South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol made the stunning announcement Tuesday that he was declaring martial law in the key U.S. ally.

Washington Times Asia Bureau Chief Andrew Salmon reports from Seoul that the conservative president, elected in 2022, cited the threat from North Korea but also slammed the opposition-controlled National Assembly as “a den of criminals” that he said was undermining the constitutional order and paralyzing political, administrative and judicial systems. 

A decree put out by a newly formed “Martial Law Command,” seen by The Washington Times, reads in part, “All political activities, including those of the National Assembly, local councils, political parties and any political associations, assemblies and demonstrations are prohibited.”

The National Assembly then voted to defy Mr. Yoon and immediately lift his martial law declaration.

Images show armored vehicles patrolling downtown streets, and there have been reports and video showing that the entrances to the National Assembly were blocked by police.

The coronavirus that has killed millions of people worldwide “most likely” leaked from a Chinese lab where researchers were intentionally manipulating the virus, a two-year congressional investigation concluded in a report released Monday.

The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic faulted U.S. health officials for trying to discredit the lab leak explanation and pushing the alternative theory that the virus originated naturally from a still-unknown animal host. The subcommittee cited a range of factors favoring the lab-leak theory, most notably that scientists had unexplained illnesses at China’s Wuhan lab in 2019.

Chinese officials, who have heatedly denied a Wuhan lab played a role in sparking the pandemic, responded with outrage Tuesday. “The so-called report by the U.S., without any substantial evidence, came up with a suggestive, misguided conclusion to frame and throw mud at China,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lin Jian said in Beijing. “This is a repetition of the old playbook of using the issue of origins tracing for political manipulation. There is nothing credible about that so-called conclusion.”

The Defense Department says it is providing Ukraine with about $725 million in fresh weapons and other military hardware taken from U.S. stockpiles — part of an overtime effort to deliver new aid to Kyiv before the late-January inauguration of Mr. Trump, who has expressed repeated skepticism about the levels of American support for Ukraine.

The U.S. has provided Ukraine with about $62 billion in military assistance since the start of the Biden administration, including about $61.4 billion since Russia launched its invasion of its smaller neighbor in February 2022.

Monday’s announcement marks the 71st time the White House has used the Presidential Drawdown Authority to support Ukraine’s military needs since the start of the Biden administration. The security assistance package includes ammunition for the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems [NASAMS] and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems [HIMARS]; 105mm and 155mm artillery rounds; Stinger missiles; Javelin and AT-4 anti-armor systems; and landmines.

Despite Tehran’s own support for proxy militants in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen, Iranian officials are claiming that the U.S. and Israel are behind the renewed fighting that saw anti-government Islamist forces in Syria recapture Aleppo in a fast-moving offensive that has stunned the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Some 900 U.S. military personnel remain in a remote region of Syria as part of the ongoing international mission to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State terror group. On Monday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei claimed the presence in Syria of Islamic State forces and allies is a result of the U.S. military being there. “The continued presence of terrorists in Syria is a result of the U.S. presence,” Mr. Baghaei said. “How is the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group operating in Syria?”

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, known as HTS, is a Sunni Islamist political and armed organization battling the Assad regime in the country’s 13-year-old civil war. Formed in 2017 after a merger of several anti-government groups largely bottled up in the northern province of Idlib, HTS launched a surprise offensive last week that resulted in the capture of Aleppo. The U.S. and several other countries have designated HTS as a terror group, although its leaders say they have broken their former ties to al Qaeda.

Saudi Arabia, the host of Mr. Trump’s first trip abroad during his first four years in office, is emerging as the linchpin of an ambitious and potentially history-making Middle East strategy for his second White House term.

National Security Correspondent Ben Wolfgang offers an in-depth analysis, writing that for a transformative diplomatic deal to reshape the region, the incoming president and his team will face an even steeper climb than they did eight years ago. They must deal with Iran, which is more motivated and perhaps better positioned than ever before to poison the U.S.-Saudi relationship and, in the process, keep Israel isolated in the Middle East.

Iran’s politically savvy leaders are keenly aware that Mr. Trump may resume his quest for a grand bargain to bring about formal diplomatic normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia. In exchange, Israel would most likely have to commit to an eventual Palestinian state and the U.S. would give Riyadh security guarantees.

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te appealed for continued American support to his island democracy during a stopover visit to Hawaii, where he sought to send a message to both China and the incoming Trump administration that the U.S. cannot pull back in Asia in the face of Chinese threats.

In remarks at the East-West Center in Honolulu on Sunday, Mr. Lai noted that Taiwan is a major contributor to the global supply chain, especially through its cutting-edge semiconductors. Taiwan produces chips widely used in a range of products from cars to artificial intelligence applications. Its major chip manufacturer TSMC, is a key supplier to both Apple and Nvidia.

The Hawaii visit was a rare one to U.S. soil by a Taiwanese leader that Beijing immediately denounced. Mr. Lai, who also will visit a second strategic U.S. military hub in the Pacific on Guam during his first overseas trip as president, said U.S. backing is critical for Taiwan’s survival.

• Dec. 4 — Alaska’s Strategic Importance for the Indo-Pacific, Hudson Institute

• Dec. 5 — China’s Role in Indonesia’s Clean Energy Transition, Wilson Center

• Dec. 5 — Real Space Strategy LIVE: The Future of the Space National Guard, National Institute for Deterrence Studies

• Dec. 6 — Huessy Seminar: China’s Nuclear Program with Chris Yeaw, National Institute for Deterrence Studies

• Dec. 7 — 2024 Reagan National Defense Forum, Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute

• Dec. 10 — Trade & Technology: The Arms Trade Treaty at 10, Stimson Center

• Dec. 10 — India and China in 2025, Hudson Institute