SEATTLE (AP) — Boeing has laid off hundreds of additional employees in Washington state and California as part of planned cuts that will eventually reduce the company's workforce by about 17,000.
Nearly 400 Boeing employees were laid off in Washington state and more than 500 in California, news outlets reported Monday.
The aerospace giant announced previously it would reduce its workforce by 10% in the coming months as it tries to recover from financial and regulatory troubles and a strike by its machinists that lasted almost two months.
CEO Kelly Ortberg has said the strike did not cause the layoffs, which he said was the result of overstaffing.
In November, the company started notifying workers who would be laid off. Notices filed with state employment agencies showed the first round of cuts impacted about 3,500 people around the country, The Seattle Times reported.
Those cuts touched people in roles from engineers to recruiters to analysts and impacted Boeing’s commercial, defense and global services divisions.
Boeing has said most laid-off employees remain on payroll for about two months and will receive severance pay, career transition services and subsidized health insurance benefits for up to three months.
“As announced in early October, we are adjusting our workforce levels to align with our financial reality and a more focused set of priorities,” Boeing spokespeople have said about the layoffs.
Boeing, based in Arlington, Virginia, has been in financial trouble since two crashes of its 737 Max jetliner killed 346 people in 2018 and 2019. The company’s fortunes and reputation took an additional hit when a panel blew off the fuselage of an Alaska Airlines plane in January.
FILE - The Boeing logo is displayed at the company's factory Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2024, in Renton, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson, File)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s National Assembly voted Thursday to impeach the national police chief and the justice minister over their enforcement of martial law last week.
The opposition-controlled assembly plans to submit a second impeachment motion against President Yoon Suk Yeol later in the day after the first motion last Saturday failed under a governing party boycott.
Yoon in a televised statement defended his martial law decree as an act of governance and denied rebellion charges.
National police chief Cho Ji Ho was detained earlier this week for investigation. The vote Thursday suspends Cho and Justice Minister Park Sung Jae from duties.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's president defended his martial law decree as an act of governance and denied rebellion charges, vowing Thursday to “fight to the end” in the face of attempts to impeach him and intensifying investigations into last week’s dramatic move.
Yoon Suk Yeol's televised statement came hours before the main liberal opposition Democratic Party submits a new impeachment motion against Yoon to put it on a floor vote this weekend.
Yoon’s Dec. 3 martial law declaration, the first of its kind in more than 40 years in South Korea, has generated political chaos and large protests calling for his ouster. The decree brought hundreds of armed troops attempting to encircle parliament and raiding the election commission, though no major violence or injuries occurred. Martial law lasted only six hours as Yoon was forced to lift it after the National Assembly unanimously voted it down.
Yoon, a conservative, said he enacted martial law as a warning to the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, which controls parliament. He called the party “a monster” and “anti-state forces” that he said tried to use its legislative muscle to impeach top officials, undermined the government’s budget bill for next year and sympathized with North Korea.
“I will fight to the end to prevent the forces and criminal groups that have been responsible for paralyzing the country’s government and disrupting the nation’s constitutional order from threatening the future of the Republic of Korea,” Yoon said.
“The opposition is now doing a sword dance of chaos, claiming that the declaration of martial law constitutes to an act of rebellion. But was it really?” he said.
Yoon said martial law was an act of governance that cannot be the subject of investigations and doesn’t amount to rebellion. He said the deployment of nearly 300 soldiers to the National Assembly was designed to maintain order, not dissolve or paralyze it.
The Democratic Party quickly dismissed Yoon’s statement as “an expression of extreme delusion” and “a declaration of war against the people.” Kim Min-seok, head of a party task force, accused the president of attempting to incite pro-Yoon riots by far-right forces. He said the Democratic Party will focus on getting the motion impeaching Yoon passed on Saturday.
It's unclear how Yoon's comments will affect his fate. The Democratic Party and smaller opposition parties hold 192 seats combined, eight votes short of a two-thirds majority, or 200 of the 300 lawmakers, in the National Assembly. The earlier attempt to impeach Yoon failed with most lawmakers from Yoon’s governing People Power Party boycotting the vote.
Yoon's speech was expected to deepen a divide inside the PPP. When party chair Han Dong-hun, a critic of Yoon, called Yoon's statement “a confession of rebellion” during a party meeting, Yoon loyalists angrily jeered and called on Han to stop speaking. Han has urged party members to vote in favor of Yoon's impeachment.
Opposition parties and even some PPP members say the martial law decree was unconstitutional. They say South Korean law allows the president to declare martial law only during wartime or similar emergencies. They argue that deploying troops to seal the National Assembly to suspend its political activities amounted to rebellion because the constitution doesn’t give a president such rights in any situation.
Police, prosecutors and other agencies are investigating whether Yoon and others involved in imposing martial law committed rebellion, abuse of power and other crimes. Earlier this week, the Justice Ministry banned Yoon from leaving the country, but it's still unclear if they would be able to detain or arrest him. A conviction for rebellion carries a maximum penalty of death.
South Korean law gives a president immunity from prosecution while in office, except for allegations of rebellion or treason. This means that Yoon can be questioned and detained by investigative agencies over his martial law decree, but many observers doubt that authorities will forcefully detain him because of the potential for clashes with his presidential security service.
On Wednesday, Yoon’s presidential security service didn't allow police to search the presidential office.
Yoon's statement was seen as an about-face. Last Saturday, Yoon apologized over declaring martial law, saying that he won’t avoid responsibility for it. He said he would leave it to his party to chart a course through the political turmoil, “including matters related to my term in office.”
On Wednesday, Yoon's former defense minister, Kim Yong Hyun, was arrested on allegations of playing a key role in a rebellion and committing abuse of power. The national police chief and the head of Seoul's metropolitan police have been detained while their actions of sending police forces to the National Assembly are investigated as a criminal matter.
Kim, who resigned after martial law was lifted, is one of Yoon’s close associates. He has been accused of recommending martial law to Yoon and sending troops to the National Assembly to block lawmakers from voting on it. He tried to kill himself in detention, but correctional officers stopped him and he was in stable condition, according to the Justice Ministry.
In his speech Thursday, Yoon said he had discussed imposing martial law only with Kim before he informed other top officials about it at a Cabinet meeting just before its declaration.
On the night of Dec. 3, besides the National Assembly, Yoon and Kim sent troops to the National Election Commission. That raised speculation that he might have tried to seize computer servers at the commission as he believed unfounded rumors that the results of April's parliamentary elections, in which his party suffered steep losses, were rigged.
Yoon said he asked Kim to examine the supposed vulnerabilities of the commission's computer systems, which Yoon said was hampering the credibility of election results. He accused the commission of resisting a thorough inspection by Seoul’s spy agency following a cyberattack attributed to North Korea-backed hackers last year.
If Yoon is impeached, his presidential powers would be suspended until the Constitutional Court decides whether to remove him from office or retore his powers. If he is dismissed, a new presidential election would be required within 60 days.
People watch a TV screen showing the live broadcast of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's announcement at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
TV screens show the broadcast of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's speech at the Yongsan Electronic store in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
TV screens show the broadcast of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's speech at the Yongsan Electronic store in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
People watch a TV screen showing the live broadcast of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's announcement at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. (AP Photo//Lee Jin-man)
In this photo provided by South Korea Presidential Office, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks at the presidential office in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. (South Korea Presidential Office via AP)
In this photo provided by South Korea Presidential Office, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks at the presidential office in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. (South Korea Presidential Office via AP)
In this photo provided by South Korea Presidential Office, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks at the presidential office in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. (South Korea Presidential Office via AP)
In this photo provided by South Korea Presidential Office, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol bows while delivering a speech at the presidential office in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. (South Korea Presidential Office via AP)
A participant wearing a mask of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol performs during a rally to demand his impeachment outside the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. The signs read "Arrest the rebellion leader Yoon Suk Yeol." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Participants stage a rally to demand South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment, outside the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahnn Young-joon)
People watch a TV screen showing the live broadcast of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's announcement at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. (AP Photo//Lee Jin-man)
People watch a TV screen showing the live broadcast of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's announcement at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Participants stage a rally to demand South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment, outside the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahnn Young-joon)
A TV screen shows South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's televised briefing at a bus terminal in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
A participant holds up a banner with writing reading "Overthrow the rebellion criminal Yoon Suk Yeol", during a rally to demand South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment, outside the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
A participant holds a banner with writing reading "Arrest the rebellion leader Yoon Suk Yeol", during a rally to demand South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment outside the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
