In this programme, political crisis in South Korea.

Hello, I'm Phil.

And I'm Beth.

In this programme, we look at one big news story and the vocabulary in the headlines that will help you understand it.

You can find all the vocabulary and headlines from this episode as well as a worksheet on our website, bbclearningenglish.com.

So, let's hear more about this story.

South Korea's President, Yun Sung-yool, declared martial law, asking the armed forces to suspend normal democratic freedoms, for example, being able to protest.

Yun said martial law was needed because of threats from North Korea.

But critics say Yun wanted to use martial law as a response to scandals and problems he faces.

Facing opposition, President Yun ended the state of martial law just hours after it had been declared.

Our first headline is talking about the situation at the time of recording.

And again that headline, political chaos in South Korea.

What is martial law and what comes next after Yun Sung-yool's U-turn?

And that's from The Guardian.

This headline talks about chaos in South Korea.

It talks about martial law and it's asking what will happen next after Yun Sung-yool's U-turn.

We're going to look at U-turn.

Now, this sounds like something you do in a car.

It is, although that is not what it means here.

If you make a U-turn in a car, it means you turn around and drive back in the direction you came from.

We call it a U-turn because you drive in the shape of the letter U.

Yes, when it's used metaphorically, rather than drive in the opposite direction, it means to go back on a decision that you've made and do the opposite.

Exactly.

In this story, it's about the decision to declare and then end martial law.

It's very commonly used to talk about decisions in politics and often negatively to criticise someone's ability to make a decision or judgement when they change their policy.

For example, if a government promises to lower taxes but then raises them, that is a U-turn.

So, we had U-turn, a reversed decision.

For example, the council made a U-turn on their decision to close the swimming pool after local protests.

This is Learning English from the News, our podcast about the news headlines.

Today we're talking about the South Korean president's attempt to impose martial law.

And our next headline describes the chaotic events leading up to the calls for the South Korean president to be impeached.

Korea's Yun backpedalling promises to lift martial law and that's from Politico.

That headline again, Korea's Yun backpedalling promises to lift martial law and that's from Politico.

As we've heard, South Korea's President Yun briefly declared martial law, a move which shocked South Koreans and caused leaders around the world to express their deep concerns.

After Yun declared martial law, South Korean MPs forced their way back into the parliament building and voted to block the martial law decision.

Yun reversed his decision and the vocabulary we're interested in describes that move.

It's backpedalling.

OK, so let's break this word down, Phil.

If we look into it, we can see two parts, back and pedalling.

Do you ride a bike?

Yes, I do.

And when you ride a bike, you use the pedals with your feet to move the bike forward.

And so in this headline, the pedal and the movement forward is metaphorical.

We're talking about a process, the process of imposing martial law.

But the first part of the word backpedalling is back, so this means that a process that was started is now going in the other direction.

So simply by saying that Yun is backpedalling, the headline means that the South Korean President is reversing a previous decision, similar to U-turn.

So how are backpedalling and U-turn different?

Well, they can be used to talk about the same thing.

They are here, but U-turn focuses on a sudden change, while backpedalling describes a process as you are going back on a decision.

So we had backpedalling, deciding not to do a thing that you'd started or said you were going to do.

For example, Juan said he was going to paint the house at the weekend, but now he's backpedalling and saying it'll be the week after.

This is Learning English from the News, our podcast about the news headlines.

Today we're talking about political chaos in South Korea.

Next, we have another headline talking about Yun's introduction of martial law.

South Korea's Yun ends martial law after political gamble, and that's from Bloomberg.

And that headline again, South Korea's Yun ends martial law after political gamble, and that's from Bloomberg.

So we hear that President Yun ended the state of martial law, and we're looking at the word gamble.

Now literally, a gamble is where you play a game with something at risk, usually money.

If you succeed, you gain something, but if you fail, you lose something.

Here, we're looking at a political gamble.

It's a metaphor to talk about a risky strategy.

President Yun was unpopular and thought that he could win support by declaring martial law.

However, this was a risky strategy and there are suggestions that now he may need to resign, or that he could be removed from office by the National Assembly.

We can use gamble to talk about anything risky we do.

Changing your job is often a gamble because you don't know if the new job will be better than the old one.

We've been looking at gamble, a risky strategy.

For example, the President's gamble to call an early election paid off.

She won easily.

That's it for this episode of Learning English from the News.

We'll be back next week with another news story.

Now, if you've enjoyed this programme, make sure you come back every week for a new episode of Learning English from the News.

Bye for now.

Goodbye. you