BBC News Review 韩国戒严危机

From BBC Learning English. This is Learning English from the news, our podcast about the news headlines.

In this program, political crisis in South Korea.

Hello, I'm Phil, and I'm Beth.

In this program, we look at one big news story and the vocabulary in the headlines that will help you understand it.

You can find all the vocabulary and headlines from this episode, as well as a worksheet, on our website, bbc learningenglish dot com.

So let's hear more about this story.

South korea's President Yunsung Yu declared martial law, asking the armed forces to suspend normal democratic freedoms, e.g.

being able to protest ying. Said martial law was needed because of threats from North Korea, but critics say Yun wanted to use martial law as a response to scandals and problems he faces.

The armed forces were unable to stop National Assembly members voting against this measure.

Facing opposition, president Yun ended the state of martial law just hours after it had been declared present.

UN is now facing cause to resign, and the opposition has launched an attempt to impeach him.

To impeach is to formally accuse a senior official, like a president, of committing a serious crime.

It can lead to the removal of that person from power.

Our 1st headline is talking about the situation at the time of recording.

Political chaos in South Korea. What is martial law and what comes next after Yunsen yields u turn?

That's from The Guardian. And again, that headline Political chaos in South Korea What is martial law And what comes next after yinsunguels you turn?

And that's from The Guardian. This headline talks about chaos in South Korea.

It talks about martial law, and it's asking, what will happen next after Unsung mules?

You turn, we're going to look at you.

turn. Now, this sounds like something you do in a car.

It is, although that is not what it means here.

If you make a you turn in a car, it means you turn around and drive back in the direction you came from.

We call it A-U turn, because you drive in the shape of the letter you yes, when is used metaphorically, rather than drive in the opposite direction, it means to go back on a decision that you've made and do the opposite exactly.

In this story, it's about the decision to declare and then end martial law.

It's very commonly used to talk about decisions in politics, and often negatively, to criticize someone's ability to make a decision or judgment when they change their policy, e.g.

if a government promises to lower taxes but then raises them, that is a uten So we had you turn a reversed decision, e.g.

the council made A-U turn on their decision to close the swimming pool after local protests.

This is learning English from the news.

Our podcast about the news headlines.

Today, we're talking about the South Korean president's attempt to impose martial law.

And our next headline describes the chaotic events leading up to the calls for the South Korean president to be impeached.

Careers Union back peddling promises to lift martial law.

And that's from Political That headline again.

Korea's Union back peddling Promises to lift martial law.

And that's from Polisco. As we've heard, south korea's President Yun briefly declared martial law, a move which shocked South Koreans and caused leaders around the world to express their deep concerns.

After you declared martial law, south Korean mps forced their way back into the parliament building and voted to block the martial law decision.

You reversed his decision, and the vocabulary we're interested in describes that move.

It's back peddling. Okay, so let's break this word downfill.

If we look into it, we can see two parts back and peddling.

Do you ride a bike? Yes, I do.

And when you ride a bike, you use the pedals with your feet to move the bike forward.

And so in this headline, the pedal and the movement forward is metaphorical.

We're talking about a process, the process of imposing martial law, but the 1st part of the word back peddling is back.

So this means that a process that was started, he's now going in the other direction.

So simply by saying that UN is back peddling, the headline means that the South Korean president is reversing a previous decision, similar to Youtan.

So how are back peddling and you turn different?

Well, they can be used to talk

about the same thing. They are here, but you turn focuses on a sudden change, while back peddling describes a process as you are going back on a decision.

So we had back peddling deciding not to do a thing that you'd started or said you were going to do.

E.G. Juan said he was going to paint the house at the weekend, but now he's back paddling and saying, it'll be the week after.

This is learning English from the news.

Are podcast about the news headlines.

Today we're talking about political chaos in South Korea.

Next we have another headline, talking about yun's introduction of martial law.

South korea's Union ends martial law after political gamble.

And that's from Bloomberg. And that headline again.

South korea's Union ends martial law after political gamble.

And that's from Bloomberg. So we hear that President un ended the state of martial law, and we're looking at the word gamble now, literally, a gamble is where you play a game with something at risk, usually money.

If you succeed, you gain something, but if you fail, you lose something.

Here we're looking at a political gamble.

It's a metaphor to talk about a risky strategy.

President yun was unpopular and thought that he could win support by declaring martial law.

However, this was a risky strategy, and there are suggestions that now he may need to resign, or that he could be removed from office by the National Assembly.

We can use gamble to talk about anything risky we do.

Changing your job is often a gamble, because you don't know if the new job will be better than the old one.

We've been looking at gamble, a risky strategy, e.g.

the president's gamble to call an early election paid off.

She won easily. That's it for this episode of Learning English From the News.

We'll be back next week with another new story.

Now, if you've enjoyed this program, make sure you come back every week for a new episode of Learning English From The News.

Bye for now. Bye.

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