内容摘要：Local journalists and activists shared footage of bodies and wounded people being transported on donkey carts to the Red Cross field hospital in the al-Mawasi area.

Local journalists and activists shared footage of bodies and wounded people being transported on donkey carts to the Red Cross field hospital in the al-Mawasi area.

Finally, as the pressure against him mounted, the former president took the drastic step of declaring martial law.Yoon's declaration of martial law on 3 December - made in a self-proclaimed bid to eliminate "anti-state forces" and North Korea sympathisers - served as the catalyst for Lee to emerge as a leading presidential candidate.

Within hours of the declaration, Lee appealed to the public via a livestream broadcast and urged them to assemble in protest outside the National Assembly building in central Seoul.Thousands responded, clashing with police and blocking military units as opposition lawmakers rushed into the assembly building, clambering over fences and walls in a desperate attempt to block Yoon's order.Lee was among them, climbing over the fence to enter the National Assembly and helping to pass the resolution to lift martial law.

The Democratic Party later decided to impeach President Yoon - a decision that was unanimously upheld by South Korea's Constitutional Court on 4 April, 2025.It was then that Lee began the path to a full-fledged election bid, announcing his resignation as leader of the Democratic Party on 9 April ahead of his presidential run. In the Democratic Party presidential primary held on April 27, he was selected as the general candidate with overwhelming support.

The result of Yoon's abortive martial law attempt was a political maelstrom from which South Korea is still reeling: a constitutional crisis that ended the former president's career and left his PPP in tatters.

But of the small few who have managed to leverage that chaos to their advantage, none have benefitted more than Lee.The previous Conservative government had budgeted for a 2% cash increase in public sector pay in 2024-25.

of meeting the full 2024-25 pay recommendations would be an additional £9.4bn.That implies that total public sector pay in 2024-25 will have been roughly £287bn, which is around a fifth of total government spending.

So, if the total bill across the public sector for 2025-26 went up by another 3% - rather than 2.8% - that would imply the government needing to find about an extra £550m.But if it went up by 4% it would imply the need to find around an extra £3.5bn.