South Korea's martial law crisis: BBC Learning English from the News

From BBC Learning English

This is 'Learning English

from the News', our podcast about the news headlines.

In this programme: political crisis in South Korea.

Hello, I'm Phil.

And I'm Beth.

In this programme, 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, bbclearningenglish.com.

So, let's hear more about this story.

South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol declared

martial law - asking the armed forces to suspend normal democratic freedoms,

for example, being able to protest.

Yoon said martial law was needed because of threats from North Korea.

But critics say Yoon 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 Yoon ended the state of martial law

just hours after it had been declared.

President Yoon is now facing calls 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 first 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 Yoon Suk Yeol's 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 Yoon Suk Yeol's U-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 Yoon Suk Yeol's U-turn.

We're going to look at 'U-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 U-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 U.

Yes. When it's 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 criticise someone's ability to make a decision

or judgement when they change their policy.

For example, if a government promises to lower taxes but then raises them,

that is a U-turn.

So we had 'U-turn' - a reversed decision.

For example, 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.

Korea's Yoon, backpedalling, promises to lift martial law.

And that's from Politico.

That headline again,

Korea's Yoon, backpedalling, promises to lift martial law.

And that's from Politico.

As we've heard, South Korea's President Yoon briefly declared martial law,

a move which shocked South Koreans

and caused leaders around the world to express their deep concerns.

After Yoon declared martial law,

South Korean MPs forced their way back into the parliament building

and voted to block the martial law decision.

Yoon reversed his decision,

and the vocabulary we're interested in describes that move.

It's 'backpedalling'.

OK. So, let's break this word down, Phil.

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

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 first part of the word 'backpedalling' is 'back'.

So, this means that a process that was started is now going

in the other direction.

So, simply by saying that Yun is backpedalling, the headline means that

the South Korean president is reversing a previous decision, similar to 'U-turn'.

So, how are 'backpedalling' and 'U-turn' different?

Well, they can be used to talk about the same thing. They are here.

But 'U-turn' focuses on a sudden change,

while 'backpedalling' describes a process as you are going back on a decision.

So we had 'backpedalling',

deciding not to do a thing that you'd started or said you were going to do.

For example, Juan said he was going to paint the house at the weekend,

but now he's backpedalling and saying it'll be the week after.

This is 'Learning English from the News', our 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 Yoon ends martial law after political gamble.

And that's from Bloomberg.

And that headline again,

South Korea's Yoon ends martial law after political gamble.

And that's from Bloomberg.

So, we hear that President Yoon 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 Yoon 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.

For example, 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 news story.

Now, if you've enjoyed this programme, make sure you come back every week

for a new episode of 'Learning English from the News'.

Bye for now.

Goodbye.