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Cymbal of unity? South Korea and Japan leaders bash out K-pop hits after summit talks

South Korean president Lee Jae Myung had his work cut out, picking up his drumsticks alongside Japanese PM Sanae Takaichi, a former heavy metal drummer

If international diplomacy is as much about tone as substance, the leaders of South Korea and Japan seem to have nailed it.

In a scene few anticipated, South Korean president Lee Jae Myung and Japanese prime minister Sanae Takaichi spent the last moments of a crucial summit seated behind matching drum kits in matching blue uniforms as they bashed out hit song Golden from Netflix’s K-Pop Demon Hunters and BTS’s Dynamite.

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© Photograph: Yonhap News Agency/Reuters

© Photograph: Yonhap News Agency/Reuters

© Photograph: Yonhap News Agency/Reuters

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South Korean prosecutors demand death penalty for former president Yoon Suk Yeol

Yoon is on trial for insurrection charges, after trying to declare martial law in late 2024

South Korean prosecutors have demanded the death penalty for former president Yoon Suk Yeol over his failed martial law declaration in December 2024, in the first insurrection trial of a Korean head of state in three decades.

Prosecutors characterised the case as the “serious destruction of constitutional order by anti-state forces”, telling Seoul central district court that Yoon had “directly and fundamentally infringed upon the safety of the state and the survival and freedom of the people”.

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© Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters

© Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters

© Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters

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