Global News Podcast - South Korean court upholds impeachment of president

Episode Date: April 4, 2025

The impeached president of South Korea apologises as he's stripped of power. Also, China hits back at US tariffs by imposing high taxes on American imports and a rogue bird is caught after terrorising an English village.

This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Valerie Sanderson at 14Hours GMT. On Friday the 4th of April, these are our main stories. South Korea's top court has upheld the impeachment of President Yun Sung-nyeol, immediately removing him from office. China has announced a raft of new tariffs and trade restrictions targeting the United States in retaliation for import taxes announced by President Trump on Wednesday. Syria's only female minister has told the

BBC it's very lonely for her in the interim cabinet, but then more women will take up leadership positions in the country. Also in this podcast, the boss of Microsoft, Brad Smith, explains the crucial component for the rolling out of AI. We should make sure that humans not only remain in the loop, but remain the decision makers for the things that are truly consequential in people's lives. In South Korea, Seoul's Constitutional Court has voted to uphold the impeachment of President Yun Sung-yel, four months after he invoked martial law and kicked off the worst political

crisis in the country for decades. Now, with the former leader leaving power, the country will hold fresh elections, as Katie Watson reports from Seoul. A unanimous decision by the court and a unanimous cheer from Mr Yoon's opponents, some of whom had been waiting hours to hear these words. They wanted to be here for what they saw as a historic day. I slept on this place from yesterday. I just slept on the ground for this, to watch this happening. I don't know how to explain this in any language.

I think I should say I'm overwhelmed. South Korea is a symbol of hope. This is such an exciting and deeply moving moment. But having to calm down on such an emotional day feels like hypocrisy in itself." This decision has been a long time coming. The political crisis started back in December when Mr. Yoon tried to impose martial law. He argued he was trying to protect the country from communist forces. His opponents blamed his political setbacks for what was seen as a reckless move, one that stunned South Korea along with the rest of the world.

This a country proud of its democratic values. As the crowd waited for the Constitutional Court to talk, with big screens mounted in the street, they sang along to K-pop, changing the lyrics of a popular song and calling for his removal. Fourteen thousand police officers were put on the streets of Seoul to prepare for this moment. Authorities employing a zero tolerance approach, fearful of backlash after months of sometimes violent protests. On a day that was supposed to be full of tension, there is none of that here.

People are celebrating, singing, dancing, listening to speakers and soaking up that celebratory atmosphere ahead of what will be a difficult few months politically. Now the country will head to an election to be held within 60 days. For Mr Yoon though, it's not over. He faces a separate criminal trial on insurrection charges that could mean life imprisonment or even the death penalty. He apologised for his shortcomings and thanked his supporters who were angry at the Constitutional Court's decision. It's so shocking that even I cannot cry. My tears just dry up. It feels like it dried up.

I just can't cry. It's beyond insane. Beyond insane." The people must rise again. We cannot accept this decision at all. It's unacceptable that they're inciting the Korean people with lies. Some forgivable. We will reclaim freedom again, even if that means putting our lives on the line." This is a fight against a liberal democracy and communism taking place on Korean soil.

The people are angry because the judges were corrupt. This ruling makes no sense. This may mark the end of one chapter, political drama, but it begins another, as South Korea focuses on who to replace him and how to build unity in this increasingly divided country. Katie Watson in Seoul. Well for more, we can turn now to a member of the South Korean parliament, Yun Hyun Kim, who is with the opposition Rebuilding Korea Party. He was in the parliamentary chamber on the night that martial law was declared by Yun Sun Yeol. We all think that justice is prevailed and constitutions protected and democracies restored. What did you feel was so wrong about what Mr. Yoon did?

Because he violated the constitution. He said it's just to teach it to enlighten people. That's nonsense. He mobilized military soldiers. So it was obvious he's televised. According to the verdict, it's clear cut. Mr. Yoon has said that he has presented his excuses to the South Korean people. I'm so sorry and regretful that I couldn't live up to your expectations, he said, and the

message delivered via his lawyers. I wonder how you think history will regard him though? You know, even last comment he did is very cowardish because he never said sorry about policy officially. He just kind of appealed to his supporters because his leadership was not for countries, for his private power. Today we prove that. Democracy is solid. Yunhyeong Kim speaking there to James Kopnell. China has announced retaliation against the United States for the tariffs imposed by President

Trump, bringing the world closer to an all-out trade war. The measures declared by Beijing include an additional 34% levy on all imports from the US. The move mirrors the tariffs announced by Mr. Trump on Wednesday. Our Asia Pacific editor Celia Hatten told me more. Beijing has really uncovered a full menu of restrictions and tariffs designed to really try to hit back at the US economy. So they have 34% tariffs coming into place on most American goods. On top of that, they've launched some anti-dumping investigations at the World Trade Organizations.

They've also decided to put 11 U.S. companies on an unreliable entities list. That means all Chinese business people are restricted from any interaction with those American companies. And then last, they've put in some controls on rare earths that China really has a monopoly on some of these rare earths. So seven rare earths will no longer be allowed to be sold to the United States. They include things like samarium and terbium, which is sound very strange, but they're actually really important to the development of some technologies in the United States. And so

that actually might be one of the things that hurts the US the most. And what about the effect inside China? It could be really terrible. You know, some of the American imports that have simply suddenly jumped up in price are things that some Chinese industries really rely on, especially Chinese farming. So the United States exports agricultural machinery and crucially things like soybeans, wheat and corn to China. Now these are things that China has bought from the US in years past in an effort to kind of to shore up its trade deficit with the United States. And so it imports quite a lot from the United States. And so it's really going to affect Chinese markets to suddenly see these things a jump up in price.

But on the other hand, China has also been trying to pivot away from the US since the first Trump administration, since these trade wars really started to boil over. And so it's not going to hurt it as much as you might think. In fact, China's really been trying to establish new trade routes and to pivot to other markets. And so it's going to continue that those efforts. You mentioned the word trade war. Is that what this is now? A full blown trade war between China and the US? It's not looking good. I mean, the US-China Business Council came out a few days ago to

say that it looks at this point that the trade restrictions are so terrible that some Chinese goods could be hit with 90% tariffs if they're exported to the US. So these are two economies that used to be completely intertwined. The two biggest economies in the world really drove world trade. There were a lot of American companies that rely on Chinese manufacturing. Similarly, many Chinese companies rely on the power of the American consumer to sell their goods. And so if that's grinding to a halt, if we're seeing Beijing hitting back at Washington, almost as hard as Washington's head out first, you know, this is really terrible for global

trade and it really isn't looking good for the Chinese economy itself, which has already been suffering. They've already been facing serious restrictions in their efforts to get Chinese shoppers to buy more and so this is just another bad mark for the Chinese economy. Celia Hatton. The tariffs have led to wild drops on the stock markets from Asia to the United States. The Trump administration welcomed the stock market falls. Here's the Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaking at a NATO meeting in Brussels a short time ago.

Markets are crashing because markets are based on the stock value of companies who today are embedded in modes of production that are bad for the United States. We have to be a country that thinks we're the largest consumer market in the world and yet the only thing we export is services and we need to stop that. We need to get back to a time where we're a country that can make things. And to do that, we have to reset the global order of trade. So the president rightly has concluded that the current status of global trade

is bad for America and good for a bunch of other people. And he's going to reset it. And he's absolutely right to do it. Marco Rubio, and we'll be doing a Q&A, a question and answer session on the subject of tariffs in the near future. Please email us with your questions. The so-called Ottawa Treaty, the global convention banning landmines, is considered to be a great success. Ratified by more than 160 countries, it's led to huge reductions in the use and stockpiling of landmines

and to large numbers of minefields being cleared. But now a number of European countries have signalled their intention to withdraw. Imogen Folk reports from Geneva. Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia and Finland, all fearful of the threat from Russia, say they plan to leave the landmine treaty. In the UK, former defence minister Ben Wallace has hinted Britain should do the same. The plans have caused outrage. Tamar Gabelnick, director of the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, the international campaign to ban landmines, says using mines doesn't even make

sense militarily. They limit your own tactical mobility, they pose a danger to your soldiers, but worst of all is that we know over time 85 percent of the casualties of antipersonal landmines are civilians and 40 percent are children. So what you're doing, especially when you're considering using landmines on your own soil, is you are planting inevitable dangers for your own civilians, for your children. Since the mine ban came into force, the use of landmines has fallen dramatically and huge areas of land have been cleared, allowing people to plant crops, return to work or go to school. Even countries which didn't sign up to the treaty, among them the US and Russia stopped using them, until recently.

But now Russia has laid mines in Ukraine, the US has supplied mines to Kiev to fight back. It's feared all the progress of the treaty could be undone, with the return of a weapon aid agencies say is unreliable, uncontrollable and enormously harmful, not just during a conflict but for decades afterwards. Imogen folks, coming up... So this hat now that I'm wearing now is my hawk protection hat. But you know, tall, bald men, they do go for, so you do need to watch out.

A hawk that terrorised an English village is finally caught. Hind Kabirwat was appointed as Minister of Social Affairs and Labour on March 29th and is the only woman among 22 men making up Syria's new caretaker government. She's only 51 years old and is a secular Christian opponent of the Assad regime. She's lived in exile for 14 years. Likwesa Burak spoke to Hind Kabowat in Damascus about her return to her homeland after such a long time in exile. The important that the dictator is gone, we're going to start building a new Syria. This is the

most important thing. We're back home, we're back in our country to build together. So this is the important thing now. We are going to build a new future for our generation. Okay, so that is the aims of this new transitional government. But first off, describe what you found in Syria when you returned. What did you see? What were your feelings and emotions? Syria is ruined by the dictator. Poor people have been suffering for years, I find that there is hope. They start feeling the freedom. There is more space to discuss, to debate. People start criticizing. At the same time, we have a problem, economic problems,

as you know, because of the sanction. So we all hope that the sanction would be lifted so the Syrian can live in a better future. And what's it like as a woman in Syria? You are first off a women's rights activist. Describe the situation for Syrian women today. As you know Syrian women, they're strong, very committed. They work hard in the last 14 years. They were the heart and the soul of the revolution. We will never stop.

We will always keep the struggle. We'll keep the fight for the good fight. And I'm glad that all my women colleagues are supporting me. I support them. Women's solidarity will be all over. Yes, perhaps I'm the only woman, but I'm not alone. I am surrounded by heroes, by great, amazing women who work night and days to have a better future. Hind, what's it like being the only woman within this new government?

It is lonely. It is very lonely, but we cannot give up. I'm pushing. We're going to have some new posts for women. And I've been promised that there will be lots of women in leadership positions. In the end of the day, we are aiming for quotas for a minimum of 30 percent. We don't see it now in the government, but we're hoping to have it in other departments, in other positions. Have you had assurances from Ahmed Al-Sharah on that? Because, you know, there have been people who have said that you are merely a diversity token within the Syrian government.

Has Mr. Al-Sharah assured you that you will have real power to meet those targets? I think you said 30 percent, is that right? Minimum. Minimum 30 percent. Yes, I did. I did from Mr. Shara and Mr. Shibani and just to tell you that we're not a token, Syrian women never been a token. Looking the history, looking the past and present and now to the future, we will never underestimate the power of Syrian women. We've been fighting and if you see today, the Syrian society is glued together and strong because of the power of the Syrian women and the end that has been working so hard. So I hope you all support the Syrian women in their dream to

be in the future of Syria. Hind Kabowat Israeli troops have moved into an area of northern Gaza to expand what they call a security zone around the edge of the enclave. It comes just days after the government announced plans to seize large areas of the territory with an operation in the south. On Thursday, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said that nearly 100 people had been killed in Israeli attacks over the previous 24 hours. Salah Abdel Shafi is a permanent observer of Palestine to the United Nations in Vienna. We have mass killings. Yesterday we had 100 people killed, mostly civilians. There is a targeting of UN premises.

There is a targeting of a school yesterday there. Israel wants a kind of a permanent security presence in Gaza. Israel wants ethnic cleansing of Gaza. And definitely the last thing Netanyahu wants is really the release of hostages. In a statement, Israel's military said that in the last few hours it had eliminated numerous Hamas members and dismantled Hamas infrastructure. I spoke to our Middle East correspondent Ulan Nell who's in Jerusalem and she told me about the aims of Israel's land operation in Gaza. Overall the Israeli Prime Minister says

the military is now dissecting the strip that the aim of this offensive is to put pressure on Hamas to give up the remaining hostages it's holding, with 24 believed to have been alive at the start of this latest military operation. So we've seen in recent days the Israeli military retaking the ruins of Rafah in the south, cutting it off from the rest of Gaza. Now, the latest in the past few hours, it's moving into Shezaiya, which is just to the east of Gaza City. It has also seen a lot of fighting in the past. Israel has not fully explained its long-term aim for these areas. It's now taking to expand what it's calling a security zone and Gazans of course really feel that the aim is to depopulate big areas including some of Gaza's last farmland which was on the

edge of the strip. So what impact are these ground operations having on Palestinians themselves? What's happening there? In Shezaiyah, for example, the Israeli military says soldiers are letting civilians out via organised routes. It issued evacuation warnings in this area yesterday on Thursday and we've seen these scenes of hundreds of residents in footage. They're streaming out these all too familiar scenes of people fleeing and those people

are mostly heading westward to Gaza City. In the last few days, because we've had this series of evacuation orders, there have been hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fleeing their homes overall and that's made it really into one of the biggest mass exodus of the war as the Israeli forces are taking more territory. So Yolan, where does this leave proposals for a new ceasefire? Efforts by the regional mediators and the US look really stuck at the moment. We've had Hamas saying that it won't engage with Israel's latest proposal for a deal that would bring its hostages back. Hamas said it accepted the plan that was put forward by Egypt and Qatar on Saturday that we understand was for a 50-day truce for five hostages being released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners,

for aid being returned to Gaza because it's now being cut off for a whole month. That's having a huge, devastating effect with lots of food shortages now. And you also are supposed to have under the regional plan, we understand talks happening very quickly on moving to the next stage of the ceasefire ending the war. When Israel put forward its counterproposal, which it said was backed by the US, that involved a bigger number of living hostages being released at the outset of a new truce.

And Israel's made clear now it rejects the original ceasefire agreement that was brokered in January that would have seen this second phase to return hostages and bring a full end to the fighting. Meanwhile the IDF said that it killed the senior Hamas commander in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon early on Friday. Hamas confirmed the death of Hassan Farahat along with his daughter and son after their apartment was hit in an Israeli strike. For many years beauty pageants in Africa have been organised along the same lines of similar events in Europe. But this year the National Contest in Ivory Coast has decided to do things differently, banning hair extensions and weaves

to focus instead of what they term natural beauty. Many have welcomed the changes empowering but others say it will restrict personal choice. This report by David Wafula. Under the bright lights of the stage contestants step forward, hair in tight curls, braids or short cropped styles. For Emanuela Dali, this rule changed everything. I have wigs at home, but I don't wear them often. They look nice, but I feel more comfortable with my short hair. For years, beauty queens wore long, artificial hair.

But this year, Cote d'Ivoire's biggest beauty competition took a bold step. Some contestants, like Astrid Menekekou were not sure at first. I understand why the African ladies like to wear wigs. I'm a wigs fan. I love it. I think that I can win Miss Ivory Coast 2025 without extension. For others, it was a moment of self-discovery. Lea Titya Murufi competed last year with long extensions.

This time, she's going all natural. Last year, I competed with extensions. For me, fake hair meant beauty. This year, I went all natural, and I feel more confident. But not everyone is celebrating. At a salon in Ndaloa, hairdressers say the wig burn will hurt business. We don't agree with this decision. It's bad for our business. Many women rely on wigs

and burning them in a major event like this will hurt us. Wigs and weaves are a big business in Cote d'Ivoire, worth over $300 million. Back at the pageant, the night's winner was Doria Kore. She will compete at the grand final in Abidjan. Winning with natural hair shows the true beauty of African women. For organizers, this is about more than just crowns. We want the candidates to be natural, whether with braids or straightened hair. It should be their own. Beauty must be raw. And for health experts, the issue goes beyond beauty.

Florence Edwiga-Nanga is a trichologist who treats hair and scalp conditions. Turn on the TV and you'll see almost every journalist wearing a wig. These beauty enhancements are fashionable, but they can also cause problems like alopecia or scalp infections. You must stay beautiful but also protect your health. but also protect your health. Yes, you have to stay beautiful, but be careful of your health. As Doria Kore waves to the crowd, Miss Cote d'Ivoire 2025 is rewriting the Beauty Rollbook. Some say it's a step toward self-acceptance, others say it limits choice. One thing is clear, the debate isn't over yet.

David Wafula, The president of Microsoft, Brad Smith, is predicting that some form of regulation of artificial intelligence is inevitable and says it should ensure that humans take the lead on decisions that have real consequences for people's lives. The BBC's technology editor, Zoe Kleimler, spoke to the tech executive as Microsoft celebrates its 50th birthday. I do believe the time from now to the middle of the 21st century will fundamentally be defined by artificial intelligence as quite possibly the single most technology development. It will change the way we work, the way we interact, it will change how citizens interact with their health provider and it will be constantly reshaping our industry, it'll be reshaping economies. Every economy of the world I think will need to harness

the power of AI in order to be globally competitive. I've seen so many applications for artificial intelligence. What for you are the most exciting? Well for me it's a constantly available almost companion, tool and companion to ask questions and get answers faster and then take those answers and ask more questions. When somebody now refers to something I don't understand, I don't have to like make a note about it and go look it up later, I just do it on the spot and I understand what people are talking about. Sometimes I ask it to do a first draft of something for me or look at something I've written and make

it better. I just find it a productivity enhancer all around. But a lot of those jobs, even the ones you've just mentioned, are done by people, aren't they? I mean, Microsoft talks about taking the drudgery out of work, but for lots of people, the drudgery is the work. Well, there are jobs today that will change and there are jobs today that will disappear, but there's all these new jobs that will be created, and most importantly, a lot of jobs

will remain but will do our work differently. That's the way it's been. There was a time when there was no automobile and everybody was on a horse and then the jobs that involved horses went away and a whole bunch of new jobs were created that required the people learn how to repair a car. So we'll see that again. Is there anything that you think AI either can or should not do? Well to me the most important principle is that AI needs to be a tool to help humans and we should make sure that humans not only remain in the loop, but remain the decision makers for the things that are truly consequential in people's lives.

If you want to apply for a loan, I think it's one thing for the bank to have an AI tool that may analyze the application, but I think we want a human being to be making that decision. AI needs to serve humanity. And if we build and deploy this technology with that philosophy and that principle in mind, I at least will be more optimistic about the future of humanity. The President of Microsoft, Brad Smith. And finally, there's good news for the residents of an English village that has lived in fear for weeks. Fear of avian attack, fear of the swoop of a

hawk that has harassed and eerily assaulted entirely innocent men over the past months or so. This was the scene in the once charming village of Flamsted in the south of England when Johnny Diamond went there three weeks ago. So the hawk will sit on the roof and he's standing there bolt upright looking around and then when he's going to dive he swoops down, he hunches up and he slips off the roof quietly and he shoots across and he's just come and smack you on the back of the head from behind. Has he smacked you? Yes, he has, yeah.

Were you, you're hatted up now? Were you hatted there? No, I wasn't. So this hat now that I'm wearing now is my hawk protection hat. But you know, tall bald men, they do go for. So you do need to watch out. But now relief and maybe even joy because the hawk that attacked around 50 people has been caught. And no more will tall men shudder as a shadow looms over them from the skies, as Lucy Aitchison reports.

Since early March, dozens of residents of Flamstead have reported a bird dive-bombing people from behind, and in particular, tall men. The harris's hawk has wrecked havoc, disrupting the local postal service and drawing blood from several of its victims. One man resorted to wearing a cycling helmet while out running, just to protect himself. The parish council even issued a warning that the hawk might be euthanised if the disturbance has continued. Step forward, the suitably named Steve Harris, who's now captured the bird of prey after it made a home in a tree in his back garden, preventing his children from playing outside.

It was getting to the stage where it was getting braver and braver and it was attacking people with consistency. I got whacked on the head yesterday just trying to get into my car. So it's there, it was sat there waiting to whack people. It had gone from being interesting and fun to not really being fun anymore. Steve Harris was able to humanely trap the hawk in a cage and it has since been safely removed by a falconer. Since no one knows who owns the bird, its future home remains uncertain. Though one thing is clear, it will be far from the tall men of Flamsted. And thereby hangs a tale. Lucy Aitchison reporting.

And that's it from us for now but there will be a new edition of the Global News podcast later. We'll be doing a Q&A on the subject of tariffs in the near future. Please email us with your questions. Don't forget if you want to comment on the subject of tariffs in the near future. Please email us with your questions. Don't forget if you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, you can send us an email. The address is globalpodcast.bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag globalnewspod. This edition was mixed by Daniela Varela Hernandez. The producer was Rachel Wright. The editor is Karen Martin.

I'm Valerie Sanderson. Until next time, bye bye.