me just to just sit by and watch things comply. apathy is inexplicable. total the speak out. i'm hoping to speak up my gym to always become finish out the international women's day on d w. you're watching d. w. news asia coming up today. south koreans head to the coal soon. and what will be a consequential election with a war in europe and north korea? launching test missiles. national security has to become a campaign issue. but elections are run on domestic issues as well. in south korea, candidates have been debating the merits of tattoos to find out why i

i, melissa chan, thanks for joining us. russia's invasion of ukraine has imposed itself on south korea's presidential election, highlighting south korea's national security challenges. the 2 lean candidates and wednesdays elections and their supporters have weighed in on the issue some suggesting the ukraine situation offers a lesson conservative, young silk, joe coles for a hard line with pyongyang. while progressive lead, james young argues for redoubled efforts at peace with north korea. south korea's international affairs will be very different depending on who wins wednesday's vote . i put on my piece in ukraine, echoes through a rally of conservative christians, insole gathering to pray for a change in south korean leadership. just ahead of the president election. russia's

invasion of ukraine has again, raised awareness of south korea's security challenges. military veteran and activists. e guam. so it suggests the public could learn something from the war. little little care. we must have a strong national defense. if we are off our guard, we could always fall into ukraine's position, and believe peace will come to the korean peninsula with fake peace displays like a declaration of the end of the korean war. so ukraine provides us with a huge lesson. we should protect our country ourselves. law rode on the 2 children valle camila, leading candidates, conservative units. so you'll of the people power party and progressive e j. mm. young of the governing democratic party offers starkly different programs, especially on foreign affairs and national security. yoon attacked ease party for its soft line on north korea, particularly in light of pyongyang, missile tests. oh,

you're not already the 8 time this year that north korea tested nuclear capable missiles, has the international community has strongly urged us to stop their threatening provocations. water, what do you remember how this democratic parties, government reacted. they acted dumb. no, not even using the word provocation. you know, environmental, how can this government protect our people's lives and safety? the race has reached a fever, pitch and candidates are trying everything to win over undecided voters. each aim young wants income equality, market transparency and more engagement with young yang. e says peace with north korea would alleviate the so called korea discount of an undervalued stock market. she johnson is us for auto warner general with the chief political crisis of pointing guns at each other highlights the historical fact that we are not firmly at peace and still in an armistice done today. that is one reason for the korea discount oxygen. yun, kodiak is got dirty when the crisis of an,

or is reduced piece of security on the korean peninsula stabilized. so, the korea discount decreases. koya is gone to your other mit up. russia's invasion of ukraine exposes south korea is almost total dependence on energy imports. souls main stock index decline more than 2 percent at the start of the week on worries oil prices could rise even higher with more sanctions on russia under consideration. a ripple effect could also dampen already reeling, hospitality and services sectors. you and o g as a teacher, campaigning for the democratic party. she wants small businesses hit by that pandemic to get a break. something her man, the political veteran, e is championing, was on the self employed, are desperate because of kobe 19. the conservative party and their supporters

insist the democrats are handling a pandemic poorly. but if lee becomes president, it will be different. but he's promised to fully compensate the self employed, which will get us through this crisis that he got from you. that campaign rhetoric has been acrimonious with both sides, tainted by scandal, but there is keen interest in the vote across of korea with early voting numbers hitting record eyes taking a closer look at how a war on the other side of the planet impacts south korea, sol, is joining international sanctions by tightening export controls against russia. cars are south korea, single biggest export item to russia, totaling $2.00 billing us dollars in the year. 2020 cars are a key player in south korea's export driven economy. then there's oil, south cree imported nearly $10000000000.00 of petroleum products from russia in 2019. so has decided to release some strategic oil reserves to help stabilize the international energy market. and ukraine is

a leading provider of noble gases. these are used in lasers that print circuits on semiconductor chips. south korea's single largest export item. we have john de larry of south korea as young cy university with us. a john, i want to start with the biggest global story right now. we just shared some of south korea trade vulnerability stemming from russia invasion of ukraine and how disruptions may impact the countries industries. how else is the war impacting? are going to impact south korea? well, you know, i think the south koreans probably do look at this 1st in terms of economic self interest. russia is not the most important country by any means for south korea, but it's a significant economic partner. and especially in terms of energy, as you've pointed out. so there is a tendency when a conflict feels far away,

like frankly, ukraine does feel far away from northeast asia. there is a tendency, at least to look 1st at, you know, kind of the bread and butter. how is this going to affect my bottom line, whether it's a south korean, you know, company or the government as well? that has to consider that. but i think what we're seeing so far in the, you know, close to 2 weeks into this war to this conflict is that, you know, south korea is really staying on board with the response of the european union of the united states. and broadly, the international community, in terms of making a determination, this is something that rushes invasion of ukraine really takes, you know, takes everything to another level. and that the normal calculus doesn't really apply here. and that south korea does want to join the international efforts to stop this war to end it as quickly as possible. and that includes sanctions that includes measures that will effect in the near term south korea's economic

interests. but it's something that essentially the entire world has to really do. now, south korea also understands a hostile neighbor to the north, and north korea has test to launched so many missiles since the start of the year. what's going on there? yeah, that's right. i mean, south korea is always in this precarious position of having to deal with a nuclear armed, smaller power. you know, ultimately south korea is the stronger of the 2 korea's but north korea has the, a symmetrical advantage of being a nuclear weapons state. and so obviously that is a constant vulnerability. that means that south korea does have to look 1st to the situation on the korean peninsula. and you know, north korea is, i think it's fair to say doing some of the usual saber rattling, it's very hard for analysts to, to tell how much of this really has to do with ukraine at all. i mean, frankly,

all the behavior that i've seen out of north korea, i think, would be consistent with what they could be doing. quite possibly at this point, quite apart from any sort of russian invasion of ukraine. so in a sense, we're seeing the normal situation on the korean peninsula, but normal is not good for south korea. you know, this is normal means the status quo is. there is no diplomacy right now in play. and north korea is making steady progress on it's nuclear weapons capability on and on missiles to deliver them. now all of this is playing out in a fairly close election. and you know, this is going to have an impact in the region and with the countries relationship with the united states. can you talk a little bit about that in terms of the 2 candidates we have here? yes, this very broad consensus in south korea in terms of supporting the alliance with

the united states. yeah, every poll says the same thing, which is that south koreans consider the u. s. r o k alliance as the bedrock of their security. and there's, you know, despite all of the chaos of the trump years, really this alliance relationship whether that storm. so there continues to be very strong support. and both the liberal and conservative candidates are signaling the same kind of commitment to the united states going forward. so that in a way is the bedrock of the foreign policy. but once you go beyond that, things get complicated. when you look at the relationship with china, there's an ongoing debate about how to navigate that. there hasn't been a lot of debate about russia, but obviously now there has to be given the world situation. john de larry, thank you so much for joining us. it's a pleasure, melissa. thank you. now tattoos might not be the most urgent campaign issue,

but they're being talked about in south korea's upcoming election. officially tattoo artists in south korea are criminals, because the country only allows doctors to do them. but there are growing calls to legalize tattooing, including from the ruling party's candidate with their fine line drawing. both use of color and detail designs, korean to, to us, or attracting attention around the world, the body art equivalent of k pop. but it's a risky profession and south korea. i know i also know hello i'm to to as doi kim, doin who draws on human skin. soccer is the only country that considers tattooing by non doctor's as a legal factor up repub in your it guy nida. in south korea, socially conservative society tattoos are associated with gangs and criminals and go against the confusion belief that altering the human body means disrespecting one's parents. attitudes are changing. bts pan member joan cook famously has

several. and while body art is usually covered up on t, v celebrities take the social media to show off their tattoos. and brad pitt's ink also helps boost the profile of local artists. kim was fined 5000000, won around 3700 euro last year. after a video of him inking, a popular korean actress went viral 6 to to us have been jailed since last april. around a quarter of south koreans have undergone tattooing, including semi permanent cosmetic eyebrow procedures to strong support for the practice to be legalized, especially among younger people. on the ruling parties, candidate for the march 9 presidential election, lee jame young has said he would back making the practice legal. oh, well, i really hope the candidates will keep this pledge in the tattooing by non doctors will become legal as the person getting the tattoo, we don't get punished, but the people who do those touches forest get punished. i think that's quite

uncomfortable. i thought i'm back to my if the bill backing d criminalization doesn't pass, many of sad careers to, to us are planning to leave and practice their art overseas. that set for tuesday, stick with us this week. as me look at how a conflict in europe impacts the asia region. see you tomorrow and the by slash her. i'm just kinda, i think that's hard and in the end is a me, you are not a lot of to you anymore. we will send you back. are you familiar with this? with the smudges were lions of the what's your story? i mean, wasn't, i wasn't women, especially victims of violence labs and take part and send us your story. we are

trying always to understand this new culture. so you are not a visitor, not the guests. you want to become a citizen in phil migrants, your platform for reliable information. ah, ah, russia feels the full force of international sanctions, but better roost is also facing major restrictions over its involvement in the invasion. ukraine will take a closer look at russia's ally and enabler also under attack on multiple fronts. russian, all the galks will ask if sanctions against russia, osha, rich, and making a difference is this database. nissan rob walks in berlin. welcome to the program. since it invaded ukraine, russia has become increasingly isolated from the rest of the world. one of its,

he remaining allies is the authoritarian leadership of bello roost. however, it small and neva is paying a price for its role in putins wall. bloody amir putin has been tightening his hold over bella ruth and it's autocratic leader, alexander lucas shanker. and with the 2 countries targeted by sanctions over the ukraine, more russian dominance is only set to grow. last fall, put in and look at shrink agreed on a 28 point economic cooperation plan. it includes a common monetary policy and energy market. but in this partnership, russia is firmly in the driver's seat for around 45 percent of all goods exported by bella roofs. in 2020 went to russia. it's a similar story for imports have came from russia, primarily raw materials dollars is dependent on russian oil and gas. and the 2 nations hoped to establish a common energy market by.