Jonathan Beale

I think given the gravity of the charge against President Yoon, this attempt to impose martial law, People his people opposed to him definitely don't want to wait that long for a resolution to this crisis.

I think given the gravity of the charge against President Yoon, this attempt to impose martial law, People his people opposed to him definitely don't want to wait that long for a resolution to this crisis.

Well, I think Korean politics has always had a pretty fiery flavor. You've got to remember this is a young democracy fought for at great cost in the late 1980s. It's a divided country living all the time under the sort of existential threat from North Korean forces. Politics has always been very intense. Heightened, some would argue, by the personality-driven nature of its democracy.

Well, I think Korean politics has always had a pretty fiery flavor. You've got to remember this is a young democracy fought for at great cost in the late 1980s. It's a divided country living all the time under the sort of existential threat from North Korean forces. Politics has always been very intense. Heightened, some would argue, by the personality-driven nature of its democracy.

It's got largely first-past-the-post democracy. It tends towards a winner-takes-all outcome when you have elections. Plus, the judicial system has been used very freely under winning administrations to go after predecessors. four presidents have all either been investigated, impeached, or actually put in jail.

It's got largely first-past-the-post democracy. It tends towards a winner-takes-all outcome when you have elections. Plus, the judicial system has been used very freely under winning administrations to go after predecessors. four presidents have all either been investigated, impeached, or actually put in jail.

And I think that means people don't necessarily respect, they always think the judicial process, which of course is now being invoked to deal with President Yun's astonishing martial law attempt in early December, that many of his supporters will view that attempt as sort of partisan. And

And I think that means people don't necessarily respect, they always think the judicial process, which of course is now being invoked to deal with President Yun's astonishing martial law attempt in early December, that many of his supporters will view that attempt as sort of partisan. And

After all, Korea is also subject to the same sort of polarisation of politics that you see in many other countries, driven, of course, by the new media environment we live in. All of these ingredients have led to a cocktail for a very intense political standoff and very little appetite for compromise.

After all, Korea is also subject to the same sort of polarisation of politics that you see in many other countries, driven, of course, by the new media environment we live in. All of these ingredients have led to a cocktail for a very intense political standoff and very little appetite for compromise.

Israel's war on multiple fronts has not just worn down its enemy. not just taken the lives of thousands of civilians in Gaza and Lebanon. It's also extracted a price from its own people.

Israel's war on multiple fronts has not just worn down its enemy. not just taken the lives of thousands of civilians in Gaza and Lebanon. It's also extracted a price from its own people.

Noam Glukhovsky, an IDF reservist, is counting the cost in days. We met in a Tel Aviv park during a brief respite from his military duties and trying to keep up with his studies. Being a medic in a reservist unit has already pushed back plans to become a doctor by another year. He's repeatedly been called up, but now he's had enough.

Noam Glukhovsky, an IDF reservist, is counting the cost in days. We met in a Tel Aviv park during a brief respite from his military duties and trying to keep up with his studies. Being a medic in a reservist unit has already pushed back plans to become a doctor by another year. He's repeatedly been called up, but now he's had enough.

If you're called up again, will you go back?

If you're called up again, will you go back?

More than 300,000 reservists answered the call to duty when Israel was attacked last year. Along with conscripts, reserves form the backbone of Israel's military, boosting the IDF's ranks in times of war. But there is now growing frustration, not least because one group's long been exempt from the draft. Call-up papers have now been issued to some of Israel's ultra-Orthodox Jews.

More than 300,000 reservists answered the call to duty when Israel was attacked last year. Along with conscripts, reserves form the backbone of Israel's military, boosting the IDF's ranks in times of war. But there is now growing frustration, not least because one group's long been exempt from the draft. Call-up papers have now been issued to some of Israel's ultra-Orthodox Jews.

Prompting protests like this, they believe their lives should be dedicated to religious study, not military service.

Prompting protests like this, they believe their lives should be dedicated to religious study, not military service.