Reuters World News - SKorea stabbing, Japan quake, Israel’s Supreme Court and Chinese defense

Episode Date: January 2, 2024

South Korea’s opposition chief is stabbed in the neck in the southern city of Busan. Rescuers struggle to reach isolated areas hit by a deadly earthquake in Japan. Israel’s Supreme Court has struck down a law that sparked months of nationwide protests. And what the new Chinese defense minister means for US relations. Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, South Korea's opposition leader is stabbed. Israel's top court strikes down a controversial law that curbed its own power, rescuer's struggle to reach survivors of a powerful earthquake in Japan, and what the appointment of a new defence minister in China means for relations with the US. It's Tuesday, January 2nd. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes. Every weekday. I'm Carmel Crimmons in Dublin.

The moment South Korea's opposition leader, Lee J. Meng, is stabbed in the neck in the southern city of Busan. The assailant was quickly subdued by party officials and police officers. Lee was airlifted to Seoul for surgery. His injuries are not life-threatening. Josh Smith is in Seoul. What we saw was while Lee was on this stop in Busan, which is a city in southern South Korea, a man approached him. He appeared to be posing as a supporter, seeking an autograph, And he pulled a weapon out. It looked like an 18 centimeter long knife, according to police.

And he stabbed or struck in the left side of the neck. And Lee collapsed. Do we know what the motive was for this attack? Police say they're still investigating that. According to the police, the attacker was a 67-year-old man who bought the knife recently online. deadly attacks against politicians are quite rare in South Korea, but in recent years, there has been not insignificant number of kind of these stabbing or other attacks. And in fact, Lee's immediate predecessor was struck during an event during the last election by a man wielding a hammer. He was

injured at that time. And then there had been previous stabbing attacks against a U.S. ambassador, also the opposition leader, Parkin Hay, who went on to be one of the president, also had a very serious stabbing attack where she was also stabbed in the face and required a lot of stitches. While overall, violence is quite rare in South Korea for these officials out on these campaign stops. It's not an unheard of event. Israel's Supreme Court has struck down a law that roll back some of its own powers and sparked months of nationwide protests. The law was part of a broader judicial overhaul proposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

and his coalition of religious and nationalist partners. Dan Williams is in Jerusalem. Had we been discussing this ruling four months ago, it would have been a bombshell for Israeli politics, for the judicial structure in the country. However, the situation in the country and the region has changed radically given the Gaza War, many Israelis now are hoping that the national consensus,

the sense of domestic solidarity, around a really unprecedented war, can be preserved. and even within Netanyahu's coalition, despite the quite bitter recrimination we're hearing, I don't think there will be much energy behind any bid to test the ruling or even to try new legislation. And Israel has announced plans to pull back some troops from Gaza. What does this mean for the war?

It is a change of military attack. It does not signal a winding down of the Gaza war itself. I think a better metaphor might be a downshifting of gears. So potentially the war could become more intensive but more localized. It would appear that the Israelis feel they've asserted sufficient control, at least above ground, in order to shift to more specialized forces focusing on the hidden bunker and tunnel networks used by Hamas, where Hamas may actually have thousands of fighters lying in wait, waiting to Mount Ambushes, and indeed holding some or all of the 129 hostages,

remaining in Gaza and whom Israel has vowed to retrieve. Sirens wail as rescuers in Japan rushed to reach survivors of a deadly earthquake. The magnitude 7.6 quake killed at least 48 people on New Year's Day. Tsunami waves hit Japan's west coast, sweeping some cars and houses into the sea. Thousands of soldiers, firefighters and police officers have been dispatched, but are struggling to reach isolated areas. Baldwin Chaya, a snowboarding tourist from Shanghai, was in his hotel room the Hakuba Alps when the first tremors hit.

So the whole room was shaking, the TV was shaking. I had to keep everything on the table. I mean, you hear about earthquakes in Japan, you wouldn't expect one to actually experience a one. All 379 passengers and crew have been evacuated from a Japan Airlines aircraft after it skidded down the tarmac and caught fire at Tokyo's Haneda Airport.

Japan's Coast Guard is investigating if one of its aircraft collided with the jet. Russia has pounded Kiev and Harkeyeve with missiles, wounding at least 10 in the Ukrainian capital. The attacks come hours after President Vladimir Putin promised to avenge what Moscow said was a Ukrainian attack on the Russian city of Belgarod that killed 24 civilians. Spanish soccer player Jennifer Hermosa is set to testify at Madrid's High Court in a sexual assault hearing against former soccer federation chief, Louise Rubiales. Rubiales is under investigation for alleged sexual assault and coercion, after kissing Hermosa on the lips. during the World Cup trophy presentation. The 2024 trading year has kicked off with a bang for Bitcoin.

The cryptocurrency jumped past $45,000 for the first time in nearly two years. Anticipation that the US will approve a Bitcoin exchange traded fund is driving the surge, but it's also a sign that investors still have an appetite for risk after global shares ended 2023 with the biggest annual rise in four years. China has named former Navy chief Dong Jin as its new defense minister. His appointment comes two months after Beijing removed the pre-year. previous defense minister without explanation. Yu Lund Tian is in Beijing.

Tian, this is the first time China has had a former Navy officer as defense minister. How might Dong's appointment affect relations with the U.S.? Dong's appointment may make communication between Chinese and U.S. militaries smoother. This good in turn lead to less mistrust and accidental conflicts due to miscalculations. Firstly, there is no technical barrier for him to meet U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, because unlike his predecessor, he is not under US sanctions. We can also expect Dong to be somebody who's open to interaction. So he comes from the Navy, which is typically a more outward facing the force than the army.

His experience serving in the East China Sea and South China Sea, where Chinese and US ships often cross paths, is likely to make him appreciate the importance of preventing escalations. Dong's appointment coincided with an apparent purge of military officers. What's going on there? So on Friday, nine senior military offices, mainly from the rocket force and equipment department, will strip off their parliamentarian title. This is what China does to senior people before prosecuting them in court.

And so China has not officially explained why these generals were purged or how many more are implicated, but we've been told by sources related to procurement and in the military that there is, a serious investigation going on about corruption over military equipment procurement by the rocket force. And this has implicated many generals. Do we know what happened to Dong's predecessor as defense minister? Dong's predecessor is Li Shang Fu. Lee has been missing since September. It's a clear sign that he's under investigation. Sources tell us that Lee is involved in the corruption scandal that the other senior military officers that were brought down on Friday were involved in. After a year in which AI dominated discussion about the future of many of our jobs,

NASA is exploring ways to use humanoid robots. This is Valkyrie, being put through her paces at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Standing 6'2 and weighing 300 pounds, she's an imposing figure. We're not trying to replace humid crews. We're really just trying to take the dull, dirty and dangerous work off their plates. NASA's Sean Azini says future humanoid robots in space could do the cleaning of solar panels or inspecting malfunctioning equipment outside the spacecraft. That's it for today's episode of Reuters World News. A happy new year from all of us on the pod. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show. To make sure you know what's going on in the world, listen in for 10 minutes every weekday. And don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast player or download the Reuters app.