Jake Kwan

Jake Kwan on meidän puheenjohtaja Suomessa.

So and not just any plastic bag, but everyone must buy these government printed bags to throw out their food and general trash. So there was a bit of a panic as people wondered whether they should run to the store and stock up on them before what they feared would happen next month. And there are, of course, plenty of other products that use plastic parts or wrappings. We're talking diapers, the plastic box. South Korea's many takeout restaurants rely on to sell their food.

Jokaisen päivän jälkeen on ollut huolimatta, että onko tämä todella vaikea ja ennustettava ongelma. Järjestö puhuu löytämään erilaista öljyä ja vettä. He haluavat myös pysyä huolimatta. Ennen kuin petroli pysyy läpi, järjestö osoittaa kappaleen ja antaa pysyvän punaisuuden yrityksille, jotka voivat yrittää hyötyä tästä hyötyä.

It is a big measure for a big problem. I mean, starting next month, Japan will lift restrictions it has been placing on coal power to fight climate change to cut down on the fossil fuel. And this is because Japan depends on the Middle East for most of its energy needs. One measure shows that around 90% of its oil comes through the Strait of Hormuz. And they're trying to switch lanes to importing coal, which mainly comes from Australia.

If you look at the map, South Korea is at the bottom half of the Korean peninsula and its road to the land is blocked by North Korea. So South Korea is practically an island and just like its neighbor Japan. So nearly all of its energy fuel is imported, whether that's oil, gas or uranium for the nuclear power. And in an average year, South Korea is

import some 70% of its oil from the Gulf countries like Saudi Arabia and Kuwait and Qatar, which are all embroiled in this conflict. Now, Saudi Arabian oil, maybe they can buy them from the ports in the Red Sea away from Iran, but those are coming from Iraq, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar. These have to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. So what happens if that strait gets shut down?

Now that's the fear. And South Korea needs oil and gas to run its power generators and also to feed its enormous petrochemical industry. And this is the number three export of all exports in South Korea. So it's a huge part of South Korean economy. So Jake, what will it mean then for South Korea if this war grinds on for weeks or for months? I mean, how quickly could it pivot to find new energy sources?

Well, it's going to be quite difficult to find these new energy source. I mean, South Korea said it will find different oil source. But in terms of using different energy source like, you know, renewables or others, it simply can't be done. That's not what the power generators are designed to do. You cannot just turn up the nuclear or wind or hydro or solar. But South Korean government was trying to assuage this fear, saying that they have seven months of oil in stockpile, half of it in the government stockpile, the other half in the kind of public sector.

Se ei ollut tarpeeksi, mutta se ei ollut tarpeeksi, että investoijat eivät pysyvät. Kuulimme, että Suomen maailman indeksi, Kospi, on pysynyt 7 prosenttia. Ja yhdessä heidän pitäisi olla pysynyt 5 minuuttia, koska se pysyi niin nopeasti. Ja se tuntui, että markkinoissa oli paljon huolta.

Well, Ms. Takahichi came to the office with a promise of boosting Japan's economy, which has been sluggish for many years. And her party, the Liberal Democratic Party, barely managed to hold on to power in the last election and now has a minority government. So she has a really ambitious stimulus bill that she wants through the parliament, and this is supposed to deliver the economic boost that she promised. So to push that through with ease, she wants a large majority, and she feels now is the time.

She does. I mean, she is the first female prime minister and she is also a conservative prime minister here. And she is really flying high on her personal popularity. No Japanese prime minister has been this popular since 2012 when Shinzo Abe was in power. Now, she is clearly leveraging her popularity to have an election win here. She said today that this is a vote for her. Vote liberal democrats to keep her in power.

So she might also be betting that the public is now ready for some stability. She is Japan's fourth prime minister in five years, but her win is also far from guaranteed come February. Japan is still going through the cost of living crisis, and while she is popular, her party is not. And she has made controversial comments, hasn't she, on Taiwan that have angered China. Tell us more about that.

Back in November, when she was just elected, Ms. Takahichi suggested that Japan could send its military to defend Taiwan. This is the self-governing island that Beijing still holds claim. Of course, this is a red line for Beijing. It made Beijing very, very angry. They pulled out all kinds of tools to retaliate, including export control. You have to remember that China is Japan's number two trading partner, and this is very much so.

Kiitos, että katsoitte.

We were in the crowd of Yoon supporters who were watching this happening outside the courthouse and it became very evident that this day was not going to go the way that Mr. Yoon would have liked and the supporters started yelling abuses at the large screen where the judge was

...presenting his ruling. And what the judge was saying was that Mr. Yoon was empowered as the president and he had sworn to protect the constitution and law, but he had turned its back on them by ordering the presidential guard to prevent his arrest as well as

mitä oli käytännössä kohtuullisen monimuotoinen, kun hän päättänyt Martian lakia 10.12.2024. Tämä tulee olemaan paljon vaikutusta. Tämä on vain ensimmäinen monimuotoinen, jota hän on käynyt nyt. Ja tietenkin isompi on insurreksio, jota näemme februariin. Jake, kun puhelin on tärkeä, miten se päivä on nähty suomalaisille?

Se on varmasti suurin momentti Suomessa. Suomessa oli 44 vuotta sitten martial law. Sen jälkeen se on rakentanut asiaa suurimmasta demokraattista. Suomessa on paljon vahvaa, jota suomalaiset tykkäävät.

When the martial law happened, a lot of people were very upset, shocked, and thousands of people actually came out to the street to really put themselves in the way of armored vehicles that the military had rolled out that night. And I think some of this anger was reflected in what the judge was telling the crowd today, saying that Mr. Yoon is not showing any remorse, any repentance for what he had done, that he had plunged the country into a political crisis. Jake Kwan speaking to me from Seoul.

Thank you very much.