Lee

Lee’s visit comes two days before his crucial first summit in Washington, DC with US President Donald Trump.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has hosted South Korean President Lee Jae Myung in Tokyo for a visit aimed at reaffirming security cooperation and showcasing friendly ties between the two East Asian neighbours facing common challenges from their mutual ally, the United States.

On his first official visit to Japan since taking office in June, Lee met Ishiba on Saturday at the premier’s residence to discuss bilateral ties, including closer security cooperation with the US under a trilateral pact signed by their predecessors.

“As the strategic environment surrounding both our countries grows increasingly severe, the importance of our relations, as well as trilateral cooperation with the United States, continues to grow,” Ishiba said in a joint announcement with Lee after their meeting.

The leaders agreed to resume shuttle diplomacy, expand exchanges such as working holiday programmes, and step up cooperation in defence, economic security, artificial intelligence and other areas. They also pledged closer coordination against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.

大韓民国　李在明大統領をお迎えしました。就任後初の二国間訪問先に日本を選んでいただき、6月のカナダ以来の面会となります。新たな時代のニーズに沿った日韓関係を築いていきたいと思います。 pic.twitter.com/DVFAgKVJgA

— 石破茂 (@shigeruishiba) August 23, 2025

The snap election victory of the liberal Lee – following the impeachment of conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol for declaring martial law – raised concerns in Tokyo that relations with Seoul could sour.

Lee has criticised past efforts to improve ties strained by lingering resentment over Japan’s colonial rule. The South Korean government last week expressed “deep disappointment and regret” after Japanese officials visited a shrine in Tokyo to Japan’s war dead that many Koreans see as a symbol of Japan’s wartime aggression.

In Tokyo, however, Lee reaffirmed support for closer relations with Japan as he did when he met Ishiba for the first time in June on the sidelines of a Group of Seven (G7) summit in Canada.

Lee’s decision to visit Tokyo before Washington has been well received by Japanese officials, who see it as a sign Lee is placing great importance on relations between the two neighbours.

For Ishiba, who faces pressure from right-wing rivals within his governing party to resign over its July election loss, Lee’s visit and a successful summit could shore up his support.

Despite their differences, the two US allies rely heavily on Washington to counter China’s growing regional influence. Together, they host about 80,000 US soldiers, dozens of US warships and hundreds of military aircraft.

Japan and South Korea also share common ground on trade, with both agreeing to 15 percent tariffs on US imports of their goods after Trump had threatened steeper duties.

We “agreed that unwavering cooperation between South Korea, the US and Japan is paramount in the rapidly changing international situation, and decided to create a virtuous cycle in which the development of South Korea-Japan relations leads to stronger cooperation”, Lee said alongside Ishiba.

Lee’s visit comes two days before his crucial first summit in Washington with US President Donald Trump. The two men are expected to discuss security concerns, including China, North Korea, and Seoul’s financial contribution for US forces stationed in South Korea – something the US leader has repeatedly pressed it to increase.

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As President Trump declared Washington, D.C., a crime-ridden wasteland in need of federal intervention last week and threatened similar actions in other Black-led cities, several mayors compared notes.

The president’s characterization of their cities contradicts what they began noticing last year: that they were seeing a drop in violent crime after a pandemic-era spike. In some cases the declines were monumental, due in large part to more youth engagement, gun buyback programs and community partnerships.

Now members of the African American Mayors Assn. are determined to stop Trump from burying accomplishments that they already believed were overlooked. And they’re using the administration’s unprecedented law enforcement takeover in the nation’s capital as an opportunity to disprove his narrative about some of the country’s greatest urban enclaves.

“It gives us an opportunity to say we need to amplify our voices to confront the rhetoric that crime is just running rampant around major U.S. cities. It’s just not true,” said Van Johnson, mayor of Savannah, Ga., and president of the African American Mayors Assn. “It’s not supported by any evidence or statistics whatsoever.”

Trump has deployed the first of 800 National Guard members to the nation’s capital, and at his request, the Republican governors of three states pledged hundreds more Saturday. West Virginia said it was sending 300 to 400 Guard troops, South Carolina pledged 200, and Ohio said it would send 150 in the coming days, marking a significant escalation of the federal intervention.

Beyond Washington, the Republican president is setting his sights on other cities including Baltimore, Chicago, Los Angeles and Oakland, calling them crime-ridden and “horribly run.” One thing they all have in common: They’re led by Black mayors.

“It was not lost on any member of our organization that the mayors either were Black or perceived to be Democrats,” Johnson said. “And that’s unfortunate. For mayors, we play with whoever’s on the field.”

The federal government’s actions have heightened some of the mayors’ desires to champion the strategies used to help make their cities safer.

Some places are seeing dramatic drops in crime rates

Trump argued that federal law enforcement had to step in after a prominent employee of his White House advisory team known as the Department of Government Efficiency was attacked in an attempted carjacking. He also pointed to homeless encampments, graffiti and potholes as evidence of Washington “getting worse.”

But statistics published by Washington’s Metropolitan Police contradict the president and show violent crime has dropped there since a post-pandemic-emergency peak in 2023.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson scoffed at Trump’s remarks, hailing the city’s “historic progress driving down homicides by more than 30% and shootings by almost 40% in the last year alone.”

Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles, where homicides fell 14% from 2023 to 2024, called the federal takeover in District of Columbia a performative “power grab.”

In Baltimore, officials say they have seen historic decreases in homicides and nonfatal shootings this year, and those have been on the decline since 2022, according to the city’s public safety data dashboard. Carjackings were down 20% in 2023, and other major crimes fell in 2024. Only burglaries have climbed slightly.

The lower crime rates are attributed to tackling violence with a “public health” approach, city officials say. In 2021, under Mayor Brandon Scott, Baltimore created a Comprehensive Violence Prevention Plan that called for more investment in community violence intervention, more services for crime victims and other initiatives.

Scott accused Trump of exploiting crime as a “wedge issue and dog whistle” rather than caring about curbing violence.

“He has actively undermined efforts that are making a difference saving lives in cities across the country in favor of militarized policing of Black communities,” Scott said via email.

The Democratic mayor pointed out that the Justice Department has slashed more than $1 million in funding this year that would have gone toward community anti-violence measures. He vowed to keep on making headway regardless.

“We will continue to closely work with our regional federal law enforcement agencies, who have been great partners, and will do everything in our power to continue the progress despite the roadblocks this administration attempts to implement,” Scott said.

Oakland officials this month touted significant decreases in crime in the first half of this year compared with the same period in 2024, including a 21% drop in homicides and a 29% decrease in all violent crime, according to the midyear report by the Major Cities Chiefs Assn. Officials credited collaborations with community organizations and crisis response services through the city’s Department of Violence Prevention, established in 2017.

“These results show that we’re on the right track,” Mayor Barbara Lee said at a news conference. “We’re going to keep building on this progress with the same comprehensive approach that got us here.”

After the president gave his assessment of Oakland last week, Lee, a steadfast Trump antagonist during her years in Congress, rejected it as “fearmongering.”

Social justice advocates agree that crime has gone down and say Trump is perpetuating exaggerated perceptions that have long plagued Oakland.

Nicole Lee, executive director of Urban Peace Movement, an Oakland-based organization that focuses on empowering communities of color and young people through initiatives such as leadership training and assistance to victims of gun violence, said much credit for the gains on lower crime rates is due to community groups.

“We really want to acknowledge all of the hard work that our network of community partners and community organizations have been doing over the past couple of years coming out of the pandemic to really create real community safety,” Lee said. “The things we are doing are working.”

She worries that an intervention by military troops would undermine that progress.

“It creates kind of an environment of fear in our community,” she said.

Patrols and youth curfews

In Washington, agents from multiple federal agencies, National Guard members and even the United States Park Police have been seen performing law enforcement duties including patrolling the National Mall and questioning people parked illegally.

Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson said the National Guard troops will not be armed, but he declined to elaborate on their assignments to safety patrols and beautification efforts.

Savannah’s Johnson said he is all for partnering with the federal government, but troops on city streets is not what he envisioned. Instead, he said, cities need federal assistance for things like multistate investigation and fighting problems such as gun trafficking and cybercrime.

“I’m a former law enforcement officer. There is a different skill set that is used for municipal law enforcement agencies than the military,” Johnson said.

There has also been speculation that federal intervention could entail curfews for young people.

But that would do more harm, Lee said, disproportionately affecting young people of color and wrongfully assuming that youths are the main instigators of violence.

“If you’re a young person, basically you can be cited, criminalized, simply for being outside after certain hours,” she said. “Not only does that not solve anything in regard to violence and crime, it puts young people in the crosshairs of the criminal justice system.”

A game of wait-and-see

For now, Johnson said, the mayors are closely watching their counterpart in Washington, Muriel Bowser, to see how she navigates the unprecedented federal intervention. She has been walking a fine line between critiquing and cooperating since Trump’s takeover, but things ramped up Friday when officials sued to block the administration’s naming its Drug Enforcement Administration chief as an “emergency” head of the police force. The administration soon backed away from that move.

Johnson praised Bowser for carrying on with dignity and grace.

“Black mayors are resilient. We are intrinsically children of struggle,” Johnson said. “We learn to adapt quickly, and I believe that we will and we are.”

Tang writes for the Associated Press.

SEOUL, Aug. 15 (UPI) — South Korean President Lee Jae Myung pledged to “respect” North Korea‘s political system and said Seoul would not seek unilateral reunification in a speech to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Korean Peninsula on Friday.

“We affirm our respect for the North’s current system, aver that we will not pursue any form of unification by absorption and assert that we have no intention of engaging in hostile acts,” Lee said in a ceremony at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul.

Liberation Day commemorates the end of Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule of Korea. The holiday is also celebrated in North Korea.

Lee’s administration has made efforts to improve relations between the two Koreas since he took office in June. In his speech Friday, he drew a sharp contrast with his predecessor, ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol, who took a hardline approach in dealing with the North.

“Inter-Korean dialogue, which had been maintained through countless ups and downs, was completely halted during the previous administration,” Lee said. “Going forward, our government will take consistent measures to substantially reduce tensions and restore trust.”

Lee said he would take “proactive and gradual steps” to restore the 2018 inter-Korean military pact that was suspended amid tensions between Seoul and Pyongyang during the Yoon administration in 2024.

The pact established buffer zones along the border and included measures such as the removal of some guard posts in the DMZ and the banning of live-fire exercises in certain areas.

Seoul has already made conciliatory gestures such as removing its propaganda loudspeakers from border areas and calling on activists to stop floating balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang leaflets into the North.

The South’s military reported that North Korea began dismantling its own speakers, but Pyongyang denied the claim on Thursday.

Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, called the military’s assessment “unfounded” and rejected overtures from Seoul as a “pipedream.”

In his speech, Lee said the 80th anniversary was “an opportune time to end the era of confrontation and hostility and jointly usher in a new era of peaceful coexistence and shared growth on the Korean Peninsula.”

“I hope that North Korea will reciprocate our efforts to restore trust and revive dialogue,” he added.

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SEOUL, Aug. 12 (UPI) — South Korean President Lee Jae Myung will travel to Washington to hold a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump on Aug. 25, Lee’s office said Tuesday, with trade and defense issues expected to be at the top of the agenda.

The three-day visit will be Lee’s first trip to the United States since taking office in June, presidential spokeswoman Kang Yu-jung said at a press briefing.

“The two leaders plan to discuss ways to develop the Korea-U.S. alliance into a future comprehensive strategic alliance in response to the changing international security and economic environment,” Kang said.

“They will also discuss ways to further strengthen the robust South Korea-U.S. combined defense posture and to cooperate to establish peace and achieve denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula,” she added.

The summit comes weeks after Seoul and Washington struck a trade deal that lowered Trump’s threatened 25% tariffs on South Korean goods to 15%. As part of the package, South Korea pledged to invest $350 billion in the United States and to purchase $100 billion in U.S. energy.

Based on the tariff deal, Trump and Lee will consult on economic cooperation in semiconductors, batteries and shipbuilding, as well as partnerships in advanced technologies and key minerals, Kang said.

The future of the decades-old South Korea-U.S. military alliance is also expected to be in the spotlight as the two countries prepare to kick off their annual Ulchi Freedom Shield joint exercise on Monday.

During his previous term in office, Trump called for massive increases in Seoul’s financial contribution for the 28,500 U.S. forces stationed in Korea.

Seoul signed a new five-year cost-sharing agreement with Washington in October, but Trump has suggested he would look to renegotiate the terms of the deal amid calls for allies to increase their defense spending.

“South Korea is making a lot of money, and they’re very good,” Trump told reporters at a Cabinet meeting in the White House last month. “They’re very good, but, you know, they should be paying for their own military.”

On Friday, Gen. Xavier Brunson, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, discussed the need to restructure the military alliance in response to an evolving regional security environment.

“Alliance modernization … reflects the recognition that the world’s changed around us,” Brunson told local reporters at a press briefing in Pyeongtaek. “We have a nuclear-armed adversary who’s north of the border. We have increasing involvement of Russia, along with the DPRK, and we also have the Chinese and the threat that they pose to a free and open Indo-Pacific.”

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is the official name of North Korea.

Brunson avoided the question of a potential of U.S. troop reduction on the peninsula, stressing military capabilities and strategic flexibility over numbers ahead of the Lee-Trump summit.

“We’re going to have two chief executives sitting down together to discuss not only the security situation in the region, but the security situation in the world,” he said. “For us, it’s about the capabilities. We want to have the right capabilities resident on the Peninsula.”

Lee will be in the United States from Aug. 24-26 for his summit with Trump. In response to local media reports that Lee may also stop in Japan around the time of his U.S. trip, presidential spokeswoman Kang said that nothing had been confirmed.

BBC

Claimed losses

‘Startling’

SEOUL — South Korea has begun dismantling loudspeakers that blare anti-North Korean propaganda across the border, as President Lee Jae Myung’s liberal administration seeks to mend fractured relations with Pyongyang.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the defense ministry said the removal was “a practical measure to ease inter-Korean tensions without impacting the military’s readiness posture.”

The move follows the suspension of propaganda broadcasts in June on orders from Lee, an advocate of reconciliation who has framed warmer relations with North Korea as a matter of economic benefit — a way to minimize a geopolitical liability long blamed for South Korea’s stock market being undervalued.

“Strengthening peace in the border regions will help ease tensions across all of South Korea, and increasing dialogue and exchange will improve the economic situation,” Lee said at a news conference last month.

Elementary school students watch the North Korean side from the Unification Observation Post in Paju, South Korea.

(Ahn Young-joon / Associated Press)

First used by North Korea in 1962, with South Korea following suit a year later, propaganda loudspeakers have long been a defining feature of the hot-and-cold relationship between Seoul and Pyongyang, switched on and off with the waxing and waning of goodwill.

The last major stoppage was during a period of detente in 2004 and lasted until 2015, when two South Korean soldiers stationed by the border were maimed by landmines that military officials said had been covertly installed by North Korean soldiers weeks earlier.

Played by loudspeakers set up in the DMZ, or demilitarized zone, a 2.5 mile-wide stretch of land between the two countries, South Korea’s broadcasts once featured live singing and propagandizing by soldiers stationed along the border. In recent years, however, the speakers have played pre-planned programming that ranges from outright opprobrium to more subtle messaging intended to imbue listeners with pro-South Korea sympathies.

The programming has included K-pop songs with lyrics that double as invitations to defect to South Korea, such as one 2010 love song that goes: “come on, come on, don’t turn me down and come on and approach me,” or weather reports whose power lies in their accuracy — and have occasionally been accompanied by messages like “it’s going to rain this afternoon so make sure you take your laundry in.”

With a maximum range of around 19 miles that makes them unlikely to reach major population centers in North Korea, the effectiveness of such broadcasts has come under question by some experts.

Still, several North Korean defectors have cited the broadcasts as part of the reason they decided to flee to South Korea. One former artillery officer who defected in 2013 recalled being won over, in part, by the weather reports.

“Whenever the South Korean broadcast said it would rain from this time to that time, it would always actually rain,” he told South Korean media last year.

South Korean army K-9 self-propelled howitzers take positions in Paju, near the border with North Korea.

(Ahn Young-joon / Associated Press)

North Korea, however, sees the broadcasts as a provocation and has frequently threatened to retaliate with military action. In 2015, Pyongyang made good on this threat by firing a rocket at a South Korean loudspeaker, leading to an exchange of artillery fire between the two militaries.

Such sensitivities have made the loudspeakers controversial in South Korea, too, with residents of the border villages complaining about the noise, as well as the dangers of military skirmishes breaking out near their homes.

“At night, [North Korea] plays frightening noises like the sound of animals, babies or women crying,” one such resident told President Lee when he visited her village in June, shortly after both sides halted the broadcasts. “It made me ill. Even sleeping pills didn’t work.”

But it is doubtful that the dismantling alone will be enough for a diplomatic breakthrough.

Relations between Seoul and Pyongyang have been in a deep chill following the failure of the denuclearization summits between Trump and Kim Jong Un in 2018, as well as a separate dialogue between Kim and then-South Korean president Moon Jae-in.

Tensions rose further during the subsequent conservative administration of Yoon Suk Yeol, who was president of South Korea from 2022 until his removal from office earlier this year. Yoon is currently being investigated by a special counsel on allegations that he ordered South Korean military drones to fly over Pyongyang last October.

Ruling party lawmakers have alleged that the move was intended to provoke a war with North Korea, and in doing so, secure the legal justification for Yoon’s declaration of martial law in December.

During Yoon’s term, Kim Jong Un formally foreswore any reconciliation with Seoul while expanding his nuclear weapons program.

That stance remains unchanged even under the more pro-reconciliation Lee, according to a statement by Kim Yo Jong, the North Korean leader’s younger sister, published by state news agency KCNA last month.

“No matter how desperately the Lee Jae Myung government may try to imitate the fellow countrymen and pretend they do all sorts of righteous things to attract our attention, they can not turn back the hands of the clock of the history which has radically changed the character of the DPRK-ROK relations,” she said.

SAN FRANCISCO — The Dodgers finally looked like the Dodgers again on Friday night.

Too bad it didn’t happen until they were already down six runs.

For the first time in a week, the highest-scoring offense in baseball finally rediscovered its high-flying form, handing San Francisco Giants ace Logan Webb his worst start all season while sending shivers up the spine of the orange-clad contingent at Oracle Park.

But by the time it happened, the club had already dug a hole too deep for even its star-studded lineup to climb out of, unable to completely erase an early six-run deficit in a 8-7 loss to their division rivals — sending the Dodgers to a seven-game losing streak that marks their longest skid since September 2017.

“I like the fight. I thought one through nine, there were good at-bats in there, scored some runs, had a chance to win again,” manager Dave Roberts said. “And unfortunately, on the pitching side, we just couldn’t prevent enough.”

Friday, of course, never figured to favor the Dodgers given the difference in caliber of the starting pitching matchup.

On one side stood Webb, the crafty and relentless All-Star right-hander who has largely dominated the Dodgers in his seven-year career.

On the other was Dustin May, the once-promising Dodgers right-hander who has yet to realize his tantalizing potential in what has been his first fully healthy big-league season so far.

Still, for a little while on a cold night along the San Francisco Bay, little separated the two sinker-ball specialists, the Dodgers and Giants locked in the kind of close contest that has been the hallmark of this rivalry in recent years.

In the top of the third, Shohei Ohtani even put the Dodgers in front, splashing his NL-leading 32nd home run of the season into McCovey Cove beyond right field for only the eighth splash-down home run by a Dodger player in Oracle Park history.

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani tosses his bat after hitting a two-run home run in the third inning against the Giants on Friday.

(David Barreda / Los Angeles Times)

But eventually, May came unglued, giving up seven runs in less than five innings as the Giants surged to an 8-2 lead. And though the Dodgers (56-39) eventually got to within one, tagging Webb with a season-high six runs, they came up empty in their final couple trips to the plate, wasting plenty of positive subplots in another losing story.

“Today we were able to string some hits together, put some innings together,” shortstop Mookie Betts said. “But we just come up short.”

After starting his night with increased fastball velocity and ruthless assault of the strike zone, May lost his command in the fourth inning.

Dodgers pitcher Dustin May delivers against the Giants on Friday.

(David Barreda / Los Angeles Times)

Rafael Devers walked on four pitches to start the inning. Matt Chapman received another free pass despite a mid-at-bat mound visit from catcher Will Smith. And with one out, Jung Hoo Lee laced a two-run triple over the outstretched glove of Teoscar Hernández, who returned to the lineup after missing the last four games with a foot contusion but still seemed hobbled while trying to track the ball down in the right-field gap.

“Just got a little bit out of sync, couldn’t time things back up,” May said of his delivery, which has teetered between flashes of dominance and stretches of frustration during his return from a second career elbow surgery.

“During my warm-up throws in the fourth, it felt a little off. Trying to get my foot down a little earlier didn’t really help. That’s been a cue. But yeah, it just went bad.”

Things got worse in the fifth, when the Giants (52-43) plated five more while sending 10 batters to the plate.

Dominic Smith led the inning off with a homer. May then gave up a single and two walks to load the bases. The Dodgers missed their chance to escape the inning, when Hyeseong Kim failed to turn a difficult but potential inning-ending double play quickly enough at second base.

May was replaced by Anthony Banda, who was greeted with another two-run triple by Willy Adames (who had already homered to open the scoring in the second inning) and a run-scoring infield single from Lee, who outraced Banda to first base to punctuate a painfully long inning.

“To win a big-league ballgame is tough, but you’ve still got to pitch well, you’ve got to catch it and you’ve got to take good at-bats,” Roberts said. “If all three of those things don’t line up in one night, it’s hard to get a win.”

Mookie Betts grimaces in pain after being hit by a pitch in the sixth inning against the Giants on Friday night.

(David Barreda / Los Angeles Times)

It was at that point, coming off a six-game stretch in which they’d scored 10 total runs, that the Dodgers’ bats finally came to life.

In the top of the sixth, Hernández launched a two-run double that Lee couldn’t quite corral on the run at the warning track, before Michael Conforto followed with a two-run homer that chased Webb and cut the deficit to two.

In the seventh, the Dodgers struck again, when Betts slid into third after hitting another ball just beyond Lee’s reach in center and later scored on Smith’s RBI single.

“It’s definitely more encouraging,” said Betts, who has been among the coldest hitters in the Dodgers lineup lately. “I can’t speak for everyone. But I haven’t done anything this whole time … Just to get us going, get some hits there, that’s the positive that you can take out of it.”

That, however, was as close as the Dodgers got. Smith was left stranded to end the seventh. Kim’s two-out double in the eighth was squandered. And, in the most frustrating of endings, a two-on, one-out opportunity in the ninth went by the wayside when Smith rolled into a double play.

The division lead is down to four.

And as the Dodgers continue to stumble toward the All-Star break, moral victories remain the only wins in sight.

“I know it sucks, but you have to try to take some positive out of it,” Betts said. “At least we battled back.”

SEOUL, July 3 (UPI) — South Korean President Lee Jae Myung said Thursday that his government is working hard to strike a trade deal with the United States on impending tariffs but expressed doubt as to whether talks will be concluded before next week’s deadline.

“It is clear that tariff negotiations are not very easy,” Lee said at a press conference marking his first 30 days in office.

“We need to create a mutually beneficial result that is helpful to both parties, but it has not yet been clearly defined what the two parties want,” he said.

South Korea is facing 25% tariffs threatened by U.S. President Donald Trump as part of his sweeping package of “Liberation Day” trade measures. Trump announced the tariffs in April but quickly put their implementation on hold for 90 days — a deadline that is approaching on July 8.

Tariffs on steel and automobiles, two key industries in South Korea, are already in place.

South Korea is seeking an extension on the 90-day pause and sent a delegation to Washington last week to ask for an exemption from all U.S. reciprocal and product-specific tariffs.

Lee said Thursday that it was “difficult to confirm whether we can conclude tariff negotiations by July 8.”

“But I can tell you that we are continuing to work hard,” he said. “We are also exploring many topics for our discussion from various perspectives. I can only say that we will do our best.”

Lee took office last month in a snap election precipitated by former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s botched martial law attempt in December. In his first press conference as president, Lee focused his remarks on restoring economic growth and stabilizing people’s livelihoods.

“The top priority is to relieve the suffering of the people and create a country that grows and leaps forward again,” he said.

Domestic political turmoil and an uncertain trade environment have shaken the export-dependent Asian powerhouse, which saw its economy unexpectedly shrink in the first quarter of the year.

In late May, the Bank of Korea lowered its GDP growth forecast for 2025 from 1.5% in February to 0.8%, citing a slow recovery in domestic demand and the expected impact of U.S. tariffs. At the same time, the central bank cut its benchmark interest rate for the fourth time since October, lowering it by a quarter percentage point to 2.5%.

Since taking office, President Lee has pledged to boost the economy through fiscal stimulus and other policy measures.

Last month, the government announced a second supplementary budget worth more than $14.7 billion, which will include cash handouts, debt relief measures and investments in sectors such as construction and artificial intelligence. The move follows a $10.1 billion package that was previously approved by parliament.

Lee also vowed on Thursday to work toward improving relations with North Korea on a tense Korean Peninsula.

“We will thoroughly prepare for provocations, while resuming severed communications between the South and the North and opening the way for peace and coexistence on the Korean Peninsula through dialogue and cooperation,” he said.

The president pointed to his recent order for the suspension of propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts across the DMZ to North Korea as a positive step. Pyongyang responded by stopping its own loudspeaker blasts of bizarre noises such as metallic screeching and animal sounds.

“As North Korea has recently responded to the government’s preemptive suspension of broadcasts to the North, I believe that a virtuous cycle of peace is possible,” Lee said.

A controversial plan to sell hundreds of thousands of acres of public land across Western states — including California — was axed from the Republican tax and spending bill amid bipartisan backlash, prompting celebration from conservationists.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who spearheaded the proposal, announced he was pulling the provision on Saturday night on the social media platform X. Lee had said the land sale was intended to ease the financial burden of housing, pointing to a lack of affordability afflicting families in many communities.

“Because of the strict constraints of the budget reconciliation process, I was unable to secure clear, enforceable safeguards to guarantee that these lands would be sold only to American families — not to China, not to BlackRock and not to any foreign interests,” he wrote in the post.

For that reason, he said, he was withdrawing the measure from the “One Big Beautiful Bill” that Trump has said he wants passed by July 4.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, speaks at a hearing in January.

(Jose Luis Magana / Associated Press)

Lee’s failed measure would have mandated the sale of between roughly 600,000 and 1.2 million acres of Bureau of Land Management land in 11 Western states, including California. The areas available for auction were supposed to be located within a five-mile radius of population centers.

The effort represented a scaled-back version of a plan that was nixed from the reconciliation bill on Monday for violating Senate rules. The initial plan would have allowed for the sale of up to 3.3 million acres of land managed by BLM and the U.S. Forest Service.

Lee’s decision to scrap the proposal arrived after at least four Republican senators from Western states vowed to vote for an amendment to strike the proposal from the bill.

At lease five House Republicans also voiced their opposition to the plan, including Reps. David Valadao of California and Ryan Zinke of Montana, who served as the Interior secretary during Trump’s first term.

The death of the provision was celebrated by conservationists as well as recreation advocates, including hunters and anglers, even as they steeled themselves for an ongoing fight over federal lands.

The Trump administration has taken steps to open public lands for energy and resource extraction, including recently announcing it would rescind a rule that protects 58.5 million acres of national forestland from road construction and timber harvesting.

Some critics saw the now-scrapped proposed land sale as means to offset tax cuts in the reconciliation bill.

“This is a victory for everyone who hikes, hunts, explores and cherishes these places, but it’s not the end of the threats to our public lands,” said Athan Manuel, director of Sierra Club’s Lands Protection Program, in a statement. “Donald Trump and his allies in Congress have made it clear they will use every tool at their disposal to give away our public lands to billionaires and corporate polluters.”

Chris Wood, president and chief executive of Trout Unlimited — a nonprofit dedicated to conserving rivers and streams to support trout and salmon — described protecting public lands as “the most nonpartisan issue in the country.”

“This is certainly not the first attempt to privatize or transfer our public lands, and it won’t be the last,” Wood said in a statement. “We must stay vigilant and defend the places we love to fish, hike, hunt and explore.”

Lee, in the Saturday X post, suggested the issue remained in play.

He said he believed the federal government owns too much land — and that it is mismanaging it. Locked-away land in his state of Utah, he claimed, drives up taxes and limits the ability to build homes.

“President Trump promised to put underutilized federal land to work for American families, and I look forward to helping him achieve that in a way that respects the legacy of our public lands and reflects the values of the people who use them most.”

This article contains many spoilers for Season 3 of Netflix’s “Squid Game.”

“Squid Game” is a twisty, twisted thriller, with ordinary, financially stressed people playing children’s games to the death for the amusement of the hidden wealthy. Beneath that surface, creator, writer and director Hwang Dong-hyuk has been embedding sociopolitical commentary amid the shock and awe of protagonist Gi-hun’s (Lee Jung-jae) personal roller-coaster ride; the characters’ desperation as the saga ends forces those messages to poke through the slick, candy-colored exterior.

“It was a result of elevation of the themes and stories,” said Hwang of those ideas becoming more clearly voiced. They “became more upfront and intense just as a natural course of the story unfolding.”

The global phenomenon, still Netflix’s most-watched non-English show ever (its first two seasons are No. 1 and 2 on the streamer’s all-time list, with nearly 600 million views to date, according to Netflix), ends on its own terms with the release of its third and final season Friday. And what an arc everyman Gi-hun will have completed. How better to represent Hwang’s themes of end-stage, winners-and-losers capitalism, with its warping, destructive power, and how the ill-intentioned can exploit democracy’s flaws, than to depict an ordinary person buffeted by the unseen hand of pain for profit?

“You can say this is a story of those who have become losers of the game, and also those of us who are shaken to our core because of the chaotic political landscape,” said Hwang, who with Lee, spoke via an interpreter on a video call earlier this month from New York. “I wanted to focus in Season 3 on how in this world, where incessant greed is always fueled, it’s like a jungle — the strong eating the weak, where people climb higher by stepping on other people’s heads.”

Lee Jung-jae as Seong Gi-hun in final season of Netflix’s “Squid Game.”

(No Ju-han / Netflix)

Gi-hun’s hands become bloodied in the competition in Season 3, Hwang said. “That’s the first time he kills someone [in the games]. This person who symbolized goodness, the original sin is now on him because of what society has done to him,” he said. “How does he pick himself up from that? That’s the heart of Season 3. In a way, we’re all put in this situation due to the capitalist society and chaotic political situation. Gi-hun symbolizes what all of us go through these days.”

When we meet him in Season 1, Gi-hun is down and out, an inveterate gambler. Through Season 1’s horrific gantlet of murderous kids’ games, his exterior is scraped away with a rusty edge until all that’s left is a flawed but good man. Gi-hun is someone who sees what he believes with clarity, while becoming the suddenly rich champion of the games.

But after he reaches that peak, Season 2 plunges him back down the roller coaster as he becomes obsessed with vengeance against the elite voyeurs who fund the game and the Front Man (Lee Byung-hun), who oversees it. Righteous anger carries Gi-hun to the brink of his goal of destroying the games, only to see it all brutally dashed. Season 3 finds him a broken man, near catatonic with guilt. Without him to guide the less bloodthirsty players, the games will enter a fearsome phase of all-out mayhem, from which unexpectedly emerges a chance at redemption for the battered protagonist.

“All of those changes within Gi-hun are depicted in such minute detail” in Hwang’s writing, said Lee, “so nuanced and with so many layers. You’ll see Gi-hun have a change of heart. Sometimes his beliefs will be shaken. But despite all of that, he will continue to struggle to find hope and his will.

“All of those changes within Gi-hun are depicted in such minute detail, so nuanced and with so many layers,” Lee Jung-jae said of his character and Hwang Dong-hyuk’s writing.

(Justin Jun Lee / For The Times)

“All I can say is, I’m a very lucky man. You don’t come by characters like Gi-hun every day. It’s been a true honor,” he adds.

Lee’s public appearances in support of “Squid Game” have provided an almost comic contrast with Gi-hun. He’s movie-star handsome, elegant, always sharply dressed. On the show, especially as Gi-hun deteriorates in Season 3, he’s wrecked.

“Jung-jae went on this extremely harsh diet for over a year so he could really portray, externally, the pain and the brokenness, to really express how famished and barren he is, both mentally and physically,” Hwang said.

Gi-hun isn’t the only person the games destroy. Another hallmark of the show is its deft development of characters into fan favorites, coupled with its “Game of Thrones”-like willingness to unceremoniously kill them. Viewers will be sharpening their pitchforks when trans commando Hyun-ju (Park Sung-hoon), a.k.a. Player 120, dies ignominiously in Season 3. Hwang is already braced for the backlash.

“It’s not me who did it! It was 333,” he exclaimed, blaming the murderer.

Hwang said when he watched the first assembly edit of that death, “I wrote and directed and everything, I knew it’s coming, but it was still painful. It was like, ‘Oh, come on, come on.’ ”

“For some characters, I would see them go and I’d feel really sad … I would think, ‘Director Hwang is such a cruel man,’” Lee said.

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1. Hyun-ju (Park Sung-hoon) in Season 3 of “Squid Game.” “I wrote and directed and everything, I knew it’s coming, but it was still painful,” Hwang Dong-hyuk said. 2. Jun-hee (Jo Yu-ri), a pregnant contestant in the games, was another casualty. (No Ju-han / Netflix)

When Hwang asks what death in particular made him feel that way, Lee doesn’t hesitate to cite another beloved character, pregnant contestant Jun-hee (Jo Yu-ri), calling that Season 3 death “heartbreaking.”

Lee’s sensitive, evolving turn as Gi-hun — deeply human amid the madness, paranoia and murder set in bright green and pink surroundings — has made the character the ideal litmus test for Hwang’s critique of an economic system designed to produce titanic winners and losers who face annihilation. He’s a living symbol of Hwang’s themes.

“I feel like Director Hwang is truly an artist,” Lee said. “I mean something akin to a concept artist. Because when he creates his visuals, not only are they extremely pleasing to the eye; he focuses on the meaning behind them. He [stacks] images on top of one another, almost as if building a Lego castle. Each little block has meaning: each dialogue, each editing flow and [each use of] the musical score.”

As Season 3 reaches a boil, some of Hwang’s symbolism becomes less subtle. In one game, contestants clutch keys suspiciously resembling crucifixes as one player leads others with fervor, for better or worse. One character’s moment of triumph occurs before a painted rainbow (rainbow flags are also associated with the LGBTQ+ community in Korea). And Hwang’s nuanced critique of democracy comes to the fore.

“I feel like Director Hwang is truly an artist,” said Lee Jung-jae of the show’s creator. “I mean something akin to a concept artist. Because when he creates his visuals, not only are they extremely pleasing to the eye; he focuses on the meaning behind them.

(Justin Jun Lee / For The Times)

Unlike Season 1, in which contestants had one chance to vote to end the games, in Seasons 2 and 3, votes are taken after each contest; as more players die, the pot swells larger and larger. With only a score or so of participants left, a vote to quit means all would leave alive, and with substantial cash. Voting to continue means, explicitly, they will kill to become obscenely wealthy.

“In the past, at the time of elections, despite our differences, we all came together; there was more tolerance through the process of conflict,” Hwang said. “I don’t think that is anymore the case. Rather, elections [have only driven] societies into greater divides. I wanted to explore those themes in Seasons 2 and 3; that’s why I included the voting in each round.”

Hwang loudly calls out the flaw of democracy that allows the barest of majorities to subject all to nightmarish policies — even more nightmarish for those who voted against them. The ruthless winners keep reminding the others in Season 3 it was a “free and democratic vote.”

“That is not to say that I have a different answer,” he said. “I wanted to raise the question because I believe it is time for us to try to find the answer. In Season 1, I looked at the flaws of the economic system that creates so many losers due to this unlimited competition. In Season 2, I depicted the failure of the political system.

“Coming into Season 3, because the economic system has failed us, politics have failed us, it seems like we have no hope,” Hwang added. “What hope do we have as a human race when we can no longer control our own greed? I wanted to explore that. And in particular, I wanted to [pose] that question to myself.”

And what has he found? Does he still believe in humanity?

“Well, I don’t have the answer,” Hwang said. “But I have to admit, honestly, I think I’ve become more cynical, working on ‘Squid Game.’”

SEOUL, June 25 (UPI) — South Korean President Lee Jae Myung called for establishing lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula Wednesday as the country commemorated the 75th anniversary of the start of the Korean War.

“Creating a country that will never experience war again is the right way to respond to the sacrifices and dedication of so many people,” Lee wrote in a Facebook post.

“The most certain form of security is a state where there is no need to fight — in other words, creating peace,” he wrote. “The era of relying solely on military power to protect the country is over. What matters more than winning a war is preventing one.”

The Korean War broke out on June 25, 1950, when North Korean troops invaded South Korea across the 38th parallel — a story that UPI Seoul bureau manager Jack James was the first in the world to report.

The United States and 20 other countries fought on the side of South Korea under the U.S.-led United Nations Command. The conflict ended in a ceasefire three years later and left millions dead, including more than 36,000 U.S. soldiers.

Lee paid respects to fallen soldiers and veterans in his statement, saying that modern South Korea’s transformation into a global economic powerhouse would have been impossible without their sacrifices.

“Today’s Republic of Korea was not created on its own,” he wrote, using the official name of South Korea. “It was made possible through the sacrifices and dedication of the soldiers who defended the battlefield, the veterans and their families, and all our citizens who endured the scars of war.”

“I pledge to firmly establish a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula so that the economy can be stabilized and the people can live secure and safe lives,” he added.

Lee, who won a snap election on June 3 to replace impeached former President Yoon Suk Yeol, campaigned on improving frayed inter-Korean relations. He has vowed to restore a military pact aimed at defusing military tensions along the border and reestablish a communications hotline with Seoul’s recalcitrant neighbor.

Earlier this month, Lee ordered the suspension of propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts across the DMZ to North Korea in a bid to reduce tensions with Pyongyang.

LEE CARSLEY knew nothing about a potential role in new movie Saipan — but he is desperate to write his own Hollywood script in Slovakia.

The England Under-21s boss was part of the Republic of Ireland’s 2002 World Cup squad that witnessed the huge row between boss Mick McCarthy and captain Roy Keane.

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In fact, it was Carsley and Jason McAteer that had to face the media the day after the explosive incident, which led to Keane walking out on the team.

A trailer for the movie, starring Steve Coogan as McCarthy, has set tongues wagging.

Unfortunately for Carsley, despite Oliver Coopersmith being cast to play McAteer, producers felt there was no place for the Young Lions chief.

But the 51-year-old is more concerned about leading England to a second-straight Euro crown, with a semi-final against the Netherlands tonight.

Carsley said: “Holland are a team that we’ve been watching now for a while.

“They’re very attacking, very expansive in the way they play.

“Technically very good. I really like the system that they play as well.

“We’ve spoken about making sure the Spain game can’t be the highlight of our tournament.

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“So the players are really determined.

“We’ve had a good couple of days training. We’re looking forward to the game now.”

After Carsley’s side slapped Spain 3-1 in the quarter-finals on Saturday, he is now hoping they produce another masterclass to sink the Dutch.

He said: “Ideally and I’ve spoken to the players about it, you want to coach a team where you watching them play and you’re enjoying watching them. That Spain game and the second half of the Germany game, you are on the side, enjoying watching the players play and expressing themselves.

“You want foreign journalists to speak about our players the way we sometimes speak about their players, in terms of their technical ability or the way they can take the ball.

“We’re definitely changing that perception of English players.”

Holland coach Michael Reiziger has been impressed by the Young Lions.

His side beat Portugal 1-0 last time out despite Ruben van Bommel’s 21st- minute red card.

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Reiziger said: “They’re not playing in a typical English style.

“They are playing really well with a lot of good quality and they are growing into the tournament. 

“It will be a tough game but that is logical.

“We’ve watched every match of England.

“Two strong teams that love to play football, two teams that have quality.

“It is going to be an interesting game. We have some comparison with England.

“We started not that well but are getting better every time, resulting in the fact we won a game with ten men.”

After over two decades of misery in penalty shootouts, Sir Gareth Southgate helped instil a no fear factor into England players, with the seniors winning three of their last four.

And Carsley insists his lads are ready for penalties if it comes down to it tonight. He said: “There’s more of an awareness of penalties and the technique and structure that goes behind a shoot-out.

“We are fortunate to have a lot of players who take penalties for their clubs.

“It is very difficult to replicate the walk from the halfway line to the penalty spot, especially if you are not used to it.

“It’s something Gareth pushed which filtered down the pathway.

“It is so important because of the amount of resources thrown at the senior team to be the best at shootouts.

“That awareness of how important they are has definitely trickled down and we have benefited from that.”

England’s Under-21 Euros squad in FULL

ENGLAND are looking to retain their status as Under-21 European champions this summer in Slovakia.

Here is Lee Carsley’s full squad for the blockbuster tournament:

Goalkeepers: James Beadle (Brighton and Hove Albion), Teddy Sharman-Lowe (Chelsea), Tommy Simkin (Stoke City)

Defenders: Charlie Cresswell (FC Toulouse), Ronnie Edwards (Southampton), CJ Egan-Riley (Burnley), Tino Livramento (Newcastle United), Brooke Norton Cuffy (Genoa), Jarell Quansah (Liverpool)

Midfielders: Elliot Anderson (Nottingham Forest), Archie Gray (Tottenham Hotspur), Hayden Hackney (Middlesbrough), Jack Hinshelwood (Brighton and Hove Albion), Tyler Morton (Liverpool), Alex Scott (AFC Bournemouth)

Forwards: Harvey Elliott (Liverpool), Omari Hutchinson (Ipswich Town), Sam Iling Jnr (Aston Villa), James McAtee (Manchester City), Ethan Nwaneri (Arsenal), Jonathan Rowe (Marseille), Jay Stansfield (Birmingham City)

A controversial proposal to sell off millions of acres of public lands across Western states — including large swaths of California — was stripped Monday from Republican’s tax and spending bill for violating Senate rules.

Senator Mike Lee (R–Utah) had advanced a mandate to sell up to 3.3 million acres of public land managed by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management for the stated purpose of addressing housing needs — an intent that opponents didn’t believe was guaranteed by the language in the provision.

Late Monday, Elizabeth MacDonough, the Senate parliamentarian — who advises the government body on interpreting procedural rules — determined the proposal didn’t pass muster under the the Byrd Rule, which prevents the inclusion of provisions that are extraneous to the budget in a reconciliation bill.

The move initially appeared to scuttle Lee’s plan, which has drawn bipartisan backlash. But Lee, chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, took to the social media platform X to say the fight wasn’t over.

“Yes, the Byrd Rule limits what can go in the reconciliation bill, but I’m doing everything I can to support President Trump and move this forward,” Lee wrote in a post Monday night.

In the post, he outlined changes, including removing all Forest Service land and limiting eligible Bureau of Land Management land to an area within a radius of five miles of population centers. He wrote that housing prices are “crushing young families,” and suggested that his proposed changes would alleviate such economic barriers.

Utah’s Deseret News reported that Lee submitted a revised proposal with new restrictions on Tuesday morning.

Environmentalists and public land advocates celebrated MacDonough’s decision to reject Lee’s proposal, even as they braced for an ongoing battle.

“This is a significant win for public lands,” said Jennifer Rokala, executive director for Center for Western Priorities, in a statement. “Thankfully, the Senate parliamentarian has seen Senator Lee’s ridiculous attempt to sell off millions of acres of public lands for what it is — an ideological crusade against public lands, not a serious proposal to raise revenue for the federal government.”

Lydia Weiss, senior director of government relations for the Wilderness Society, a conservation nonprofit, described the rejection of the proposal as “deafening.”

“And the people across the West who raised their voices to reject the idea of public land sales don’t seem particularly interested in a revised bill,” she added. “They seem interested in this bad idea going away once and for all.”

The proposal, before it was nixed, would have made more than 16 million acres of land in California eligible for sale, according to the Wilderness Society.

Vulnerable areas included roadless stretches in the northern reaches of the Angeles National Forest, which offer recreation opportunities to millions of people living in the Los Angeles Basin and protects wildlife corridors, the group said. Other at-risk areas included portions of San Bernardino, Inyo and Cleveland national forests as well as BLM land in the Mojave Desert, such as Coyote Dry Lake Bed outside of Joshua Tree National Park.

WASHINGTON — A plan to sell more than 3,200 square miles of federal lands has been ruled out of Republicans’ big tax and spending cut bill after the Senate parliamentarian determined the proposal by Senate Energy Chairman Mike Lee would violate the chamber’s rules.

Lee, a Utah Republican, has proposed selling millions of acres of public lands in the West to states or other entities for use as housing or infrastructure. The plan would revive a longtime ambition of Western conservatives to cede lands to local control after a similar proposal failed in the House earlier this year.

The proposal received a mixed reception Monday from the governors of Western states. New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, called it problematic in her state because of the close relationship residents have with public lands.

Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon, a Republican, voiced qualified support.

“On a piece-by-piece basis where states have the opportunity to craft policies that make sense … we can actually allow for some responsible growth in areas with communities that are landlocked at this point,” he said at a news conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where the Western Governors’ Association was meeting.

Lee, in a post on X Monday night, said he would keep trying.

“Housing prices are crushing families and keeping young Americans from living where they grew up. We need to change that,’’ he wrote, adding that a revised plan would remove all U.S. Forest Service land from possible sale. Sales of sites controlled by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management would be significantly reduced, Lee said, so that only land within 5 miles of population centers could be sold.

Environmental advocates celebrated the ruling late Monday by Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, but cautioned that Lee’s proposal was far from dead.

“This is a victory for the American public, who were loud and clear: Public lands belong in public hands, for current and future generations alike,’’ said Tracy Stone-Manning, president of The Wilderness Society. “Our public lands are not for sale.”

Carrie Besnette Hauser, president and CEO of the nonprofit Trust for Public Land, called the procedural ruling in the Senate “an important victory in the fight to protect America’s public lands from short-sighted proposals that would have undermined decades of bipartisan work to protect, steward and expand access to the places we all share.”

“But make no mistake: this threat is far from over,” Hauser added. “Efforts to dismantle our public lands continue, and we must remain vigilant as proposals now under consideration,” including plans to roll back the bipartisan Great American Outdoors Act and cut funding for land and water conservation, make their way through Congress, she said.

MacDonough, the Senate parliamentarian, also ruled out a host of other Republican-led provisions Monday night, including construction of a mining road in Alaska and changes to speed permitting of oil and gas leases on federal lands.

While the parliamentarian’s rulings are advisory, they are rarely, if ever, ignored. Lawmakers are using a budget reconciliation process to bypass the Senate filibuster to pass President Trump’s tax-cut package by a self-imposed July Fourth deadline.

Lee’s plan revealed sharp disagreement among Republicans who support wholesale transfers of federal property to spur development and generate revenue, and other lawmakers who are staunchly opposed.

Land in 11 Western states from Alaska to New Mexico would be eligible for sale. Montana was carved out of the proposal after lawmakers there objected. In states such as Utah and Nevada, the government controls the vast majority of lands, protecting them from potential exploitation but hindering growth.

“Washington has proven time and again it can’t manage this land. This bill puts it in better hands,” Lee said in announcing the plan.

Housing advocates have cautioned that federal land is not universally suitable for affordable housing. Some of the parcels up for sale in Utah and Nevada under a House proposal were far from developed areas.

New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich, the ranking Democrat on the energy committee, said Lee’s plan would exclude Americans from places where they fish, hunt and camp.

“I don’t think it’s clear that we would even get substantial housing as a result of this,” Heinrich said earlier this month. “What I know would happen is people would lose access to places they know and care about and that drive our Western economies.”

Daly writes for the Associated Press.

FRISCO, Texas — Minjee Lee closed with a two-over 74 but never gave up the lead Sunday in the final round of the Women’s PGA Championship to win her third major title.

While Lee had three bogeys in a four-hole stretch on the front nine, she had started the day with a four-stroke lead over Jeeno Thitikul. And the world’s No. 2-ranked player, also in that final group, bogeyed both par fives that are among the first three holes on Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco.

Lee, ranked 24th, finished at four-under 284, three strokes ahead of Auston Kim and Chanettee Wannasaen, the only other players under par.

“A lot of patience out there today. Obviously, I had ups and downs today,” Lee said. “It’s a battle against myself pretty much, especially with how tough the conditions were this whole week, not just today. Just amplified because it’s major Sunday.”

Kim and Wannasaen both shot 68 to match the best rounds of the day, and the tournament, after only two 68s combined the first three rounds. Kim was bogey-free, but had only pars after three consecutive birdies to wrap up her front nine.

With a record $12 million purse that was up from $10.4 million a year ago and matched the U.S. Women’s Open for the most price money, Lee took home $1.8 million. That matches the $1.8 million Lee got for her four-stroke win in the 2022 U.S. Women’s Open.

The 29-year-old Australian who is a Texas resident, living in nearby Irving, got her 11th career win. It was her first this season, making it 16 players to win 16 LPGA tournaments this year.

PGA Tour

Keegan Bradley celebrates after winning the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands on Sunday.

(Jessica Hill / Associated Press)

CROMWELL, Conn. — Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley rallied from three shots behind with four holes to play and birdied the 18th hole before a delirious home crowd for a two-under 68 to win the Travelers Championship.

The victory only strengthened the case for Bradley to bring his clubs to Bethpage Black for the September matches against Europe. He moved to No. 9 in the standings.

And he wound up beating Tommy Fleetwood, who scored the clinching point for Europe at Marco Simone two years ago.

One shot behind Fleetwood going to the 18th hole, Bradley stuffed his approach to just under 6 feet below the hole. Fleetwood, looking like this might be the time he wins a PGA Tour title, came up some 50 feet short and took three putts for bogey and a 72.

PGA Tour Champions

AKRON, Ohio — Miguel Angel Jimenez won the Kaulig Companies Championship for his fourth PGA Tour Champions victory of the season, rallying to force a playoff and beating Steven Alker with a 20-foot birdie putt on the second extra hole.

Two strokes down after playing partner Alker birdied the par-five 16th, Jimenez made a 10-foot birdie putt on the par-four 17th and an 18-footer on the par-four 18th.

Tied for the lead entering the round at Firestone South, the 61-year-old Jimenez and 53-year-old Alker each shot two-under 68 to finish at 10-under 270. Stewart Cink was third at eight under after a 66.

Jimenez won his third major title after taking the Regions Tradition and the Senior British Open — both in 2018 — and earned a spot next year in The Players Championship at the TPC Sawgrass. The Spanish star has 17 career victories on 50-and-over tour.

The U.S. Senior Open begins Thursday at the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Australian Minjee Lee opened up a four-shot lead at the “brutal” Women’s PGA Championship with a third-round 69 as overnight leader Jeeno Thitikul faltered in Frisco, Texas.

Lee was three shots behind Thitikul at the start of day three but produced an impressive bogey-free round, which included three birdies, to move to six under as windy conditions again made it difficult at the Fields Ranch East course.

Thailand’s Thitikul, chasing her first victory at a major, led after the first two days of the tournament but shot a four-over 76, which included two birdies and six bogeys, and is on two under par.

England’s Charley Hull shot the lowest score of the second round with a 69 and followed that up with a 73 as she goes into the final day on four over par.

There have only been five rounds in the 60s at the tournament and Lee has carded two of them with 69s on days one and three.

“I just try to stay patient out there,” said two-time major winner Lee. “You can’t get ahead of yourself, especially in these conditions.

“It’s only getting harder and harder just with I think pressure of a major championship, and also the course just demands so much from you.”

Lee’s previous major wins came at the 2021 Evian Championship and 2022 US Women’s Open.

She added: “I know what it takes to win and I know just kind of what to feel and what to expect now that I have two under my belt.

“I just think the experience that I’ve had is really going to help me hopefully get over the line.”

Lee and Thitikul are the only players under par for the third of this year’s five LPGA majors.

American Lexi Thompson is on one over par after a 75 that began with a triple bogey and bogey, while compatriot Nelly Korda (72) and Ireland’s Leona Maguire (72) are one shot further back.

“Definitely proud of how I stayed strong,” Thompson said. “It was kind of a nightmare of a start, but I knew coming into the day it was going to play very difficult.

“I don’t know really what happened on my first hole, but [I’m] happy I got it out of the way and stayed positive out there and just made pars and a few birdies here and there.”

World number one Korda added: “It’s brutal out there when it comes to the set-up of the golf course, wind conditions, everything. I’m very happy with even par.

“You’re just happy to get 18 under your belt on a day like this.”

ITV’s quiz show, The 1% Club, which is hosted by Lee Mack, pits contestants against each other to try and win £100,000 by answering questions only 1% of the UK get right

ITV’s game show The 1% Club has become a huge success since it first hit our screens in 2022. Hosted by Not Going Out star, Lee Mack, the primetime programme features IQ-style questions based on logic and common sense, as opposed to general knowledge. A total of 100 contestants are slowly whittled down as they attempt to make it to the end and successfully answer a question in 30 seconds, that only 1% of the population can get right in a bid to bag £100,000.

However, what viewers don’t know about the show is that some of the scenes are actually fake – according to a former contestant, who has lifted the lid on the smash-hit series, which she filmed in October last year. Spilling the beans on the programme, Heidi Phillips, 49, said she bagged a place on the show after seeing an advert on Facebook and then having a mock 1%-style quiz on Zoom.

Revealing what really goes on behind the scenes of the series, which is one of ITV’s most popular offerings, she claimed some of the scenes were fake, revealing that Lee’s jokes are not filmed at the same time as the contestants are answering the questions.

Heidi explained, while talking to Fruity Slots: “While contestants are answering questions on the tablet, Lee usually takes the time to make a joke to the audience at home. But all his comical parts are filmed later.

“When we’re answering the question, he remains silent. Then he has to be filmed asking the question again and we have to pretend to put our answers in. That was a bit weird!”

Heidi also said the contestants had to abide by a very strict rule on the show, which, if flouted would mean they would be forced to hand back any prize money – immediately.

The contestant, who bowed out of the programme at the 35% question, said: “When we got put in our seats in the studio, they gave us the tablets and told us it was important to keep our eyes firmly locked on the screens and not look at each other.

“There were actually invigilators who go back through the show episode to make sure every contestant plays the game fairly.

“You could have won the cash prize but if they go back through filming and see you glanced over at another contestant’s screen before answering, you’ll forfeit the prize.”

Heidi added: “That’s not happened yet – but it was a stern warning!”

Despite the strict warning from producers, Heidi said host, Lee, is very charming and “naturally funny”, sharing: “He’s honestly really funny. Very naturally funny. He also has banter with the warm-up comedian and creates a nice atmosphere.”

She also said she’d jump at the chance to go back on the show again and praised the programme’s staff for “going back over the funny anecdotes I’d shared with them and make sure I’d be happy to discuss it on the show if Lee (Mack) wanted to”.

Heidi, who also said contestants had to make sure they were dressed appropriately for the show, wearing “nothing low cut”, added: “They seemed really concerned about our welfare and us being happy to share things on TV. They really took the time to check in with us.”

And her advice for anyone wanting to go on the show, who has made it to the audition round? “When they ask you how you’ll spend the winnings, don’t say something boring like paying off the mortgage. Give a really wild question,” said Heidi, adding: “I made silly jokes that if I won the prize, I’d spend it on opening a trifle sandwich shop.”

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BILLINGS, Mont. — More than 2 million acres of federal lands would be sold or transferred to states or other entities under a budget proposal from Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee, reviving a longtime ambition of Western conservatives to cede lands to local control after a similar proposal failed in the House.

Lee, who chairs the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, included a mandate for the sales in a draft provision of the GOP’s sweeping tax cut package released Wednesday.

Sharp disagreement over such sales has laid bare a split among Republicans who support wholesale transfers of federal property to spur development and generate revenue, and other lawmakers who are staunchly opposed.

A spokesperson for Montana Sen. Steve Daines said Thursday that he opposes public land sales and was reviewing the proposal.

Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke, who served as interior secretary in President Trump’s first term and led the effort to strip land sales out of the House version, said he remained a “hard no” on any legislation that includes large-scale sales.

Most public lands are in Western states. In some such as Utah and Nevada, the government controls the vast majority of lands, protecting them from potential exploitation but hindering growth.

Lee’s proposal does not specify what properties would be sold. It directs the secretaries of interior and agriculture to sell or transfer at least 0.5% and up to 0.75% of U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management holdings. That equals at least 2.2 million acres and up to 3.3 million acres.

The Republican said in a video released by his office that the sales would not include national parks, national monuments or wilderness. They would instead target “isolated parcels” that could be used for housing or infrastructure, he said.

“Washington has proven time and again it can’t manage this land. This bill puts it in better hands,” Lee said.

Conservation groups reacted with outrage, saying it would set a precedent to fast-track the handover of cherished lands to developers.

“Shoving the sale of public lands back into the budget reconciliation bill, all to fund tax cuts for the wealthy, is a betrayal of future generations and folks on both sides of the aisle,” said Michael Carroll with The Wilderness Society.

Housing advocates have cautioned that federal land is not universally suitable for affordable housing. Some of the parcels up for sale in Utah and Nevada under the House proposal were far from developed areas.

Republican officials in Utah last year filed a lawsuit seeking to take over huge swaths of federal land in the state, but they were rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court. Twelve other states backed Utah’s bid.

Brown writes for the Associated Press.