welcome to newsday, i'm steve lai. the us secretary of state, antony blinken, is in south korea, as the country deals with its ongoing political crisis. mr blinken is due to hold talks with acting president choi sang—mok shortly. but it's unclear who is really in charge. on friday, investigators tried and failed to arrest the impeached president, yoon suk yeol, with his bodyguards preventing the officers from making the arrest. on sunday, they said they'd stop any further attempts to detain mr yoon. and in the last few hours, south korea's anti—corruption agency requested an extension to their arrest warrant, and sent a notice to police that it is handing over the execution of the arrest to them. meanwhile, mass protests both for and against the president have been taking place in seoul. thousands on each side have taken to the streets over the weekend as the country falls deeper into political divide. i'm joined now by kim

joon—hyung, an opposition mp from the rebuilding korea party. get us up to speed about what you and your party have been doing in this month of turmoil for south korea? we doing in this month of turmoil for south korea?— doing in this month of turmoil for south korea? we are trying to monitor— for south korea? we are trying to monitor how _ for south korea? we are trying to monitor how police - for south korea? we are trying to monitor how police arrested i to monitor how police arrested the president. we are sending letters to the cio and to get there and participating in watching over the rest of the events. we are trying everything to do.- events. we are trying everything to do. the arrest warrant will _ everything to do. the arrest warrant will expire - everything to do. the arrest warrant will expire today - warrant will expire today though an exemption has been requested the cei corruption investigation office has transferred obligation to make the arrest to the police. what you make of that and why is it so difficult for the rest to be carried out?— so difficult for the rest to be carried out? ., , ., , carried out? you summarised it will in the _

carried out? you summarised it will in the beginning, _ carried out? you summarised it will in the beginning, the - carried out? you summarised it will in the beginning, the (lo i will in the beginning, the cio is a new agency created by the president yoon government. they were outnumbered by security services, presidential security services, presidential security service and helped by the military. police are more members, they need more members, they need more members, they need more members, they finally decide to hand over to the police. what hand over to the police. what are the legal— hand over to the police. what are the legal implications - hand over to the police. what are the legal implications here the president saying on legal grounds he is able to resist this arrest?— grounds he is able to resist this arrest? that is the logic. impeachment _ this arrest? that is the logic. impeachment even _ this arrest? that is the logic. impeachment even though i this arrest? that is the logic. impeachment even though it| this arrest? that is the logic. - impeachment even though it was voted for impeachment at congress, they say this is not impeached yet because the constitutional court has decided. before that he should not be impeached, that is the

logic. but this is two tracks. what you make of that? please car on. what you make of that? please carry on. there _ what you make of that? please carry on. there are _ what you make of that? please carry on. there are two - what you make of that? please carry on. there are two checks| carry on. there are two checks one is the constitutional courts judging whether courtsjudging whether impeachment is courts judging whether impeachment is correct courtsjudging whether impeachment is correct or courts judging whether impeachment is correct or not. the other one is he was prosecuted, he was summoned and he ignored three summons for him to appearfor he ignored three summons for him to appear for questioning. that is why this arrest warrant was given. has president yoon�*s determination not to surrender come as a surprise to you? no, not at all. he was like that. he knows the law was a top prosecutor in the country. and he continued to express himself, that he is going to fight until the end, and he knows that he was supported by this very conservative, —— supporters. he tried to in a instigate maybe he thinks it is the only way get out of this.

get out of the crisis for him. what does this impasse or stalemate mean for south korea's democracy? this is a problem. our economy is in trouble, our diplomacy in trouble. this is not good. we proved the resilience of democracy but this process as you said the past can hit our country. us secretary of state antony blinken is in south korea — what is trying to achieve while he is here. what is trying to achieve while he is here-— he is here. what president biden and _ he is here. what president biden and her— he is here. what president biden and her mother - he is here. what president. biden and her mother trying he is here. what president - biden and her mother trying to do the foreign policy toward south korea and japan was correct, but the problem is,

the antony blinken visit comes at a time of change for both countries. donald trump returning to the white house on january 20. so this is not really impacting both countries alliance, but at least try to calm down and try to express a stable relationship between the us and our alliance. haw stable relationship between the us and our alliance.— stable relationship between the us and our alliance. how do you see this situation _ us and our alliance. how do you see this situation resolving. - see this situation resolving. this trend is reversible. constitutional court impeached, i am sure almost 100% they will pass the impeachment then, the problem is until then. then president yoon can try to buy time, delay. they are using delaying tactics. i don't think they will reverse the trend. that was kim joon—hyung.

an opposition mp from the rebuilding korea party. thank ou ve rebuilding korea party. thank you very much- _ rebuilding korea party. thank you very much. we're - rebuilding korea party. thank you very much. we're going . rebuilding korea party. thank| you very much. we're going to sta this you very much. we're going to stay this story. _ i'm joined now by stephen costello from the institute for korean studies at george washington university, do you think this could be worked out without any violence? it worked out without any violence?— worked out without any violence? ., , ~' violence? it does look like that is mr _ violence? it does look like that is mr kim _ violence? it does look like that is mr kim said - violence? it does look like that is mr kim said to - violence? it does look like | that is mr kim said to you, violence? it does look like - that is mr kim said to you, the pace the direction of this seems rather unstoppable. the constitutional court, will be able to rule on the next couple of weeks it now looks like they have set dates over the next couple of weeks for the former president, president yoon two appear before them. when you look at the impeachment proceeding before the court and compare it to the impeachment proceedings against the former

president park chu—youn hay in 2016 this one would seem to have many more rock solid cases to make. that president yoon overstepped his authority. so the final decision of the constitutional court seems quite solid at this point. what do ou quite solid at this point. what do you think _ quite solid at this point. what do you think would _ quite solid at this point. what do you think would be - quite solid at this point. what do you think would be the - do you think would be the tipping point, what will it take for mr yoon to come in for questioning and acquiesce to this arrest warrant? it questioning and acquiesce to this arrest warrant?- this arrest warrant? it would be hoped — this arrest warrant? it would be hoped he _ this arrest warrant? it would be hoped he will— this arrest warrant? it would be hoped he will respond - this arrest warrant? it would be hoped he will respond to | this arrest warrant? it would i be hoped he will respond to the new attempt by the police presumably now they have the arresting authority. but both the president protection and service and the military that they have used some of to shield themselves, from the cio, those are all state agencies. those agencies answer to the law and this was a legal warrant, they have zero basis to resist, they don't work for the president personally that

is not a thing, south korea is not a dictatorship at this point. they have all expose themselves to prosecution by their actions in the last couple of days. it's difficult to say what will happen now of course. it is monday there, either the police will go on and try to finally affect the arrest, i expect something like that will happen because it's difficult to see the stand—off going on for the next couple of weeks as the court in parallel deliberates about the judgement of mr yoon. the us secretary of state is in seoul — what will he be trying to do? it may be a very basic mission for antony blinken, he is a lame duck with only weeks left in office. the country he is visiting is not even a prime minister but an acting

president. i think is simple charge would be to simply say — we are still we still have a tight alliance, nothing can disrupt us, we will get through this, america is behind you, blah, blah, blah. d0 this, america is behind you, blah, blah, blah.— this, america is behind you, blah, blah, blah. do you think this could _ blah, blah, blah. do you think this could be _ blah, blah, blah. do you think this could be resolved - blah, blah, blah. do you think this could be resolved in - blah, blah, blah. do you think this could be resolved in the l this could be resolved in the next few days? i this could be resolved in the next few days?— next few days? i hope so. i don't think— next few days? i hope so. i don't think it _ next few days? i hope so. i don't think it will _ next few days? i hope so. i don't think it will be - next few days? i hope so. i don't think it will be fully . don't think it will be fully resolved in the next few days, i think it's important the president does go in for questioning is the warrant is asking him to. then it will be over the next probably i don't think it will take a month, think it will take a month, think it will take a couple of weeks for the constitutional court in parallel to decide whether he is fully impeached. 0nce whether he is fully impeached. once that happened and if he is impeached, then, a criminal process would begin about his insurrection, and other acts which are deemed to be illegal.

thank you very much for your time, appreciate your thoughts. stephen costello from the institute for korean studies at george washington university. in the us — millions of people are under weather alerts as a major winter storm sweeps the country. some communities could experience the heaviest snowfall and coldest temperatures in more than a decade. a state of emergency has been declared in six states — west virginia, kentucky, virginia, kansas, arkansas and missouri. in kansas, the usual average low temperature at this time of year is minus 6 degrees celsius, now it's expected to fall to minus 29 degrees. in kentucky, the average low is minus 3 degrees, but it's expected to be as low as minus 16. these are pictures from missouri — one of the states under an emergency. snow, ice and plunging temperatures have affected the roads while air travel has also been hit. more than 5,000 flights across the us have been cancelled so far, that's according to flight tracking website flightawa re. the mayor of kansas city, missouri's largest, says special operations will be

in place over the next few days to address the harsh conditions. the cold weather is as much of a challenge as the snow and ice is as well. you get the subzero temperatures with sub zero windchill we know that can have a negative impact on workforce and residents so we are making sure we are addressing, all of those issues. dan depodwin is senior director of forecasting operations at accuweather. he gave us this update from the global weather center in state college, pennsylvania. very impactful storm already you can see on the radar heavy snow across portions of missouri and kansas, picking up over a foot of snow fall, heavy snow extending to the east through the central appellations, the next phase of the storm will be heavy snow across the ohio valley where six — i2 across the ohio valley where six — 12 inches good for in columbus, indianapolis, tomorrow on monday morning a

very poor day of travel in the mid—atlantic including washington, dc. the other part of the storm that is important as the pink shading, kentucky some places can pick up enough ice to down trees and power lines already sing tens of thousands of people customers without power in these regions, thatis without power in these regions, that is expected to go up overnight as the ice intensive eyes across kentucky. in all hazards storm and severe thunderstorms with damaging winds may be a tornado or to expected over the next several hours over the next early evening through the southeast, a wide variety of risk as we move through the next 12 — 2a hours earlier. there have also been weather warnings in place in the uk where snow and ice continues to cause problems on the roads as well as for trains and air travel in northern england. an amber weather warning for snow in parts of lancashire, cumbria and the lake district has been extended into monday morning, as more wintry showers are expected overnight. milder temperatures in the south of england have led to more than 20 flood warnings being issued.

around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. the government says an overhaul of the nhs app will make it easier for patients needing non—urgent care in england, to decide where they are treated, as part of a plan to tackle waiting lists. patients will be able to choose from a range of providers, including the private sector, as well as book tests and appointments. the health secretary, wes streeting, has accused elon musk, of a "disgraceful smear", after he criticised the uk government's response to grooming gangs. mr musk called the home office minister, jess phillips, an "evil witch who should be locked up". the comments were made after ms phillips rejected a request for a government—led inquiry into child sexual exploitation in 0ldham. ru paul's drag race uk starjames lee williams, better known as drag queen the vivienne, has died aged 32. publicist simonjones said the performer, who died over the weekend, was "an incredibly loved, warm—hearted and amazing

person" and drag racejudge michelle visage said she was �*utterly heartbroken�* at the news. you're live with bbc news. the fbi says a man who killed ia people in new orleans on new year's day visited the city twice — in the months before the attack. investigators say shamsud—din jabbar recorded videos of the area where he rammed a truck into crowds. the us army veteran, who'd pledged allegiance to the islamic state group, was killed in a shoot—out with police. officials say they believe he acted alone and the team showed unseen cctv footage of the suspect placing improvised explosive devices into coolers in the area where he later carried out the attack. they're also looking into trips he made to canada and egypt_ ukraine has launched a new offensive in kursk — a region of russia it partially occupied in a lightning incursion five months ago. its forces fanned out

in three directions from their main base at sudzha. president zelensky�*s chief—of—staff said russia was getting what it deserved. in recent weeks, moscow has been trying to squeeze the ukrainians out of kursk, with the support of north korean troops. our correspondent will vernon is in kyiv and spoke about how the ukrainian incursion into the kursk region back in august is now picking back up. it wasn't entirely clear what the intention was, speculation they were trying to draw russian forces away from other parts of the battlefield in the east of the country for example. president zelensky later said the operation which is designed to be use as a bargaining chip in any future peace talk with russia. but the ukrainians have made good progress but then russian forces counter—attacked and in recent weeks ukraine has been losing ground in the kursk region, russian forces bolstered by the presence of several thousand troops from north korea. ukraine has been

on the back foot in the kursk region, russia not managing to knock them out of the area altogether, ukraine has hung on theirfor altogether, ukraine has hung on their for example altogether, ukraine has hung on theirfor example into altogether, ukraine has hung on their for example into the altogether, ukraine has hung on theirfor example into the key town of sudzha. we will have to see whether this new operation that appears to have been launched today will make any difference, will be able to be sustained. because ukrainian forces badly need a sustained. because ukrainian