SEOUL (UPDATE) – A South Korean court sentenced former President Yoon Suk Yeol to life in prison on Thursday, after finding him guilty of masterminding an insurrection linked to his December 2024 attempt to impose martial law.

Prosecutors had sought the death penalty in the case, closely watched in a deeply divided country. It is the most consequential of a series of trials for the ousted leader, whose bid triggered a national political crisis and tested democratic resilience.

Yoon conspired with his then-defence minister, Kim Yong-hyun, to subvert the constitutional order by deploying troops to parliament, intending to paralyse its functions, Judge Jee Kui-youn told a packed courtroom.

“It is the court’s judgment that sending armed troops to parliament … and using equipment to try to make arrests all constitute acts of insurrection,” he said, speaking for the panel of three judges.

Yoon led a number of officials and troops in criminal activities on December 3, 2024, and “because of the martial law declaration, an enormous social cost was incurred,” Jee said as he handed down the life term for the former leader.

Wearing a dark navy suit without a tie, Yoon, 65, stood ashen-faced as the sentences were read out for him and seven other defendants, including Kim, the former defence minister, who received 30 years, and former top police officials.

Yoon’s defence team will discuss with him whether to appeal the ruling, with one of his lawyers, Yoon Kab-keun, saying it completely ignored the key legal principle of basing findings on evidence.

A lawyer for Kim said the former defence minister would “of course appeal”.

A prosecutor said the team had some “regret” over the sentencing but declined to say whether they planned to appeal.

RISK OF DEATH PENALTY
Before delivering the verdict, Judge Jee reviewed the long history of treason and insurrection, from the Roman Empire and medieval era to the trial and execution of England’s Charles I for waging war against parliament.

Masterminding an insurrection carries a maximum sentence of the death penalty or life imprisonment under South Korean law. The country last handed down a death sentence in 2016, but has not executed anyone since 1997.

Yoon denied the charges. The conservative former career prosecutor said he had presidential authority to declare martial law and his action was aimed at sounding the alarm over opposition parties’ obstruction of government.

The ousted former leader is likely to remain held at the Seoul Detention Center. He can appeal the ruling and again challenge any appellate court decision at the Supreme Court.

Judicial guidelines say the first trial should conclude within six months and the entire process, including appeals, in two years, but trials often exceed that.

Yoon, who has faced eight trial proceedings, is appealing a five-year jail term handed him in January in a separate trial on charges including obstructing attempts by authorities to arrest him after his martial law declaration.

SHOCKWAVES IN SOUTH KOREA
While Yoon’s bid to impose martial law lasted only about six hours before it was met by large street protests and voted down by parliament, it sent shockwaves through Asia’s fourth-largest economy, a key US security ally, and long considered one of the world’s most resilient democracies.

Ko Jeong-suk, 65, who watched the court decision at Seoul Station, said the martial law bid deepened social divisions. “I really think it should have been the death sentence so that this doesn’t become an example to repeat.”

But hundreds of Yoon supporters rallied outside the court complex calling for him to be freed.

In a post on X, President Lee Jae Myung, a liberal who won the presidency in a snap election in June after Yoon’s removal, commended the actions of the Korean people to thwart the martial law.

“It was possible because it was the Republic of Korea,” Lee said, using the official name of the country, whose people would set an example for history, he added.

His post ahead of Thursday’s ruling was attached to a newspaper report that some academics had recommended a Nobel Peace Prize nomination for the Korean public, which faced down troops and police to oppose martial law without violence. — Reuters

BEIJING — China sees an opening to turn President Donald J. Trump’s tariffs to its advantage by reshaping global trade in ways that would insulate its $19-trillion economy from US pressure far into the future.

Beijing is exploiting the uncertainty created by Mr. Trump to try to stitch China’s vast manufacturing base into the world’s biggest economic blocs, including the European Union (EU), Gulf States and a trans-Pacific trade pact, a Reuters examination found. The push involves accelerating efforts to clinch some 20 trade deals in total, many years in the making, despite widespread concerns about China’s overproduction, uneven market access and soft domestic demand.

A Reuters review of 100 Chinese-language articles by state-backed trade scholars written since 2017 reveals a systematic push by China’s policy advisers to reverse-engineer US trade policy and neutralize Washington’s containment strategy.

China is now putting that blueprint into action. The deal reached with Canada during Prime Minister Mark Carney’s January visit to Beijing — which slashes tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles — was the first of many aimed at breaking US leverage, according to interviews with 10 people, including Chinese officials and trade diplomats.

“Don’t interrupt your opponent when he is making a mistake,” said one Chinese official of Mr. Trump’s disruptive trade agenda.

The review, drawn from over 2,000 trade-strategy papers endorsed by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and Peking University, which advise top leaders, shows policy insiders broadly accept that painful structural change is a price worth paying for China’s long-term dominance of global commerce. The papers’ contents are reported here for the first time.

If successful, Beijing could upend more than a decade of US trade policy by placing itself at the heart of a new, China-shaped multilateral order, two Western diplomats said.

“The Chinese have a golden opportunity now,” said Alicia Garcia Herrero, senior fellow at the Bruegel think tank.

China’s commerce ministry didn’t respond to a request for comment about Beijing’s strategy.

Asked about China’s approach, a US official told Reuters it was no surprise that countries with large trade surpluses sought to maintain globalization.

“President Trump is fixing the problems globalization caused for the United States while other countries are trying to double down on globalization as free market access to the United States goes away,” the official said.

BUILDING BLOCS
The shift in China’s tone reflects its calculations. A year ago, Beijing was invoking Mao Zedong and its ability to fend off the West in the Korean War with martial propaganda.

Now, as China prepares to welcome Mr. Trump in April, its diplomats are touring the world urging trading partners to join it in defending multilateralism and open trade.

In January, China dispatched its top diplomat to tiny Lesotho — which Mr. Trump initially hit with a 50% tariff — to pledge development cooperation. On Saturday, state media said China would implement zero tariffs on imports from 53 African countries. Meanwhile, China is pitching artificial intelligence (AI)-powered customs systems to neighbors and working to retool digital infrastructure that underpin commerce.

The moves underline a goal identified in the policy papers: to embed China so deeply in global trade that partners can’t afford to decouple under US pressure.

“In countering US strategic competition with China, ‘anti-decoupling’ should become China’s primary focus,” wrote Ni Feng, fellow at CASS’ Institute of American Studies, in 2024.

Chinese officials are now working to fast-track stalled trade talks. Since 2017, China has been negotiating with countries including Honduras, Panama, Peru, South Korea and Switzerland.

“We are willing to negotiate bilateral and regional trade and investment agreements with interested countries and regions,” commerce ministry spokesperson He Yongqian told Reuters during Mr. Carney’s visit, without elaborating.

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi surprised European negotiators in November by raising the prospect of a free-trade agreement with Brussels during talks with his Estonian counterpart.

A month later, Mr. Wang pressed the Gulf Cooperation Council to conclude long-running talks on a free-trade agreement. In January, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer agreed with Chinese leader Xi Jinping to launch a feasibility study into a trade-in-services agreement that could reduce barriers for British firms. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said he will seek “strategic partnerships” with China during a trip next week.

China’s Commerce Minister Wang Wentao has made joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) a priority. The pact has its roots in the US-backed Trans-Pacific Partnership, developed in part to counter China before Washington withdrew in 2017.

But China’s huge trade surplus complicates the pitch. Some member countries worry Chinese manufacturers may use improved market access to funnel excess low-cost goods abroad, while China’s domestic demand remains sluggish.

Wendy Cutler, chief negotiator during the Obama administration for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, acknowledged the window for Beijing to champion trade and multilateralism but said China needed to go beyond talk.

“And with its huge trade imbalances, as well as some of the coercive measures it’s now taking against countries like Japan, it’s hard to see how they’re walking the walk,” Ms. Cutler told Reuters.

A senior European trade diplomat dismissed Beijing’s overtures as “pure Chinese propaganda,” saying Brussels had no plans for a trade deal.

Chinese advisers are undeterred. Speaking to Reuters, one noted the EU and China had negotiated a landmark 2020 investment deal during Mr. Trump’s first term. The deal, however, was frozen in 2021 before it could take effect amid a dispute over human rights sanctions.

LESSONS LEARNED
Some Chinese advisers contend in the papers that Beijing should study how Washington has “weaponized” global institutions to contain China, and exploit openings created by Mr. Trump’s willingness to abandon or sideline multilateral bodies such as the World Trade Organization.

Others argue Beijing should focus on influencing global standards in fields such as intellectual property through initiatives like Mr. Xi’s Belt and Road program and China’s membership of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which covers about 30% of global gross domestic product (GDP).

China is now applying those insights.

Its recently upgraded deal with Southeast Asian states, for example, focuses on AI-driven and digital trade, where China hopes to secure a first-mover advantage.

Indeed, China’s vision for customs processing is evident at its “Friendship Port” on the Vietnamese border, where state media says home-grown AI solutions have slashed waiting times by 20%, enabling faster deliveries. Reuters couldn’t independently verify the claim.

The risks that China’s $1.2-trillion trade surplus poses to trading partners’ manufacturing sectors are hard to overlook, however.

Pascal Lamy, former World Trade Organization director-general and EU trade commissioner, said Chinese firms are sending more goods to Europe than the bloc can absorb.

“It’s a mystery how, given the nature of the regime, given the sort of collective cleverness, how is it that they have not succeeded in rebalancing their economic model?” he said.

Not everyone sees closer ties with China as the easiest way to curb reliance on the US.

Stephen Nagy, China project lead at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute in Ottawa, said Mr. Carney’s tariff-cutting agreement with Mr. Xi appears designed to build leverage before talks over the US-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) trade deal.

“I think his bet is wrong,” he added, predicting that Mr. Trump wouldn’t be swayed.

Mr. Carney has said Canada respects its USMCA commitment not to pursue free-trade deals with non-market economies. His office didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Mexico, for its part, is wary of endangering US market access by moving too close to China.

“We see no need for a free-trade agreement with China right now,” said a Mexican trade official. “We are already in the CPTPP and have 60% of world GDP covered.”

Beijing’s trade partners really need China to revive its consumption, said Fred Neumann, chief economist for Asia-Pacific at HSBC.

Mr. Wang, China’s commerce minister, has said growing imports is a priority as Beijing prepares to launch its next five-year plan in March, in line with a commitment to raise consumption’s share of GDP.

But rebalancing is a long-term project. Mr. Trump has three years left in office, and the next administration could revert to building coalitions to contain China.

China must “study in depth the logic of US actions within international institutions and the possible next steps it may take to better respond to increasingly fierce strategic offensives in the future,” Zhao Pu, then at Renmin University and now a researcher at CASS’ Institute of American Studies, wrote in 2023. — Reuters

BERLIN/WASHINGTON — Germany is considering ordering more US-made F-35 fighter jets, two sources told Reuters, a move that would deepen Berlin’s reliance on American military technology as its joint next-generation fighter program with France falters.

One source said Berlin was in negotiations that could lead to the purchase of over 35 additional jets. Germany purchased 35 of the aircraft in 2022 which are due to begin delivery later this year.

The potential acquisition of more Lockheed Martin stealth fighters, at a cost of more than $80 million per plane, would follow pressure from Washington on European allies to increase defense spending.

If all the potential F-35 purchases and existing orders come to fruition, Germany would have around 85 F-35s. But the sources cautioned the outcome was still uncertain.

Germany’s defense ministry did not immediately comment while a Pentagon spokesperson referred questions to Germany. A spokesperson for defence contractor Lockheed Martin said the company was focused on building F-35s already ordered by Germany.

In October, a German parliamentary source said the defense minister intended to order 15 more F-35s. Germany was expected to announce that purchase in the near-term, the second source said.

Expansion of Germany’s F-35 fleet would mark a significant strategic shift toward deeper military integration with the United States and away from European defense autonomy, a priority for fellow European Union member France.

Germany and France are deadlocked on their Future Combat Air System (FCAS) program, a problem-plagued, €100-billion effort launched in 2017 to build a next-generation aircraft to replace French, German and Spanish jets starting in 2040. Under the emerging scenario, Germany and France would abandon the FCAS project.

A commitment by Germany to add F-35s to its arsenal would also have implications for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) as the jet plays a key role in the alliance’s nuclear strategy.

Buying more F-35 jets would give Germany time to figure out developing and finding a partner for a jet project.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Wednesday questioned whether developing a manned sixth-generation fighter jet, as FCAS has sought to do, still made sense for his country’s air force.

“Will we still need a manned fighter jet in 20 years’ time? Do we still need it, given that we will have to develop it at great expense?” Mr. Merz said on the Machtwechsel podcast published on Wednesday.

Berlin’s 2022 decision to buy the US-made F-35 was driven by its NATO obligation to deliver US nuclear bombs stored in Germany if called upon. The F-35 is the only Western fighter jet certified to carry the most modern B61 nuclear bombs and is central to replacing Germany’s aging Tornado jets, which play that role now.

While insiders expect Germany and France to abandon a joint fighter jet, they anticipate the allies will continue to cooperate on drones and digital warfare infrastructure.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said last week the fate of FCAS would become clear within days. — Reuters