How and why South Korea — almost — had sustained martial law

… plus curiosities from an alternate Gladiator II script, NASA's Central America hub, and more

Hi all 👋,

Welcome back to another edition of The Detour — a weekly U.S. and global affairs newsletter that cuts through the noise of the internet with nuanced reporting, voicey prose, and thoughtfully-designed visual storytelling.

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Thank you for reading. Now, onto the good stuff!

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Here’s what’s on deck this week: 

🇰🇷 How a martial law in South Korea may end with a president’s impeachment

🚀 NASA expands to Central America

🗡️ The alternate Gladiator II script that never made it to the big screen

Record-shattering travel, climate resilience, a first woman president, a social media ban, and martial law. // Source: Canva, Wikimedia Commons

4:30 a.m. — The local time on Wednesday that South Korea’s short-lived martial law was lifted during a late-night Cabinet meeting following a bipartisan vote to overrule President Yoon Suk Yeol’s unprecedented order just hours prior. Military troops even attempted to enter the main hall as lawmakers clamored to arrive and vote at the National Assembly while scores of Korean citizens protested the declaration outside the building.

“This is the first time since the 1980s that martial law has been declared in Seoul, which led to a self-coup from within the military, with one general replacing another, leading to another six years of military dictatorship until a popular movement installed democracy. … Since then, South Korean civil society has grown bolder and better organized,” says Cornell University emeritus professor Sidney Tarrow.

So why all this ruckus now? In The Cover Story further down, I explain the context and speak with Tarrow, a social movements and collective action expert, who helps break down what might come next in the country.

57% — The percentage of voters in Namibia who voted for current vice president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, making her the country’s first female president after last week's disputed election that ended in a three-day extension to polling in some parts of the country. Her closest rival, Panduleni Itula, received just 26% of votes.

Nandi-Ndaitwah leads the South West Africa People’s Organization, or SWAPO, which has governed Namibia since it gained independence from Germany in 1990. Nandi-Ndaitwah joins Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico and Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova of North Macedonia, who also became the first women presidents of their respective countries this year.

U.S. First Lady Jill Biden meets with then-Deputy Prime Minster of Namibia Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah on February 22, 2023, at the State House in Windhoek, Namibia. // Source: Erin Scott via Wikimedia Commons

3 million — The number of passengers that travelled in the United States the Sunday after Thanksgiving, making it the busiest day ever for commercial air travel in America.

It’s been a big year for planes, trains, and automobiles. This fiscal year, Amtrak set a record increase in ridership, carrying 32.8 million passengers, which is a 15 percent increase from the prior fiscal year. Amtrak particularly hit a high with rides along the Northeast Corridor, which stretches from Boston to Washington, D.C., and stops at major cities like New York, and Philadelphia. The Northeast Corridor region accounts for 20 percent of the U.S. GDP. In the third quarter of 2024, electric vehicle sales in the United States hit record highs for both volume and market share.

16 — The minimum age Australians must be in order to use social media, following a first-of-its-kind law approved by Australia’s Parliament last week. The controversial social media ban will go into effect next year.

“Social media and the digital world are an ever-evolving tech behemoth, and it's long overdue for our laws to evolve with it. … The protection of children from the toxic elements of social media and the online space is one of the most urgent issues of our time,” Australian Senator Maria Kovacic said in a statement.

$6.6 million — The amount of money the United States, through USAID and NASA, will put toward expanding its climate resilience initiative with the launch of a new hub in Costa Rica. The hub joins other networks globally that are part of the SERVIR project, which uses research to help regions that are vulnerable the knock-on effects of climate change. The new Central America location will leverage satellite data and geospatial technology to recommend ways to bolster climate resilience, sustainable resource management, and biodiversity conservation.

The answer to this quiz is at the bottom of the newsletter. (Plus a bit of context, of course!)

Last night, South Korea almost went under martial law. Now, President Yoon Suk Yeol, who declared it, may be impeached