Ana winds that will be strong again as we go into Wednesday. Meanwhile, we've got a big push of cold air with the high pressure system coming in through the central and eastern areas of the United States, and that's going to bring down the chilly weather. We're talking about highs that won't be getting above freezing into places like Chicago into Toronto as we go throughout the next few days, I mean -6 for the high in Chicago, -4 Toronto with some snow as far south as Atlanta with a high of only 8 so it's going to definitely on the colder side as we go throughout the next couple of days.
Quick northern Europe high pressure toward the west bringing some of the northerly flow snow into places like Vienna for Wednesday with a high of 2 with showers into Warsaw.
That's the forecast. Hope you have a good day wherever you are.
♫
And that's it for this edition of NHK Newsline. I'm Yoko Nishimura in Tokyo.
Thanks for joining us.
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