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South Korea’s jailed ex-defense minister stopped in suicide attempt after martial law order, official says
Seoul, South Korea — South Korea’s previous defense minister was stopped from attempting suicide while in detention over last week’s martial law declaration, officials said Wednesday, as President Yoon Suk Yeol’s office resisted a police attempt to search the compound.
The main liberal opposition Democratic Party is pushing for a new motion to impeach Yoon for his Dec. 3 decree that imposed martial law in South Korea for the first time in more than four decades. Its first impeachment attempt against Yoon last Saturday failed after ruling party lawmakers boycotted the vote. The party said it plans to submit the new motion on Thursday to set up another vote this Saturday.
Yoon’s ill-conceived power grab has paralyzed South Korean politics, frozen its foreign policy and rattled financial markets. On Wednesday, rival North Korea‘s state media for the first time reported about the turmoil across the border, but the country hasn’t shown any suspicious activities.
Shin Yong Hae, commissioner general of the Korea Correctional Service, told lawmakers that former Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun tried to kill himself the previous night at a detention center in Seoul. He said correctional officers stopped him and that he was in stable condition. Kim was arrested by prosecutors early Wednesday on allegations of playing a key role in a rebellion and committing abuse of power. He became the first person formally arrested over the martial law decree.
Kim Soo-hyeon/REUTERS
Kim, one of Yoon’s close associates, has been accused of recommending martial law to Yoon and sending troops to the National Assembly to block lawmakers from voting on it. Enough lawmakers eventually managed to enter a parliament chamber and they unanimously rejected Yoon’s decree, forcing the Cabinet to lift it before daybreak on Dec. 4.
Kim said in a statement on Tuesday that he “deeply apologizes for causing significant anxiety” to the public. He said all responsibility for the martial law imposition rests with him and pleaded for leniency for soldiers deployed to enforce it.
Prosecutors have up to 20 days to determine whether to indict Kim.
Later Wednesday, police detained National Police Agency Commissioner General Cho Ji Ho and Kim Bong-sik, head of Seoul’s metropolitan police. They were accused of deploying police forces to parliament to block lawmakers from voting.
The focus of the investigation is determining whether Yoon, Kim and others involved in imposing martial law committed the act of rebellion. A conviction for rebellion carries a maximum penalty of death in South Korea.
Kim Hong-Ji/REUTERS
South Korean police said they sent officers to search Yoon’s office Wednesday to look for any evidence related to the martial law introduction. But investigators had failed to enter the office as of Wednesday evening, about six hours after their arrival, senior police officer Lee Ho-young told the parliament. Some observers earlier said the presidential security service was unlikely to permit any searches of Yoon’s office, citing a law that prohibits searches of sites with state secrets without approval from those in charge of the areas in question.
Yoon on Saturday apologized over the martial law decree, saying he wouldn’t avoid legal or political responsibility for it. He said he would leave it to his party to chart a course through the country’s political turmoil, “including matters related to my term in office.”
The leader of Yoon’s ruling party later vowed to arrange the president’s stable exit from office, saying the party would coordinate with Cabinet members over state affairs and that Yoon would be sidelined from duties. The comments were criticized as unrealistic and unconstitutional, and caused widespread questions about who is in charge of South Korea and its military at a time of heightened tension with North Korea. The Justice Ministry on Tuesday banned Yoon from leaving the country as he faces investigations.
Vice Defense Minister Kim Seon Ho reiterated Wednesday that Yoon remains in charge of the military. But Yoon hasn’t been involved in any major official activities since lifting martial law, except for accepting resignation offers by officials involved in the martial law case and appointing the head for the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
A Wednesday article from the North’s state news agency reported about the South Korean political chaos and protests triggered by Yoon’s martial law decree. The report mostly attempted to explain the South Korean events, though it called Yoon “a traitor” and his military “gangsters.”
Many experts say North Korea is sensitive to the domestic spread of news on major anti-government protests in foreign countries, because its own people have no official access to international news and could be affected by such events. The U.S. State Department said Monday that the U.S.-South Korean alliance remains “iron-clad” and that Washington is committed to the peace and security of the Korean Peninsula.
In his martial law announcement, the conservative Yoon stressed a need to rebuild the country by eliminating “shameless North Korea followers and anti-state forces,” a reference to his liberal rivals who control parliament. Since taking office in 2022, Yoon has had near-constant friction with the Democratic Party, which introduced motions to impeach some of his top officials and launched a political offensive over scandals involving Yoon and his wife.
Opposition parties and many experts say the martial law decree was unconstitutional. They say a president is by law allowed to declare martial law only during wartime or similar emergency situations, but South Korea wasn’t in such a predicament. They argue that deploying troops to seal the National Assembly to suspend its political activities amounted to rebellion because the constitution doesn’t allow a president to use the military to suspend parliament in any situation.
If Yoon is impeached, his presidential powers would be suspended until the Constitutional Court decides whether to restore his powers or remove him from office. If he is dismissed from office, a new presidential election would be required.
Character.AI, the artificial intelligence company that has been the subject of two lawsuits alleging its chatbots inappropriately interacted with underage users, said teenagers will now have a different experience than adults when using the platform.
Character.AI users can create original chatbots or interact with existing bots. The bots, powered by large language models (LLMs), can send lifelike messages and engage in text conversations with users.
One lawsuit, filed in October, alleges that a 14-year-old boy died by suicide after engaging in a monthslong virtual emotional and sexual relationship with a Character.AI chatbot named “Dany.” Megan Garcia told “CBS Mornings” that her son, Sewell Setzer, III, was an honor student and athlete, but began to withdraw socially and stopped playing sports as he spent more time online, speaking to multiple bots but especially fixating on “Dany.”
“He thought by ending his life here, he would be able to go into a virtual reality or ‘her world’ as he calls it, her reality, if he left his reality with his family here,” Garcia said.
The second lawsuit, filed by two Texas families this month, said that Character.AI chatbots are “a clear and present danger” to young people and are “actively promoting violence.” According to the lawsuit, a chatbot told a 17-year-old that murdering his parents was a “reasonable response” to screen time limits. The plaintiffs said they wanted a judge to order the platform shut down until the alleged dangers are addressed, CBS News partner BBC News reported Wednesday.
On Thursday, Character.AI announced new safety features “designed especially with teens in mind” and said it is collaborating with teen online safety experts to design and update features. Character.AI did not immediately respond to an inquiry about how user ages will be verified.
The safety features include modifications to the site’s LLM and improvements to detection and intervention systems, the site said in a news release Thursday. Teen users will now interact with a separate LLM, and the site hopes to “guide the model away from certain responses or interactions, reducing the likelihood of users encountering, or prompting the model to return, sensitive or suggestive content,” Character.AI said. Adult users will use a separate LLM.
“This suite of changes results in a different experience for teens from what is available to adults – with specific safety features that place more conservative limits on responses from the model, particularly when it comes to romantic content,” it said.
Character.AI said that often, negative responses from a chatbot are caused by users prompting it “to try to elicit that kind of response.” To limit those negative responses, the site is adjusting its user input tools, and will end the conversations of users who submit content that violates the site’s terms of service and community guidelines. If the site detects “language referencing suicide or self-harm,” it will share information directing users to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline in a pop-up. The way bots respond to negative content will also be altered for teen users, Character.AI said.
Other new features include parental controls, which are set to be launched in the first quarter of 2025. It will be the first time the site has had parental controls, Character.AI said, and plans to “continue evolving these controls to provide parents with additional tools.”
Users will also receive a notification after an hour-long session on the platform. Adult users will be able to customize their “time spent” notifications, Character.AI said, but users under 18 will have less control over them. The site will also display “prominent disclaimers” reminding users that the chatbot characters are not real. Disclaimers already exist on every chat, Character.AI said.
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This might be the best chance in years for homebuyers sitting on the sidelines to jump into the market. Five years ago, the pandemic sent the real estate market on a turbulent journey — one that started with a huge influx of buyers as rates fell and then slowed to a crawl as mortgage rates skyrocketed to over 8%, their highest level since 2000 in October 2023.
However, the market has taken a positive turn in recent months, which is welcome news for potential homebuyers. In September, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates for the first time in over four years, dropping the benchmark rate by 0.50% before reducing the rate again in November by 0.25%. Mortgage rates also dropped in tandem, and despite a recent uptick, mortgage rates are still nearly half a point lower than at this time last year, currently standing at 6.84%, according to Freddie Mac. The short housing supply that kept home prices high is also starting to ease. According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), inventory has grown to about 4.3 months’ worth — the highest level in five years.
While housing market conditions have become more favorable for homebuyers, though, many are still struggling to take advantage due to heavy debt burdens, especially from high-interest credit card debt. Right now, cardholders are carrying an average of about $8,000 worth of credit card debt, and the Federal Reserve reports cardholders pay roughly 23% interest on that debt.
This scenario begs the question: Is it wise to buy a home while managing significant credit card debt?
Start comparing today’s top mortgage rates to find the right loan for you.
Should you buy a home if you have credit card debt? Here’s what experts say
We put the question to the experts, and here’s what they shared.
Buying a home may not be good idea
One of the most important considerations for homebuyers is whether they can comfortably afford the payments, as falling behind could put their home at risk of foreclosure. If credit card payments take up much of your budget, you might think twice before buying a home.
“If you find yourself with high-interest debt, purchasing a home might not be the right financial decision,” says Christopher Stroup, a certified financial planner at Silicon Beach Financial. “Credit card debt often comes with high interest rates, which can make them difficult to pay off. By prioritizing credit card debt repayment before buying a home, you can improve your financial stability and credit score, which could help you secure better mortgage rates in the future.”
Indeed, high credit card debt could make it harder to secure an affordable mortgage and create a difficult financial situation.
“You should pay most of your debt down. You might not be able to get the amount of mortgage you need. Your interest rate will be higher carrying debt, especially long-term debt,” Dottie Herman, vice-chair at national brokerage firm Douglas Elliman Real Estate, notes.
Learn how affordable your mortgage loan could be here.
Buying a home could still make sense
Deciding whether or not to buy a home while carrying credit card debt is a personal decision that may depend on your unique financial circumstances. If your debt is manageable and your long-term income outlook is strong, there may be a path to homeownership that allows you to make your mortgage payments while paying off debt.
“Evaluate your cash flow and create a plan,” says Sue Gardiner, owner and financial planner at South County Wealth Planning. “People are nervous when they carry debt or sometimes feel guilt over how it was acquired. And that’s ok. So, I say to clients, ‘Now we’re at this point and we just need to make a plan.’ The plan needs to have finite goals. For example, ‘I want to be consumer debt-free in 24 months.’ Then we can look at balancing a mortgage payment with debt paydown and cash flow needs.”
Always prioritize paying down debt
It’s always wise to pay off consumer debts for your overall financial health, especially if you’re preparing to purchase a home. Stroup recommends developing a repayment plan by listing all your debts, balances, interest rates and minimum payments. Then, follow a debt repayment strategy, such as the debt avalanche or debt snowball methods.
“Allocate extra funds towards your chosen repayment strategy while maintaining minimum payments on other debts,” says Stroup. “This approach requires discipline but can help you reduce your debt more efficiently and improve your credit score, making you a more attractive candidate for a mortgage.”
The bottom line
If you’re deciding whether to buy a home while carrying credit card debt, it’s helpful to identify the root cause of that debt to better understand your financial habits and whether you’re financially ready for homeownership.
“Being mindful of how the debt was acquired is important to keep in mind,” says Gardiner. “If it was due to a one-time immediate need, that’s different than accumulating due to other spending habits. Either way, being aware of your spending and saving habits will go a long way in helping you feel more control over your financial success.”