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| Campaign posters in Seoul featuring, from left, Lee Jae-myung, Kim Moon-soo and other presidential candidates. Jun Michael Park for The New York Times |
What’s at stake as South Korea votes
South Koreans are voting for a new president today, after months of political turmoil that began when President Yoon Suk Yeol briefly declared martial law in December. He was later impeached and expelled from office.
Lee Jae-myung, the centrist leader of the Democratic Party, is the favorite to win, according to opinion polls. He faces Kim Moon-soo, a conservative from the People Power Party, to which Yoon belonged when he was president.
Choe Sang-Hun, The Times’s Seoul bureau chief, told us more.
What are the main issues in this election, and what will you be watching for?
Many South Koreans see this election as a referendum on former President Yoon. Lee calls for “putting an end to insurrection” by driving out Yoon and the People Power Party.
Kim has failed to cut ties with Yoon. He is rallying support among older South Koreans by warning that if Lee wins the presidency, with his party holding a majority in Parliament, he will become a dictator and take South Korea closer to China and North Korea at the cost of its alliance with the U.S. Lee dismissed these accusations as part of a smear campaign.
Lee faces several criminal trials. What could happen with them if he wins the election?
Even if Lee wins, he needs to clear a major constitutional hurdle before establishing his authority as president.
Lee has been on trial for several criminal charges, which he and his supporters say were politically motivated by the Yoon administration. There is a dispute among legal experts over whether Lee’s trials should continue if he wins the election. The Constitutional Court will likely have to weigh in.
What challenges will the president face once he takes office?
Whoever wins will face a country in crisis. At home, South Korea is deeply divided between generations, and between young men and women. The economic growth rate has sputtered to a snail’s pace. The income gap is getting larger than ever.
South Korea will have to address a growing nuclear threat from North Korea and its newly forged military alliance with Russia. The new president will also need to build a rapport with President Trump, who is demanding that South Korea pay more for the alliance while slapping steep tariffs on major South Korean exports, like cars and steel.
What’s next: Results from a joint exit poll by the country’s three main broadcasters will be released soon after the polls close at 8 p.m.
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| President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine’s coordinated drone strikes on Russian airfields had been planned for a year and a half. Mindaugas Kulbis/Associated Press |
More details about ‘Operation Spider’s Web’
The full extent of the damage from Ukraine’s attacks on airfields deep inside Russia over the weekend is still unknown.
After more than a year of planning, Ukraine was able to plant drones on Russian soil, not far from military bases in five different regions, to destroy aircraft. The attack on Sunday, called Operation Spider’s Web, showed how Ukraine has been adapting in the face of a larger military with deeper resources. Here’s what to know about the operation.
The Times verified videos that showed damage to at least five aircraft — four of them strategic bombers. Military analysts said Spider’s Web ranked as a signature event on par with the sinking of the Russian flagship Moskva early in the war.
Peace talks: During a meeting in Istanbul yesterday, Russia and Ukraine agreed to exchange gravely ill and wounded prisoners of war, as well as prisoners under 25, and to return the bodies of 6,000 soldiers each. But there was little progress toward a cease-fire.
For more: Our analysis of videos and satellite imagery shows the extent of the attack.
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| Placing flowers at the site in Boulder, Colo., where an Egyptian man attacked marchers supporting Israeli hostages in Gaza. Eight were hospitalized. Michael Ciaglo for The New York Times |
The Colorado suspect was charged with a hate crime
A man who was arrested after hurling two Molotov cocktails at people marching on Sunday in Boulder, Colo., in support of Israeli hostages in Gaza was charged with a hate crime yesterday. Eight people were hospitalized after the attack. Here are updates.
Investigators said that the man, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, an Egyptian national, had planned the attack for a year. After his arrest, he said that he wanted to “kill all Zionist people and wished they were all dead,” according to court papers. Officials said he was facing 16 counts of attempted murder and other charges.
Context: The attack came amid a global surge in antisemitism. Less than two weeks ago, two Israeli Embassy employees were shot and killed in Washington.
Official response: In a social media post, President Trump condemned the attack — but he focused his remarks on border security, not antisemitism.
War in Gaza: For 18 months, Hamas has pushed for a permanent truce, while Israel has held out for a temporary one. That impasse is holding up new cease-fire talks.
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| Sean Gallup/Getty Images |
| Poland: Karol Nawrocki, a nationalist, narrowly won the presidential election. His victory highlights a broader struggle in Europe over migration, abortion and L.G.B.T.Q. rights. Here’s a profile of Nawrocki. U.K.: Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced plans to build up to 12 new attack submarines and invest billions of pounds in weapons. Bangladesh: A special court issued an arrest warrant for Sheikh Hasina, the ousted prime minister, over the deaths of more than 1,000 protesters in the last months of her rule. Tariffs: Trump is set to raise duties on steel and aluminum to 50 percent on Wednesday, even as courts question the legitimacy of some of his tariffs. Tech: Wall Street is pouring money into A.I. data centers. Are they the next bubble? Italy: Tourists in Sicily were forced to flee after Mount Etna erupted. Fashion: LVMH named Jonathan Anderson as creative director of Dior for women’s wear, men’s wear and couture, making him the first designer to unite all sides of the brand since Christian Dior himself. Health: In a study spanning several decades, women who drank the most caffeine in midlife had better odds of aging healthily than those who consumed the least. Drugs: Cannabis-related emergency room visits and hospitalizations are rising among older people, many of whom use the substance for therapeutic reasons. |
| SPORTS NEWS |
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| Aurelien Morissard/Associated Press |
| Tennis: Jannik Sinner, above, Novak Djokovic, Coco Gauff and Madison Keys all made it to the quarterfinals of the French Open. Read our takeaways from the day. Chess: Gukesh Dommaraju beat Magnus Carlsen in a classical match for the first time, causing the world No. 1 to slam the table in frustration. Soccer: Professional restoration could be the next frontier for collectors of famous soccer jerseys. Golf: Scottie Scheffler, the world No. 1, claimed a four-stroke win at the Memorial Tournament. |
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| Brandon Holland for The New York Times |
Gen Z doesn’t want to start a bar tab. To the chagrin of bartenders, many twentysomethings prefer to close out and pay after every drink, no matter how many they might order during an outing.
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The surprise success of ‘Lilo & Stitch’
Stitch, the rowdy blue alien from the 2002 animated film “Lilo & Stitch,” was practically an afterthought at Disney for decades. But the movie’s new live-action remake is one of the biggest windfalls in years, not just for Disney but for Hollywood.
In 10 days, the movie has collected $610 million worldwide, and it could have a path to $1 billion once it opens in Japan on Friday. The astounding turnout validates Disney’s decision to reprioritize releases in theaters, my colleague Brooks Barnes writes.
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