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G7 Ministers Unified in Call for Humanitarian Pause in Gaza

High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, Britain's Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Japan's Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, Canada's Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, France's Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, and Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, pose for group photo session during the G7 Foreign Ministers' Meeting at the Iikura Guest House Wednesday, Nov. 8, 20
High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, Britain's Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Japan's Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, Canada's Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, France's Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, and Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, pose for group photo session during the G7 Foreign Ministers' Meeting at the Iikura Guest House Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023, in Tokyo, Japan. Eugene Hoshiko/Pool via REUTERS
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G7 Ministers Unified in Call for Humanitarian Pause in Gaza

High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, Britain's Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Japan's Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, Canada's Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, France's Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, and Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, pose for group photo session during the G7 Foreign Ministers' Meeting at the Iikura Guest House Wednesday, Nov. 8, 20
High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, Britain's Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Japan's Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, Canada's Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, France's Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, and Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, pose for group photo session during the G7 Foreign Ministers' Meeting at the Iikura Guest House Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023, in Tokyo, Japan. Eugene Hoshiko/Pool via REUTERS

G7 foreign ministers on Wednesday issued a "unified message" on the Israel-Hamas war, including a call for a humanitarian pause in the fighting and a "peace process", Japan's top diplomat said.

Winding up a two-day meeting in Tokyo, the Group of Seven wealthy nations said in a joint statement that Israel had the right to defend itself, while underscoring the need to protect civilians and to comply with international humanitarian law.

It was only the second joint statement from the G7 since gunmen from Hamas sparked the conflict with an Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel, killing 1,400 people and taking some 240 hostages.

The Israeli bombardment of Gaza has since killed more than 10,000 Palestinians, around 40% of them children, according to counts by health officials in the Hamas-ruled territory.

“All parties must allow unimpeded humanitarian support for civilians, including food, water, medical care, fuel and shelter, and access for humanitarian workers,” said the G7 statement on Wednesday.

The ministers noted that the G7 is “working intensively to prevent the conflict from escalating further and spreading more widely,” and also using sanctions and other measures “to deny Hamas the ability to raise and use funds to carry out atrocities.”

They also condemned “the rise in extremist settler violence committed against Palestinians,” which they said is “unacceptable, undermines security in the West Bank, and threatens prospects for a lasting peace.”

The G7 comprises Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States, with the European Union also taking part in the summit.

At a working dinner on Tuesday, the ministers also discussed what happens after the Gaza conflict recedes and how to revitalize peace efforts in the Middle East, Japan said in a statement.

It gave no details of options being discussed if Hamas is ousted from Gaza.
 

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South Korean Opposition Submits Motion to Impeach Country's Acting President

South Korea's acting President Han Duck-soo speaks at the government complex in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (Choi Jae-koo/Yonhap via AP)
South Korea's acting President Han Duck-soo speaks at the government complex in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (Choi Jae-koo/Yonhap via AP)
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South Korean Opposition Submits Motion to Impeach Country's Acting President

South Korea's acting President Han Duck-soo speaks at the government complex in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (Choi Jae-koo/Yonhap via AP)
South Korea's acting President Han Duck-soo speaks at the government complex in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2024. (Choi Jae-koo/Yonhap via AP)

South Korea’s main opposition party submitted a motion on Thursday to impeach the country’s acting leader over his reluctance to fill three Constitutional Court vacancies ahead of the court’s review of rebellion charges against impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol stemming from his short-lived martial law decree on Dec. 3.
The court appointments have stalled amid an intensifying dispute between the liberal opposition and Yoon’s conservative party, and the potential impeachment of Prime Minister Han Duck-soo may deepen the political paralysis that has halted high-level diplomacy and rattled financial markets, The Associated Press reported.
The opposition-controlled National Assembly also passed motions calling for the appointment of three Constitutional Court justices as the court prepares to start deliberations on whether to dismiss or reinstate Yoon. The vote came shortly after Han reiterated in a televised statement that he wouldn’t appoint the justices without bipartisan consent.
National Assembly Speaker Woo Won Shik urged Han to swiftly appoint the justices, saying that his calls for bipartisan consent essentially amounted to a refusal and “infringes on the National Assembly’s right to select Constitutional Court justices.”
Yoon’s People Power Party, whose members mostly boycotted the National Assembly vote, argued that Han shouldn’t exercise presidential authority to appoint the proposed justices while Yoon has yet to be formally removed from office.
The main opposition Democratic Party has accused the conservatives of undermining the court process to save Yoon’s presidency, and its motion to impeach Han could go to a floor vote as early as Friday. The Democrats’ floor leader, Park Chan-dae, said Han’s comments showed “he lacks both the qualifications to serve as the acting leader and the will to uphold the Constitution.”
Yoon’s presidential powers were suspended after the National Assembly voted to impeach him on Dec. 14 over an attempted power grab that lasted only hours but has triggered weeks of political turmoil that has shaken one of Asia’s most robust democracies.
To formally end Yoon’s presidency, at least six justices on the nine-member Constitutional Court must vote in favor. Three seats remain vacant following retirements and a full bench could make conviction more likely.
The court, which is to hold a pretrial hearing in Yoon’s case on Friday, has said it believes the acting president can exercise the right to appoint justices.
Three of the court’s nine justices are directly appointed by the president. Three are nominated by the head of the Supreme Court and three by the National Assembly, and they are then formally appointed by the president in what is widely considered a procedural matter.
The three seats that are currently open are to be nominated by lawmakers. South Korea’s Constitution states that the National Assembly “selects” three spots on the court rather than recommends, suggesting that the presidential appointments for these spots are a formality rather than a substantive authority, according to some legal experts.
“The consistent spirit reflected in our Constitution and laws is that an acting president should focus on maintaining stability in governance to help the country overcome crisis while refraining from exercising significant powers exclusive to the president, including appointments to constitutional institutions,” Han said. “I will withhold the appointment of Constitutional Court justices until the ruling and opposition parties submit an agreed-upon proposal.”
Han has also clashed with the Democrats over his vetoes of bills calling for independent investigations of Yoon and corruption allegations involving his wife, Kim Keon Hee.
If Han is impeached, Choi Sang-mok, the country’s deputy prime minister and finance minister, is next in line.
The impeachment vote against Han could face legal ambiguities. Most South Korean officials can be impeached with a simple majority of the National Assembly, but impeaching presidents requires two-thirds. The rival parties differ on which standard should apply to an acting president. The Democratic Party controls 170 of the National Assembly’s 300 seats, so it would need support from members of other parties including Yoon’s own to get a two-thirds majority.
While focusing on defending himself in the Constitutional Court, Yoon has dodged several requests by law enforcement authorities to appear for questioning over rebellion charges and also blocked searches of his office.
Authorities have already arrested Yoon’s defense minister, police chief and several other military commanders involved in the attempt to implement martial law, which harkened back to the days of authoritarian leaders the country hasn’t seen since the 1980s.
In a news conference in Seoul, Yoo Seung Soo, lawyer for former Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun, repeated Yoon’s claim that his martial law decree was to “sound alarm against ... political abuse” by an opposition that has bogged down his agenda, and did not amount to a rebellion.