Dark side of the Yoon: South Korea’s chaos

<p>The country’s increasingly unpopular president, Yoon Suk Yeol, backed down six hours after his shocking move of imposing martial law. South Korea’s democracy has <a href="https://www.economist.com/asia/2024/12/03/martial-law-in-south-korea-and-then-not-next-constitutional-crisis?utm_campaign=a.io&amp;utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&amp;utm_source=theintelligence&amp;utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&amp;utm_term=sa.listeners" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">held firm</a>—so far. Brazil’s gangsters have found a neat way to launder assets through the legal economy: by getting <a href="https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2024/11/14/brazils-gangsters-have-been-getting-into-politics?utm_campaign=a.io&amp;utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&amp;utm_source=theintelligence&amp;utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&amp;utm_term=sa.listeners" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">involved with politics</a> (7:26). And the hefty computations going into the design of <a href="https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2024/11/13/physics-reveals-the-best-design-for-a-badminton-arena?utm_campaign=a.io&amp;utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&amp;utm_source=theintelligence&amp;utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&amp;utm_term=sa.listeners" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">breeze-free badminton arenas</a> (15:17).</p><br /><p><em>Get a world of insights by </em><a href="https://subscribenow.economist.com/podcasts-plus" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>subscribing to Economist Podcasts+</em></a><em>. For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our </em><a href="https://myaccount.economist.com/s/article/What-is-Economist-Podcasts" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>FAQs page</em></a><em> or watch </em><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gczo71bg1uY" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>our video</em></a><em> explaining how to link your account.</em></p><hr /><p style="color: grey; font-size: 0.75em;"> Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: grey;" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>