The Global Story

A right-wing movement in South Korea is attracting disenchanted young people who are concerned about mass immigration, lawfare and cancel culture. They sport red baseball caps, idolise Charlie Kirk and chant that “Korea is for Koreans”.

The movement has rallied around the impeached former president Yoon Suk Yeol, who was sentenced last week to five years in jail for abuse of power, obstructing justice and falsifying documents in relation to his failed martial law bid in 2024. Yoon could also face the death penalty over insurrection charges, which he denies.

The BBC’s Seoul correspondent, Jake Kwon, explains how South Korea found itself at the heart of a globalised culture war.

Producers: Valerio Esposito and Cat Farnsworth
Mix: Travis Evans
Executive Producer: James Shield
Senior news editor: China Collins
(Photo: Jintak Han/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

For most of the years since World War Two, many global powers said they adhered to a rules-based international order. Since Donald Trump returned to the White House that idea is falling away. But did it ever exist in reality? And what’s the alternative now?

The BBC’s International Editor Jeremy Bowen wraps up our week of special coverage.

Producers: Cat Farnsworth and Xandra Ellin
Mix: Travis Evans
Senior news editor: China Collins

(Photo: Presidents Putin, Trump and Xi as Russian dolls. Credit: Yuri Kochetkov. EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

When the leaders of the US, China and Russia look at Africa today, they see huge opportunity – an abundance of natural resources and a skilled, young population. But what does it mean for the continent when African presidents allow these superpowers the influence and investment they want?
All this week, we’re teaming up with our BBC sister podcasts to explore how power and influence around the world is shifting. We’re talking about which countries have a sphere of influence, and which countries are in someone else’s.
In today’s episode, we speak to Charles Gitonga from the BBC’s Focus on Africa podcast about three countries in Central Africa which have found themselves at the at the centre of a geopolitical tug of war.
Producers: Hannah Moore, Aron Keller and Lucy Pawle
Executive producer: James Shield
Mix: Travis Evans
Senior news editor: China Collins
Photo: A soldier with the M23 armed group stands guard in Bukavu, South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Credit: Marie Jeanne Munyerenkana/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock.

All this week, we are teaming up with our BBC sister podcasts to explore how power and influence around the world is shifting. We’re exploring which countries have a sphere of influence, and which countries are in someone else’s.
Today, we speak to Vitaly Shevchenko, co-host of Ukrainecast, about how Russia cultivates and controls its sphere of influence.
President Vladimir Putin has called the Soviet Union's collapse "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe" of the 20th century. Since he came to power in 1999, Putin has tried to exercise influence over what he calls Russia’s ‘near abroad’: the former Soviet republics in its backyard.
Producers: Viv Jones and Xandra Ellin
Executive producer: Bridget Harney
Mix: Travis Evans
Senior news editor: China Collins
Photo: Russia's President Vladimir Putin. Vyacheslav Prokofyev/ Sputnik/ Reuters

How will China respond to a new era of US assertiveness? Could the spectacular events of Trump’s second term change President Xi Jinping’s calculations about whether to flex China’s muscles in Taiwan?
All this week, we are teaming up with our sister podcasts to explore how power and influence around the world is shifting. We’re exploring who has a sphere of influence and who finds themselves in one.
Today we’re joined by Mariko Oi, host of Asia Specific from the BBC World Service, and the BBC’s China correspondent, Laura Bicker.
Producers: Cat Farnsworth and Valerio Esposito
Executive producer: James Shield
Mix: Travis Evans
Senior news editor: China Collins
Photo: China’s President Xi Jinping. Maxim Shemetov/Pool/Reuters