The Speaker of the National Assembly of South Korea said in a statement that an online petition calling for South Korea’s President Mr. Yoon Suk-yeol’s impeachment crashed due to the enormous number of individuals attempting to sign the petition. Saying the National Assembly would resolve the matter as quickly as possible.

Since the petition was launch on the National Assembly’s website on June 20, more than 811,000 people have signed it. The petition urges Parliament to introduce legislation to impeach President Yoon on the grounds that he is unfit for office.

Late on June 30, National Assembly Speaker Mr. Woo Won-shik issued an apology for the disturbance and stated that Parliament would take action to protect the public’s fundamental rights.

People attempting to access the petition on July 1 experienced delays of up to four hours. At one point, an error message indicated that more than 30,000 individuals were waiting to access the site.

South Korea’s Parliament Hesitant

The online petition accuses Yoon of corruption, escalating the risk of conflict with North Korea, and endangering South Koreans’ health by failing to prevent Japan from leaking treated radioactive water from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear power plant.

By law, Parliament must assign every petition signed by more than 50,000 people to a committee, which will then decide whether to put it to a vote in the assembly.

However, the opposition Democratic Party, which has a majority in Parliament, is hesitant to turn the petition into an impeachment bill, according to media reports, with a spokesperson stating that the party has yet to address the topic.

The Parliament can impeach a president with a two-thirds majority. The Constitutional Court then deliberates the motion and decides whether to remove or reinstall the president.

Meanwhile, on Monday Reuters reported North Korea criticized a joint military exercise performed this month by South Korea, Japan, and the United States, according to official media, saying such drills demonstrate the three nations’ alliance has evolved into “the Asian version of NATO”.

On Thursday, the three countries began large-scale combined military drills named “Freedom Edge” featuring navy destroyers, fighter fighters, and the nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, with the goal of strengthening defenses against missiles, submarines, and air strikes.

The drill was designed at a three-way meeting at Camp David last year to boost military cooperation amid concerns on the Korean peninsula caused by North Korea’s weapons testing.

Pyongyang will not overlook the strengthening of a military bloc led by the United States and its allies, and it would respond aggressively and decisively to defend regional peace, according to North Korea’s foreign ministry, as reported by KCNA.

(CTN News) – US President Joe Biden has convinced Democratic donors that he can still defeat Donald Trump in the November presidential election, following a dismal debate performance that raised concerns about his prospects.

On Saturday, the 81-year-old president attended a series of fundraising events in New York and New Jersey, defending his performance in CNN’s Presidential Debate.

On Thursday, Joe Biden conceded, “I didn’t have a great night, but neither did Trump” at one event.

“I promise you we’re going to win this election,” the politician declared.

Joe Biden’s debate performance was marked by difficult-to-follow and wobbly responses, generating further concerns among some Democrats about whether he is the ideal candidate to run in this high-stakes race.

Former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Joe Biden’s debate performance “wasn’t great,” while his former communications director, Kate Bedingfield, termed it “very disappointing.”

The president acknowledged the worry but committed to fighting harder.

New Jersey’s Democratic governor, Phil Murphy, attended the fundraiser alongside Mr. Biden and the First Lady, telling Mr. Biden, “We are all with you 1,000 percent.”

The Joe Biden team acknowledged that the debate did not go as planned but maintained he would not step aside for another nominee.

On Saturday, campaign chairwoman Jennifer O’Malley Dillon stated that internal post-debate polling revealed that “voters’ opinions were not changed”.

“It will not be the first time that overblown media narratives have driven temporary dips in the polls,” she told reporters.

Former President Barack Obama, a friend of Mr. Biden, admitted on social media that “bad debate nights happen”.

“This election is still a choice between someone who fought for ordinary folks his entire life and someone who only cares about himself,” said Mr. Obama.

Hours later, Mr Trump told his supporters that he saw the discussion as a “big victory” for his campaign.

“Joe Biden’s problem is not his age,” Trump, 78, added. “It is his competence. He’s quite incompetent.

Politicians were not the only ones who criticized Mr Biden’s performance.

A prominent editorial in the New York Times condemned his decision to run again as a “reckless gamble” and advised him to conduct some soul-searching this weekend.

It urged Democrats to “acknowledge that Joe Biden can’t continue his race and create a process to select someone more capable to stand in his place” .

Voters in the US have expressed misgivings about voting for any candidate after Thursday’s debate.

Lori Gregory, a long-time Democrat, told the BBC she “could not handle” watching the discussion, asking, “Is this the best our country can do?”

Republican Crystal Myers-Barber said it was “painful to watch,” but she also thought “Trump came across very level-headed and presidential, and Biden came across very weak.”

Democrat Shana Ziolko said she was “frustrated” by the debate and believed there was no obvious winner.

A post-debate poll conducted by liberal pollster Data for Progress revealed that 62% of potential voters who saw or read about the debate believed Trump won. Only 30% of those polled believed Mr Biden had won the debate.

Until more polling is done, fundraising could be another indicator of Joe Biden’s sustained popularity.

In a memo, chairwoman Jennifer O’Malley Dillon stated that the campaign had raised more than $27 million (£21.3 million) between the Thursday debate and Friday evening.

“After Thursday night’s debate, the Beltway class is counting Joe Biden out. “The data in battleground states, however, tells a different story,” she explained.

“This election was incredibly close before Thursday, and by every metric we’ve seen since, it remains just as close” , she commented.

Source: BBC

(CTN News) – The first presidential debate of the 2024 election cycle between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump drew a sizable audience of 51.27 million viewers on television, according to Nielsen data.

However, the viewership represented a significant decline of over 30% compared to the candidates’ first face-off in 2020.

The 90-minute debate, hosted by CNN from its Atlanta studios, was simulcast across 22 television networks. It marked a strategic win for the network, which has been grappling with declining ratings in recent years.

On the main CNN channel, the debate attracted 9.53 million viewers, including 3.379 million in the key 25-54 demographic prized by advertisers. Fox News followed closely with 9.276 million viewers, while ABC News drew 9.21 million and MSNBC had 4.122 million.

“More people watched the CNN Presidential Debate than any other CNN program in history,” the network said in a statement. The debate also became the most-watched non-sports program on television so far in 2024.

The digital performance of the debate was equally impressive, generating over 30 million views on CNN’s digital platforms and YouTube. The event set a new record for CNN’s streaming service, Max, though the network did not disclose specific audience figures.

Despite the sizable viewership, the debate represented a steep decline from the candidates’ first showdown in 2020, which drew over 73 million viewers across all networks.

2016 United States presidential debates

The 2016 presidential debates between Trump and Hillary Clinton hold the record, peaking at 84 million viewers for the first matchup.

Experts attribute the viewership decline to a combination of factors, including voter fatigue from repeated Biden-Trump matchups and the debate’s unusually early timing in the election cycle. Typically, general election debates occur later in the campaign season.

The debate also marked a departure from tradition, as it was the first presidential debate since 1988 that was not organized by the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates.

Instead, CNN took charge of the event’s rules, format, and distribution, drawing some criticism for its hands-off approach to fact-checking the candidates’ statements.

Nonetheless, the debate represented a much-needed boost for CNN, which has seen its ratings slide in recent years as traditional television viewers increasingly migrate to streaming platforms.

The network celebrated the event as its most-watched program ever, surpassing a 2015 GOP primary debate that featured Trump.

Looking ahead, the next presidential debate between Biden and Trump is scheduled for September and will be hosted by ABC News. Biden’s team has confirmed his intention to participate, despite the challenges of the first debate.