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      Protesters Amass in Seoul Ahead of Court Ruling on South Korea’s Yoon

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      The authorities in South Korea were expecting tens of thousands of protesters to descend on central Seoul on Friday as the nation’s Constitutional Court decides the fate of President Yoon Suk Yeol.At least 14,000 police had been deployed to the area around the court, closing subway stations and locking down an area near a former royal palace that is popular with tourists and home to major businesses. Drones have been banned from the area, and schools, vendors and businesses have been ordered to close.The first protests were set to start at 10 a.m. local time, ahead of a possible decision by the court that could come as early as 11 a.m. Mr. Yoon was not expected to attend the reading of the decision, which will determine whether he will be formally removed from office or returned to power.Millions of South Koreans have protested, mostly peacefully, since Mr. Yoon briefly declared martial law on Dec. 3, plunging the nation into political upheaval and prompting lawmakers to impeach him. Mr. Yoon was detained in January on insurrection charges but released unexpectedly last month after a Seoul court said his detention was procedurally flawed.Ahead of the Constitutional Court’s decision, which cannot be appealed, there have been growing worries that Mr. Yoon’s supporters will clash with those demanding he be removed from office. After his arrest in January, some of Mr. Yoon’s supporters overran a local court, breaking windows and threatening the judge hearing his case.The Constitutional Court with increased security on Thursday.Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesA supporter of President Yoon confronting police officers in Seoul, near the court on Thursday.Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesThe police have created a fortresslike environment outside the Constitutional Court, placing 15-foot-tall metal barriers on either side of the main avenue approaching the complex in an effort to keep the two camps from confronting each other. Between the added security gates, police have parked dozens of buses and put up smaller metal fences to deter people from occupying the area. The police response is not without precedent. In 2017, thousands of people tried to cross the police barricade near the court after it ruled that the president, Park Geun-hye, should be removed from office. At least four people died during the protests.On the eve of the Constitutional Court’s ruling this time, South Korea’s interim leader, Han Duck-soo, called on the nation to respect the decision “with calm.”“The government will not tolerate any illegal or violent acts,” he said on Wednesday, urging politicians not to incite violence. “This is a time to put the stability and fate of our community ahead of political interests.” More

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      South Korean Actress’s Suicide Spurs Scrutiny of Ex-Boyfriend

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      The death of the actress Kim Sae-ron has plunged her former boyfriend, the superstar actor Kim Soo-hyun, into the biggest crisis of his career.When Kim Sae-ron was found dead at her home in February, she joined a growing list of South Korean entertainers who have ended their own lives. But the actress, who was 24, has generated more headlines in death than in life as her relationship with an older male superstar has come under scrutiny.The tragedy and scandal has embroiled Kim Soo-hyun, 37, one of ​South Korea’s best-known actors,​ and is packed with allegations worthy of a K-drama story line: A former child prodigy and a man 13 years her senior started dating. Not long after they broke up, the actress got into a drunk-driving incident that proved fatal to her career and suffered financial troubles, while the actor became one of the country’s richest stars. She tried but​ failed to ​stage a comeback​. Then she took her own life.The scandal also raised more serious accusations. Since Ms. Kim’s death, her family has said Mr. Kim started dating her when she was a minor, and that after they parted, a talent agency he founded had pressured her over a ​debt she was unable to repay. Mr. Kim has denied the accusations ​against him, and filed a defamation lawsuit against Ms. Kim’s family.But the scandal has already begun burning Mr. Kim’s career and highlighted the perils of ​celebrity in South Korea, where personal lives can come under unforgiving scrutiny. Stars have seen their careers ruined — or even ended their own lives — because of aggressive and sometimes malicious online rumors over everything from plastic surgeries to their romantic life.“South Koreans treat entertainers like public figures who must live up to textbooklike ethical standards,” said Bae Kug-nam, the author of several books about South Korea’s entertainment industry.That culture ​has created a deadly trap when combined with YouTubers and other influencers who have dished out sensational details of ​a star’s personal life, Mr. Bae said.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      South Korea’s President Will Learn His Fate on Friday

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      The Constitutional Court will announce on Friday whether Yoon Suk Yeol, who was impeached in December for declaring martial law, will be permanently removed from office or restored to power.Yoon Suk Yeol, the president of South Korea, who was impeached in December over his failed attempt to impose martial law, will learn on Friday whether he will be formally removed from office or returned to power, the nation’s top court said on Tuesday.Suspense was building in South Korea as the country waited for the Constitutional Court to rule on Mr. Yoon’s fate. Mr. Yoon has been suspended from office since the National Assembly impeached him on Dec. 14. In South Korea, the Constitutional Court decides whether an impeached official is removed permanently from office or reinstated.Removing Mr. Yoon would require the votes of six or more of the court’s eight justices; otherwise, he will return to office.​ The court’s decision, which cannot be appealed, is a critical moment in the political upheaval​ that Mr. Yoon unleashed when he declared martial law on Dec. 3.If ​the court removes him, Mr. Yoon will become the second president in South Korean history to leave office through impeachment. (President Park Geun-hye was the first, in 2017.) The country will quickly shift gears toward a new election; a successor must be chosen within 60 days.If he is reinstated, South Korea’s political crisis is likely to deepen. Mr. Yoon’s attempt to impose martial law angered millions of South Koreans. Even if reinstated, he will resume his presidential duties with his ability to govern considerably weakened.Mr. Yoon was detained on Jan. 15 on insurrection charges, also connected to his ill-fated imposition of martial law. The suspense surrounding his future intensified after a Seoul court unexpectedly released him from jail on March 8, saying that his detention was procedurally flawed.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      What We Know About the Detentions of Student Protesters

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      The Trump administration is looking to deport pro-Palestinian students who are legally in the United States, citing national security. Critics say that violates free speech protections.Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the State Department under his direction had revoked the visas of more than 300 people and was continuing to revoke visas daily.Pool photo by Nathan HowardThe Trump administration is trying to deport pro-Palestinian students and academics who are legally in the United States, a new front in its clash with elite schools over what it says is their failure to combat antisemitism.The White House asserts that these moves — many of which involve immigrants with visas and green cards — are necessary because those taken into custody threaten national security. But some legal experts say that the administration is trampling on free speech rights and using lower-level laws to crack down on activism.Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday that the State Department under his direction had revoked the visas of more than 300 people and was continuing to revoke visas daily. He did not specify how many of those people had taken part in campus protests or acted to support Palestinians.Mr. Rubio gave that number at a news conference, after noting that the department had revoked the visa of a Turkish graduate student at Tufts University. He did not give details on the other revocations.Immigration officials are known to have pursued at least nine people in apparent connection to this effort since the start of March.The detentions and efforts to deport people who are in the country legally reflect an escalation of the administration’s efforts to restrict immigration, as it also seeks to deport undocumented immigrants en masse.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      US allies worldwide decry Trump’s car tariffs and threaten retaliation

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      Governments from Tokyo to Berlin and Ottawa to Paris have voiced sharp criticism of Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on car imports, with several of the US’s staunchest long-term allies threatening retaliatory action.Trump announced on Wednesday that he would impose a 25% tariff on cars and car parts shipped to the US from 3 April in a move experts have predicted is likely to depress production, drive up prices and fuel a global trade war.The US imported almost $475bn (£367bn) worth of cars last year, mostly from Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Canada and Germany. European carmakers alone sold more than 750,000 vehicles to American drivers.France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, said on Thursday he had told his US counterpart that tariffs were not a good idea. They “disrupt value chains, create an inflationary effect and destroy jobs. So it’s not good for the US or European economies,” he said.Paris would work with the European Commission on a response intended to get Trump to reconsider, he said. Officials in Berlin also stressed that the commission would defend free trade as the foundation of the EU’s prosperity.Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, bluntly described Trump’s decision as wrong, and said Washington appeared to have “chosen a path at whose end lie only losers, since tariffs and isolation hurt prosperity, for everyone”.France’s finance minister, Eric Lombard, called the US president’s plan “very bad news” and said the EU would be forced to raise its own tariffs. His German counterpart, Robert Habeck, promised a “firm EU response”. “We will not take this lying down,” he said.Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, said Europe would approach the US with common sense but “not on our knees”. Good transatlantic relations are “a strategic matter” and must survive more than one prime minister and one president, he said.The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, described the move as “bad for businesses, worse for consumers” because “tariffs are taxes”. She said the bloc would continue to seek negotiated solutions while protecting its economic interests.The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, said the tariffs were “very concerning” and that his government would be “pragmatic and clear-eyed” in response. The UK “does not want a trade war, but it’s important we keep all options on the table”, he said.His Canadian counterpart, Mark Carney, said on social media: “We will get through this crisis, and we will build a stronger, more resilient economy.”Carney later told a press conference that his administration would wait until next week to respond to the new US threat of tariffs, and that nothing was off the table regarding possible countermeasures.He would, he added, speak to provincial premiers and business leaders on Friday to discuss a coordinated response.“It doesn’t make sense when there’s a series of US initiatives that are going to come in relatively rapid succession to respond to each of them. We’re going to know a lot more in a week, and we will respond then,” he said.One option for Canada is to impose excise duties on exports of oil, potash and other commodities. “Nothing is off the table to defend our workers and our country,” said Carney, who added that the old economic and security relationship between Canada and the US was over.South Korea said it would put in place a full emergency response to Trump’s proposed measures by April.China’s foreign ministry said the US approach violated World Trade Organization rules and was “not conducive to solving its own problems”. Its spokesperson, Guo Jiakun, said: “No country’s development and prosperity are achieved by imposing tariffs.”The Japanese prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba, said Tokyo was putting “all options on the table”. Japan “makes the largest amount of investment to the US, so we wonder if it makes sense for [Washington] to apply uniform tariffs to all countries”, he said.Reuters and Agence-France Presse contributed to this report More

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      Samsung Electronics Executive Han Jong-Hee Dies at 63

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      Mr. Han, a longtime Samsung executive, oversaw the company’s consumer electronics business since 2021.Han Jong-Hee, the co-chief executive of Samsung Electronics and a nearly four-decade veteran of the South Korean consumer technology giant, died on Tuesday.Mr. Han, who was 63, suffered a sudden heart attack, according to a company spokeswoman.Mr. Han had shared chief executive duties with the head of Samsung’s semiconductor business since 2022, and was also a member of the board. He had run Samsung’s consumer electronics business since 2021 and a year later added the digital appliance operation to his brief. Previously he oversaw the group that makes the visual displays for Samsung’s wide variety of electronic devices.Mr. Han graduated from Inha University in Incheon, South Korea, with a degree in electrical engineering. He joined Samsung in 1988 shortly after the death of its founder, Lee Byung-chull, during a pivotal period in the company’s history.Mr. Lee’s son and successor pushed Samsung relentlessly to weather the technological changes of the 1990s and 2000s to dominate the market for flat-screen displays and mobile phones.Samsung is the largest and most successful of the conglomerates known as chaebol that transformed South Korea’s economy into a global export powerhouse. Samsung Electronics accounts for a significant portion of the country’s exports. Samsung is one of the most popular brands in the global smartphone market, where it competes with Apple and Xiaomi. It is also the world’s largest maker of memory chips used in everything from electric cars and smart watches to advanced artificial intelligence servers.Mr. Han is survived by his wife and three children, the company said.There were no plans in place yet for who would succeed him at Samsung, it added. More

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      South Korea​n Court ​Reinstates Impeached Prime Minister

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      ​Prime Minister Han Duck-soo was serving as the country’s acting president when the National Assembly impeached him in December, suspending him from office.Prime Minister Han Duck-soo of South Korea was restored to office as acting president​ on Monday, after the country’s Constitutional Court overturned his impeachment by the National Assembly.Mr. Han had served as South Korea’s acting president after ​the Assembly impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol on Dec. 14​, suspending Mr. Yoon from office in connection with his failed attempt to place his country under martial law. Mr. Han had served as acting president for fewer than two weeks when the Assembly impeached him as well on Dec. 27, adding to the political uncertainty in South Korea, a key ally of the United States in Asia.The Constitutional Court has yet to announce when it will rule on whether to oust or reinstall Mr. Yoon — a far more consequential decision South Koreans have been awaiting for weeks with growing anxiety. If Mr. Yoon is removed, South Korea will elect a new president within 60 days. If he is reinstated, he will return to office to face a country more fractured than ever over his presidency.In South Korea, the Constitutional Court has a final say on whether officials impeached by the Assembly should be formally removed or reinstalled. Its ruling took effect immediately and cannot be appealed.Since Mr. Han’s impeachment, Finance Minister Choi Sang-mok, the official next in line in the government hierarchy, has been doubling as acting president.When it impeached Mr. Han, the Assembly accused him of collaborating in Mr. Yoon’s illegal declaration of martial law. It also said that Mr. Han broke his constitutional duties when he refused to appoint three Constitutional Court justices selected by Parliament. Mr. Han denied the accusations. More

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      3 Workers Killed in Collapse at Construction Site in South Korea

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      Five others were injured when part of a highway construction site collapsed on Tuesday morning, officials said.Three workers were killed and five others were injured when part of a highway construction site collapsed in South Korea on Tuesday morning, officials said.Emergency crews were searching through the rubble for victims, South Korea’s Fire Department said. The collapse happened at about 9:50 a.m. near the city of Cheonan, in South Chungcheong Province, which is about 50 miles south of Seoul, the capital. A video published by Yonhap, a South Korean news agency, showed part of a structure supported by columns breaking into pieces and plunging to the ground.This is a developing story that will be updated. More