South Korea's president skips opening ceremony of parliament as strife with opposition deepens

President Yoon Suk Yeol has boycotted the formal opening of South Korea's National Assembly as squabbles with the opposition deepen over allegations of wrongdoing by top officials and his wife. It’s a tradition for South Korean presidents to deliver a speech at opening ceremonies for assembly sessions, and Yoon is the first to skip the event since the country’s transition from a military dictatorship to democracy in the late 1980s. Yoon, a conservative who narrowly won election in 2022, has struggled to navigate a parliament controlled by liberals who have stymied his agenda and called for independent investigations into accusations of corruption and abuse of power involving his wife and government officials.