FirstFT: South Korea’s Yoon faces pressure to resign

Good morning. There is no shortage of political upheaval on today’s agenda:

• South Korean president faces impeachment push

• The French government falls

• Japan’s audacious bid to become a semiconductor superpower

The presidency of Yoon Suk Yeol is in peril after his failed attempt to impose martial law triggered South Korea’s worst political crisis in years.

At a meeting convened yesterday by Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, nearly all his cabinet members expressed their intention to step down as the country reeled from its worst constitutional crisis in years.

Among those offering to quit were finance minister Choi Sang-mok and justice minister Park Sung-jae, according to the state-run Yonhap News agency. Defence minister Kim Yong-hyun, who has been accused by members of his own party of being behind the president’s gambit, announced his resignation in a later statement, Yonhap said.

Yoon’s position had already become more precarious yesterday as thousands of people protested against the president and 190 lawmakers from six opposition parties submitted a motion to impeach him.

They said they intended to discuss the bill in parliament today before a vote on Friday or Saturday.

Here’s what it would take to impeach Yoon — and see more coverage below:

• Market reaction: South Korean officials have stepped in to shore up support for the country’s financial markets, as investors braced for political uncertainty.

• ‘Revenge Cycle’: South Korea’s turmoil is indicative of the fractured politics that have persisted even with the country’s rising economic and cultural influence.

• Opinion: Leo Lewis argues that tumult in Seoul is a symptom of China’s rise and the return of Donald Trump.

• FT View: South Korea has, for now, withstood a shocking stress test of its democracy, the editorial board writes.

Here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today:

Five more top stories

1. AstraZeneca has appointed a new head of its China business. Company veteran Iskra Reic will take over after her predecessor Leon Wang was detained by authorities in the country as part of a crackdown on the healthcare sector. 

• General Motors: The US carmaker has taken a more than $5bn charge against its businesses in China, laying bare the company’s declining fortunes in what was once its largest market.

• US-China ties: A contrarian idea has taken shape in the China-related US business community that a second Trump term could be good for relations.

2. The French parliament yesterday voted to oust prime minister Michel Barnier over his proposed deficit-cutting budget, plunging the country into deeper political turmoil. A motion of no confidence was approved in the national assembly after Marine Le Pen’s far-right party teamed up with a leftist bloc to bring down Barnier’s minority government.

3. A senior executive at US healthcare company UnitedHealth Group was fatally shot ahead of an investor event in midtown Manhattan, in what officials said appeared to be a “brazen, targeted attack”. A manhunt is under way for the individual suspected of killing Brian Thompson, the chief executive of the group’s UnitedHealthcare insurance division.

4. Exclusive: Chinese exports and investment are pouring into Saudi Arabia as the kingdom’s demand for green tech deepens a relationship once defined by oil sales. The warming relations challenge business ties with Riyadh’s traditional western partners, such as the US, and complicate the outlook for Donald Trump’s administration.

5. Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte has accused Russia of assisting North Korea’s nuclear programme in exchange for Pyongyang sending troops to help its war against Ukraine, the first such claim by a senior western official. Rutte declined to provide details of any “intelligence information”, but insisted “we should not be naive”. Read the full story.

The Big Read

In an audacious bid to become a semiconductor superpower, the Japanese government is backing a start-up that aims to upend the economics and geography of the chip industry. If successful, it could bring about Japan’s biggest industrial comeback in more than half a century. But analysts are deeply sceptical of the untested technology at the heart of the project and warn that the government is exposed if it fails.

We’re also reading . . . 

• Taiwan documentary: Former president Tsai Ing-wen gave filmmakers unprecedented access for Invisible Nation, a tour de force film about the country.

• Visual investigation: Kherson’s civilians have been the target of a concerted Russian campaign to empty a city by stalking its residents with attack drones.  

• Gruelling job interviews: The introduction of AI is turning a dispiriting situation into a miserable one, writes Elaine Moore.

Chart of the day

Cryptocurrencies representing a euthanised grey squirrel, a Thai pygmy hippopotamus and a cartoon dog have exploded in value since last month’s US election, with Dogecoin outperforming bitcoin over the past month. Here’s how Trump’s win has triggered a “memecoin” boom.

Take a break from the news

Don’t miss HTSI’s guide to the world’s best food markets, with selections from FT writers and editors across the globe.