South Korea’s Constitutional Court struck down the impeachment of the country’s prime minister Han Duck-soo and restored his powers on Monday, the latest twist in a political saga that started when the President declared martial law last year.

The ruling comes as South Korea waits for the same court to decide whether it will impeach suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol, who declared martial law on December 3, plunging the US treaty ally and economic powerhouse into turmoil.

Yoon’s martial law declaration briefly banned political activity and sent troops to the heart of the nation’s democracy. Six hours later he reversed it, after lawmakers forced their way into parliament and voted unanimously to block it.

After Yoon was suspended by lawmakers on December 14, Han assumed the role of acting president for 13 days, during which he refused to appoint one of the three vacant seats in the Constitutional Court, leading the main opposition Democratic party to file an impeachment motion against him.

In the motion, the Democratic Party called his refusal to appoint justices “an act violating the duty of protecting the Constitution and seriously undermining the rule of law.”

It also held him responsible for refusing to pass a special investigation law into first lady Kim Keon-hee, plotting the martial law, and attempting to co-run state affairs with the ruling party before Yoon was suspended.

Only one of the eight judges voted to uphold the motion. In its statement the court said there was no evidence Han had sought to neutralize the constitution by failing to appoint judges and so should not be impeached.

The ruling reinstates Han to the position of acting President while Yoon’s court case continues.

Han told journalists after the ruling that he welcomed the court’s “wise” decision.

The court is yet to rule on whether Yoon should be impeached for his declaration of martial law, which he made in an unannounced television address, accusing the main opposition party of sympathizing with North Korea and of “anti-state activities.”

He cited a motion by the Democratic Party, which has a majority in parliament, to impeach top prosecutors and reject a government budget proposal.

Yet within just six hours, he was forced to back down, after lawmakers forced their way past soldiers into parliament to unanimously strike down the decree.

During his trial at the Constitutional Court last month, Han denied plotting martial law with Yoon. He claimed that he tried “to dissuade” Yoon during the short Cabinet meeting that was held just before Yoon announced the martial law.

There were likely as many groans as laughs across Canada when comedian Mike Myers hovered over the hockey boards in a campaign ad with Prime Minister Mark Carney, his “elbows up” battle cry on display as the country of his birth takes on the country he calls home.

The Liberal Party ad played up many trite but true Canadian stereotypes and jokes that are not going to cut it during this sobering election campaign.

US President Donald Trump will obviously not be on the ballot in Canada – but how each candidate proposes to deal with him is. “Standing strong,” “elbows up,” these are mantras all Canadian politicians have adopted, but how they deal with Canadians’ expectations and an economy facing the threat of a trade war with its largest trading partner is the contest that will matter.

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has repeatedly threatened to annex Canada and wreck its economy with tariffs, mockingly referring to the US’ northern neighbor as “the 51st state.”

Carney describes the danger posed by Trump as existential, saying at his campaign kickoff that the US president wants to “break us so America can own us.”

“I’m asking Canadians for a strong, positive mandate to deal with President Trump and to build a new Canadian economy that works for everyone because I know we need change, big change, positive change,” added Carney Sunday, as he began a five-week campaign that will end with a national vote on April 28.

His Conservative Party challenger, Pierre Poilievre, sounds near identical in his tone.

“I will insist the president recognize the independence and sovereignty of Canada, I will insist that he stop tariffing our nation, and at the same time I will strengthen our country so that we can be capable of standing on our own two feet and standing up to the Americans where and when necessary,” said Poilievre in his first campaign speech Sunday.

Poilievre and Carney’s parties are virtually tied heading into this campaign and how they calibrate their response to Trump for voters, many of whom are equally enraged and terrified by the US leader’s threats, will likely decide this election.

“We are over the shock of that betrayal, and it is a betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” Carney has repeatedly said in speeches without, so far, leveling with Canadians about what those lessons should be.

Canada’s economy is not in fighting shape. The “elbows up” slogan might get voters’ hearts racing, but Canadians need to roll up their sleeves if they’re to survive America’s economic blows.

For years economists have sounded the alarm over Canada’s low productivity, a key weakness that makes it even more vulnerable during a trade war.

Carolyn Rogers, a senior deputy governor at the Bank of Canada called it a “break the glass” emergency last year, adding that in the past four decades, Canadian productivity has fallen significantly, especially when compared to the United States.

“Labour productivity measures how much an economy produces per hour of work. Increasing productivity means finding ways for people to create more value during the time they’re at work,” she wrote, adding that it’s a way inoculate the economy against challenges like inflation.

A TD Economics report in May 2024 put it succinctly, observing that Canada’s economy has struggled to find ways to boost the productivity of workers.

Even for a former central banker like Carney, or a resource-booster like Poilievre, there is no quick fix. Canadians are in danger of a significant decline in their standard of living if they do not begin to mitigate the impact of a “decoupling” from the US.

The United Kingdom and Europe are going through a similar reckoning, and the leaders of Britain, France, and Germany have, if tentatively, opened a dialogue with their citizens making it clear that a detachment from the US may mean cuts to social programs, increased deficit financing or both.

It is unlikely that language will find its way into Canadian stump speeches over the next several weeks, but it ought to.

In just 10 days as prime minister, Carney has announced tax cuts to income, energy, and new homes. And increased spending for social programs like national dental care.

Poilievre has promised his own “bold and beautiful” tax cuts along with new spending on the military and funding new programs like subsidizing apprenticeships for workers in the trades.

“We will stare down this unprovoked threat with steely resolve because, be assured, Canadians are tough, we are hardy and we stand up for ourselves,” said Poilievre at a campaign stop on Sunday evening.

Even his attacks on the Liberal Party, accusing it of putting Canadians “under the thumb of the Americans,” is devoid of any prescription for fixing that.

Trump is a once in a lifetime foil for Canadian politicians, criticizing him and his policies is a campaign cudgel that is easy to land.

That may change on April 2, the day Trump has promised to impose reciprocal tariffs on all countries, including Canada.

With the potential for mass layoffs within days of that announcement and a further plunge in the value of the Canadian dollar and stock market, party leaders will need to drop the slogans when they raise those elbows and articulate a path forward.

The first flight carrying Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States landed in Venezuela early Monday, after the two governments reached an agreement to resume repatriation flights.

Nearly 200 deportees were on the plane, which landed at an airport just north of capital Caracas.

Video of the arrival shows some deportees celebrating with their hands in the air as they walked down stairs on to the tarmac, where a heavy presence of security staff was stationed. Others made the sign of the cross as they disembarked.

The US Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs said the flight departed from the US and stopped in Honduras, where a change of planes took place.

“Today, deportation flights of Venezuelan illegal aliens to their homeland resumed via Honduras,” the department wrote on X.

“These individuals had no legal basis to remain in the United States. We expect to see a consistent flow of deportation flights to Venezuela going forward. Thank you to Honduran President Castro and her government for partnering to combat illegal immigration.”

Honduras’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs said 199 citizens of Venezuelan origin were on the flight. The transfer took three and a half hours and occurred “in an orderly and safe manner,” Enrique Reina said in a post on X.

Following the transfer the “Venezuelan-flagged vessel departed for the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,” said Reina.

Repatriations to Venezuela had stalled over the Trump administration’s decision in February to revoke a license allowing American oil company Chevron to carry out some operations in the South American country.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said at the time that the decision “affected” the flights to Venezuela, prompting the Trump administration to threaten further sanctions on the South American country.

The resumption of repatriation flights follows growing outrage in Venezuela over the US deporting 238 Venezuelans to El Salvador, who were then transferred to the notorious Cecot mega-prison.

Venezuela’s National Assembly President Jorge Rodríguez Gómez announced the agreement to resume repatriations in a statement on Saturday, two weeks after Venezuela had effectively paused repatriation flights from the US.

“Migration is not a crime, and we will not rest until we achieve the return of all those who need it and until we rescue our brothers and sisters kidnapped in El Salvador,” Rodríguez said Saturday.

Venezuela does not have diplomatic relations in the US. Flight tracking data suggests the deportees were transferred Sunday from a Texas charter flight – which landed at an airbase in Honduras that was previously used for migrant transfers – to a Caracas-bound plane.

The White House hasn’t commented on Sunday’s deportation flight.

Maduro on Wednesday ordered his government to increase the number of flights needed to repatriate Venezuelan migrants detained in the US.