Russian, Turkish Leaders Meet With Focus on Syria; Park Guen-hye Officially Ousted as President of South Korea. 8:00-9:00a ET
KRISTIE LU SOUT, HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. And welcome to News Stream. Now, contrasting reactions on the streets of Seoul after President Park Geun-hye is ousted. Protesters celebrate a hard fought victory while clashes between Park supporters and police leave two people dead. Now, the leaders of Russia and Turkey meet with the focus squarely on the war in Syria. And Hong Kong's homegrown protest leader takes his message to the world. Umbrella Movement leader Joshua Wong speaks to me about his now international campaign. Now, South Korea is plunging into a period of deeper political uncertainty after a constitutional court removed President Park Geun-hye from office. Now, it is a victory for the protesters who have been out on the streets for months calling for her ouster. But for those who still support her, there's plenty of anger and deep frustration. Now, violent clashes erupted earlier in Seoul. At least two people are dead. The disgraced leader, now stripped of immunity, could face prosecution in the massive corruption scandal that led to her downfall. Now, let's go live to the South Korean capital. Alexandra Field is standing by at a gathering celebrating her ouster. And Paula Hancocks just came back from a day spent with supporters of Park Geun-hye. Let's start first with Paula. How disappointed were they?</s>PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORREPSONDENT: Well, Kristie, that were bitterly disappointed. There was real frustration felt by many of these protesters. Many of them telling me that they don't believe that President Park -- former President Park should have been ousted. They say that they believe the allegations against her, the investigation, the corruption and bribery scandal is politically motivated. And they truly believe that. They do not think justice was done in the constitutional court today. And unfortunately, that frustration did turn into violence on a number of occasions. Small pockets of protesters showing their frustration. Here is what happened a little earlier.</s>HANCOCKS: These are the people that supported Park Geun-hye that didn't think there was enough evidence for her to be impeached. And they are furious that this has happened. Now, we have also seen a number of injuries, some being taken away in ambulances. It's worth bearing in mind that the demographics, there's an awful lot of elderly people who have come out to support President Park. And we have seen some injuries as a result of that. But there is an intense police presence here. 21,000 police we're being told. You can see that man up there, he is presumably a pro-Park supporter, having a tussle there with the police. 21,000 police out on the streets of Seoul, we're told right now. One man against a lot of police. they brought him down. He is just on top of one of the police buses there, you can see. One of the police buses is just behind that police bus is where the supporters are. They have been rocking that bus. And you can see they're doing it again now. They're just on the other side. They're trying to subdue those pro-Park supporters, bringing them down off the bus. You can see emotions that emotions are running very high here in Seoul. These supporters of Park who do not believe that she should have been impeached. The police are pushing these people now to get them out of the way. That is clearly an arrest going on right now that you are seeing.</s>HANCOCKS: Now, there were a number of other scuffles. There was some tear gas and there was also some pushing and shoving with the police. But then there was an announcement by the organizers of this pro-Park protest calling on people to be calm, calling on people saying these police could be your sons and daughters. And that's when much of the violence stopped and things did calm down. Although, there were a number of scuffles throughout the evening. It's now all wrapped up, Kristie.</s>LU STOUT: Dramatic scenes that you managed to capture earlier in the day there in the South Korean capital. We have our Alexandra Field standing by as well. She's out on the streets of Seoul. And Alex, as we saw just then in that footage that Paula and her team picked up, intense protests earlier in the day. What's the scene like now?</s>HANCOCKS: It's wildly different where we are, Kristie. These are the people who fought for this impeachment. And for them, it is a celebration. Park Geun-hye has been stripped of her power. And these people believe that's a testament to their power. I want you to see them behind me. They are out here. They have been out here by the thousands in the middle of Seoul this evening. And they are holding candles. What's pretty amazing is that this celebration, this victory party, as it were, looks so much like the protest that paved the path to this impeachment. This happened peacefully. It happened with a legislative vote involving lawmakers back in December, and then that decision was upheld by the judiciary and the constitutional court today. But it started when so many thousands of people poured onto these streets last fall demanding a change, demanding the removal of President Park from office, saying that they were fighting against corruption as this corruption scandal ensnared former President Park Geun-hye and other top government officials as well as some of the country's top business leaders. So, tonight, they are out here saying that they feel that the process worked, that the system supported them and their desires, and that justice was served. But they say it hasn't ended here. Some of them out here tonight are now calling for the arrest of Park Geun- hye. Now that she's no longer the president, she's also stripped of the immunity that she had as president to be charged according to the certain allegations that have been lodged against her by the prosecutors who have been involved in this case. So, people here tonight celebrating certainly that there is a new chapter to be written in South Korean history and that a new president will be elected in the course of some 60 days. But many here tell us that they do believe it should not stop here for Park Geun-hye. They want to see her prosecuted now, Kristie.</s>LU STOUT: And let's talk more about the political path forward for South Korea going from Alex out there in the streets of Seoul to Paula back in the studio there. And Paula, a president election has to be held now within the next 60 days. Who will take power?</s>HANCOCKS: That's a good question. At this point, and obviously an lot can change in 60 days in South Korean politics. But at this point, there is one clear favorite. This is the liberal candidate Moon Jae-in. In fact, the presidential hopeful who actually lost against Park Geun-hye in the previous presidential election. Now, many of the pro-Park supporters that I was with today, they were not only supporting Park Geun-hye but they were also protesting against the possibility of this liberal candidate becoming president. They say that he stands for exactly the opposite of what they believe. In the past when we have seen liberal presidents we have seen more engagement with North Korea. We have seen summits, in fact, between North and South Korea. And we also know that this particular candidate is not keen on having this U.S. missile defense system, THAAD, installed in South Korea. And of course, the first pieces of that actually arrived on Monday. So, it's difficult to see how that could be stopped and whether that is just a done deal now. But certainly, it will be interesting to see if the relationship with the United States and South Korea changes, if you have a liberal president and then you have Donald Trump in the United States - Kristie.</s>LU STOUT: Yeah. So much resting on who is going to take power next there in South Korea after this dramatic chain of events culminating whatwe saw earlier today. Alexandra Field, Paula Hancocks, reporting live from Seoul, a big thank you to you both. Now, turning to the United States now. Sources tell CNN, investigators looking into a possible connection between a Russian bank's computer servers and the Trump organization. Pamela Brown has more.</s>PAMELA BROWN, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: We learned that the FBI investigators and computer scientists continued to examine whether there is a computer connection between the Trump administration and a Russian bank called Alfa Bank. This is according to several sources familiar with the investigation. Now, this is the same server mentioned in the Breitbart article that a White House official said sparked Trump's series of tweets last Saturday, accusing investigators at tapping his phone. CNN was told there was no FISA warrant on this server. Questions about the connection between the server and the Russian bank were widely dismissed four months ago as an attempt to buy Alfa Bank to block spam. But, Anderson, we're learning that the FBI's counterintelligence team, the same one looking into Russia's suspected interference in the 2016 election is still examining it. And one official I spoke with said the server relationship is odd. It's seen as somewhat perplexing and investigators are not ignoring it, but the FBI still has a lot more work to do to determine what was behind the unusual activity and whether there was any significance to it. The FBI declined to comment and the White House did not respond to our requests for comment.</s>LU STOUT: And that was Pamela Brown reporting. Now, in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan are meeting. Those talks expected to focus on the Syrian civil war. Both countries are involved, but they back different sides. Let's go to Fred Pleitgen live for us in Moscow. And Fred, in fact there will be a lot on the agenda. They have to talk about economic cooperation, boosting bilateral ties, et cetera. But Syria, that is really the key focus of this meeting, isn't it?</s>FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It certainly is, Kristie. And it's by far the most important focus of this meeting as well. And if you look at Turkey and Russia right now, they really appear to be the most important outside players that are currently active inside the Syrian War theater. And right now is really an important time also for these two countries. Because what's going on right now is that the sides that each of them are supporting - on the one hand, the Syrian government in the form of the Russian Federation. And then of course you have Syrian rebels who are being supported by the Turks, both have been making major gains against ISIS in the northwest of Syria over the past couple of weeks, over the past couple of months. And now both those forces are dangerously close to one another. And so, therefore, they're going to require some coordination to make sure that of each of the sides, the focus that those sides have remains on ISIS and that these two sides don't start fighting against one another. At the same time, you are absolutely right. The relations between Turkey and Russia have improved a great deal after they hit rock bottom in 2016, after, of course, the Turks shot down a Russian military jet in Syria nearly sparking an armed conflict between the two countries. And Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, said today he found it remarkable to what extent the ties between these two countries have normalized. And of course, the situation in Syria, really in many ways, was one of the catalysts for that normalization. Now the two leaders are saying they want to build on that while Recep Tayyip Erdogan is here in Russia, Kristie.</s>LU STOUT: All right, key details about a very critical meeting that has ramifications across the region, even beyond. Fred Pleitgen reporting live for us. Thank you. Now, the fight for Mosul is entering its most dangerous phase as Iraqi forces push deeper into the country's last remaining ISIS stronghold. This exclusive video is from a freelance cameraman Ricardo Garcia Villanova (ph), gives us a rare view of the human suffering and the incredible destruction there. Tens of thousands of people have fled the city since ISIS took control of it more than two years ago. Now, Ben Wedeman has details on the battle and more of that exclusive video.</s>BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESOPNDENT (voice-over): Gunfire roaring nearby, Mosul residents flee their neighborhood of Tairan (ph).</s>WEDEMAN: Then, an ISIS suicide car bomb explodes nearby. Pieces of metal and concrete raining down. The blast sets an Iraqi federal police Humvee on fire, killing several policemen, wounding others.</s>WEDEMAN: This footage provided to CNN by a freelance cameraman is a raw glimpse of the intensity of the battle for western Mosul.</s>WEDEMAN: Iraqi officials aren't putting out casualty figures but it's clear that government forces are paying a high price.</s>WEDEMAN: ISIS fighters continue to put up stiff resistance. Car bombs, their weapon of choice. They've used dozens to attack Iraqi forces since the push in west Mosul began two and a half weeks ago. More than 70,000 civilians have fled the western part of the city. Others, like this old woman and her granddaughter, had no choice but to stick it out. Hundreds of thousands remain inside, hanging white flags on their doors in the hopes they'll be spared.</s>WEDEMAN: Fighting in western Mosul appears far heavier than in the east, where it took Iraqi forces three months to gain control.</s>WEDEMAN: The phrase "war is hell" here becomes reality. Ben Wedeman, CNN, Irbil, northern Iraq.</s>LU STOUT: You're watching News Stream. And still ahead, once a victim of human trafficking, and now she is fighting back. The remarkable journey of one young woman trying to end child exploitation. Our CNN Freedom Project is next. And a new name and a new life for Jia Jia (ph). CNN re-visits the young boy from China who once longed for a family, now he has one. His story coming up next.