
South Korea police impose travel ban on former PM Han and ex-finance minister Choi
SEOUL: South Korean police have banned former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and ex-Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok from travelling abroad as part of a probe into alleged insurrection linked to former leader Yoon Suk Yeol's martial law bid, a police official said.
The travel ban was imposed in mid-May, the Yonhap news agency reported. Han and Choi were questioned on Monday (May 26) by a special police unit investigating former top government officials over insurrection charges, Yonhap said.
After Yoon was impeached for violating the duties of his office in December, there have been questions about what role Han and Choi played in the former leader's short-lived martial law and if they had resisted the move as they claimed.
The Dec 3 martial law declaration, which was revoked hours later by parliament, thrust South Korea into an unprecedented constitutional crisis that involved both Han and Choi serving as acting president.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


CNA
24 minutes ago
- CNA
PM Lawrence Wong meets Chinese Premier Li Qiang
Scroll up for the next video X PM Lawrence Wong meets Chinese Premier Li Qiang


CNA
an hour ago
- CNA
South Korea gets first civilian defence minister in 60 years
SEOUL: South Korea's government on Monday (Jun 23) appointed the country's first civilian defence minister in more than 60 years, after growing calls for stronger oversight of the military. It comes after a failed martial law attempt in December that led to the impeachment of ex-president Yoon Suk Yeol. Veteran lawmaker Ahn Gyu-back is "the first civilian to lead the ministry in 64 years", said presidential Chief of Staff Kang Hoon-sik at a news conference on Monday. "He is expected to push reforms in the military, particularly in response to its involvement in the martial law," he added. During his election campaign, President Lee Jae Myung had promised to appoint a defence minister from the "civilian circle", responding to widespread public calls for control of the military in the wake of the martial law crisis. South Korea's former president Yoon was impeached and suspended by lawmakers over his Dec 3 attempt to subvert civilian rule, which saw armed soldiers deployed to parliament. Kim Yong-hyun, who served as defence minister under Yoon, has been under arrest since December and is currently on trial for insurrection, accused of recommending martial law to the former president and drafting the decree. Previous liberal administrations have attempted to appoint a "civilian" defence minister, but have failed to do so, many citing the growing threat of North Korea's nuclear programme. Ties between the two Koreas deteriorated under the hardline administration of the hawkish ex-president. They technically remain at war because the 1950-53 conflict ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty. Lee has vowed to improve relations with the North and reduce tensions on the peninsula, halting the loudspeaker broadcasts Seoul had begun last year in response to a barrage of trash-filled balloons flown southward by Pyongyang. In response, a day after, North Korea stopped broadcasting strange and unsettling noises along the border which the ministry hailed as "a meaningful opportunity to ease inter-Korean military tensions and restore mutual trust".


CNA
an hour ago
- CNA
Japan's retail rice prices fall below 4,000 yen, hitting prime minister's target
TOKYO :Japan's average retail rice prices fell below 4,000 yen ($27) for the first time in four months, data showed on Monday, after the government released an emergency stockpile of rice to tackle food inflation ahead of a national election. The supermarket price of rice per 5kg dropped by 6.1 per cent to 3,920 yen in the seven days to June 15, marking the fourth straight week of decreases to reach a level last seen in February, according to the farm ministry. With that, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba achieved a target set last month to bring the price of staple Japanese grain to below 4,000 yen. Rice prices have doubled since last year, creating a political challenge for Ishiba as he faces an upper house election in late July. The vote could be critical for his coalition's chances of survival, after it lost its majority in the more powerful lower house in October. Last month, a new farm minister ended a system of distributing emergency rice via auction and switched to discretionary contracts with retailers so that consumers would pay about 2,000 yen per 5kg. That stockpiled rice first became available through some retailers on May 31, selling out quickly. Rice prices leapt in part because of a poor-quality harvest due to extreme heat in 2023, which led to a shortage of rice in the market around the middle of last year. The spike in rice costs has driven Japan's food and overall consumer inflation in recent months, data has shown, complicating the Bank of Japan's rate hike schedule as economic pressure from U.S. tariffs looms. ($1 = 147.7200 yen)