OSLO, Norway (AP) — Opposition leader María Corina Machado said Thursday that she doesn't believe the Venezuelan government knew where she was hiding for most of this year, as she met Norway's leader a day after her daughter received the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf.
Machado arrived in Oslo hours after Wednesday's prize ceremony and made her first public appearance in 11 months in the early hours of Thursday, emerging from a hotel balcony and waving to an emotional crowd of supporters. She had been in hiding since Jan. 9, when she was briefly detained after joining supporters in a protest in Caracas.
Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October after mounting the most serious peaceful challenge in years to the authoritarian government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa, accepted the prize in Oslo and said that Machado "will be back in Venezuela very soon.”
On Thursday morning, Machado was received by Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, who said his country is ready to support a democratic Venezuela in “building new and sound institutions.”
Asked whether the Venezuelan government might have known her whereabouts since January, Machado told reporters: “I don’t think they have known where I have been, and certainly they would have done everything to stop me from coming here.”
The 58-year-old didn't give details of how she got to Norway but thanked “all those men and women that risked their lives so that I could be here today.”
“One day I will be able to tell you, because certainly I don’t want to put them in risk right now," she added. “It was quite an experience, but I think it’s worthwhile being here with you, telling the world what’s happening in Venezuela, what it means to you as Norwegians and as Europeans or from all the places where you come from, why Venezuela matters for the world.”
She said that “we decided to fight until the end and Venezuela will be free” and that, if Maduro's government is still in place when she returns, “certainly I will be with my people and they will not know where I am. We have ways to do that and take care of us.”
Flight tracking data show that the plane Machado arrived on flew to Oslo from Bangor, Maine.
Machado won an opposition primary election and intended to challenge Maduro in last year’s presidential election, but the government barred her from running for office. Retired diplomat Edmundo González took her place.
The lead-up to the election on July 28, 2024, saw widespread repression, including disqualifications, arrests and human rights violations. That increased after the country’s National Electoral Council, which is stacked with Maduro loyalists, declared the incumbent the winner.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado, centre, visits the Storting in Oslo, Norway, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (Ole Berg-Rusten/NTB Scanpix, Pool Photo via AP)
Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado and Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre hold a joint press conference at the government's representative facilities in Oslo, Norway, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (Stian Lysberg Solum/NTB Scanpix, Pool Photo via AP)
Nobel Peace Prize laureate María Corina Machado speaks during a press conference at the government's representative facilities in Oslo, Norway, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (Stian Lysberg Solum/NTB Scanpix, Pool Photo via AP)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s former acting leader Choi Sang-mok was indicted Thursday on charges related to the brief imposition of martial law in December 2024 by then-President Yoon Suk Yeol, becoming the latest high-profile figure embroiled in legal troubles over the case.
Choi is one of three top Yoon administration officials who served as caretaker presidents during moments of a political crisis caused by Yoon's martial law declaration that led to his impeachment and eventually his removal from office.
Yoon is now in jail while facing a high-stakes criminal trial on rebellion charges. Dozens of high-level officials and military commanders of the Yoon administration have also been arrested, indicted or investigated over their roles in Yoon's martial law debacle and other allegations.
On Thursday, an investigation team led by independent counsel Cho Eun-suk charged Choi with dereliction of duty for not fully restoring the three vacant seats at the nine-member Constitutional Court, which was deliberating whether to unseat Yoon.
Reinstating the court to full strength was seen as a move that could increase prospects for Yoon's ouster because a court ruling to dismiss him needed support from at least six court justices. Choi, who was Yoon's prime minister and finance minister, appointed two new justices but left a ninth justice seat vacant, citing a lack of bipartisan agreement when he became interim president.
In April, the court's eight justices unanimously ruled to throw Yoon out of office.
Cho's team also indicted another former acting leader, Han Duck-soo, on the same dereliction of duty charge, assistant special prosecutor Park Ji-young told a briefing. Han, who served as Yoon's prime minister, the No. 2 post, was already indicted in August on the graver charges of abetting Yoon's martial law imposition.
Cho's team accused Han of trying to push Yoon's martial law decree through a Cabinet Council meeting to give it procedural legitimacy. Han has maintained he told Yoon that he opposed his martial law plan.
Park said five other people including Yoon's justice minister were also indicted on Thursday on various charges related to the martial law crisis. She said Choi faces perjury charges as well for his comments made at Han's trial.
Investigations into Yoon's imposition of martial law was one of three independent counsel probes targeting Yoon, his wife and associates. Those probes were approved by new President Lee Jae Myung, who won an early election in June triggered by Yoon's ouster.
In August, Yoon's wife, Kim Keon Hee, was arrested and indicted for allegedly violating financial market and political funding laws and receiving bribes. The 82-year-old leader of the Unification Church, Hak Ja Han, was later arrested and indicted over allegations that she instructed church officials to bribe a senior lawmaker close to Yoon.
The Unification Church-involved scandal has roiled South Korea, with local media speculating some prominent politicians, including some at the Lee administration, might also have received money from the church.
On Thursday, Oceans Minister Chun Jae-soo denied any bribery allegations but offered to resign, suggesting he didn't want to burden the Lee administration. Lee accepted Chun's resignation offer later Thursday.
Earlier this week, Lee called for a thorough investigation into allegations involving politicians and a religious group, without citing the Unification by name.
South Korean Oceans Minister Chun Jae-soo answers questions from reporters at the Incheon International Airport in Incheon, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025. (Kim Joo-hyoung/Yonhap via AP)
FILE - South Korea's acting President Choi Sang-mok speaks during the National Security Council at the government complex building in Seoul, South Korea, on Dec. 27, 2024. (Hong Hae-in/Yonhap via AP, File)
