South Korea lawmakers impeach President Yoon over martial law bid

South Korea's opposition-led parliament impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol on Saturday, voting to suspend him from his official duties over his short-lived attempt last week to impose martial law.

Under the constitution, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who Yoon appointed, becomes acting president.

Yoon is the second conservative president to be impeached in South Korea. Park Geun-hye was removed from office in 2017.

The motion was carried after some members of Yoon's People Power Party joined the opposition parties, which control 192 seats in the 300-member national assembly, clearing the two-thirds threshold needed for impeachment.

The number of lawmakers supporting impeachment was 204, with 85 against, three abstentions, and eight invalid ballots.

Although suspended, Yoon remains in office. The Constitutional Court will decide whether to remove him sometime in the next six months.

If Yoon is removed from office, a snap election will be called.

Yoon shocked the nation late on Dec. 3 when he gave the military sweeping emergency powers in order to root out what he called "anti-state forces" and overcome obstructionist political opponents.

He later apologized to the nation but also defended his decision and resisted calls to resign ahead of the vote.

What happened in South Korea

President Yoon Suk Yeol plunged South Korea into political chaos by imposing martial law and ordering troops and helicopters to parliament, before being forced into a U-turn.

Yoon's bombshell announcement, made late on the night of December 3, in an emergency television address to the nation was that for the first time in more than four decades martial law was in force in the country of 52 million people.

The suspension of civilian rule was to "safeguard a liberal South Korea from the threats posed by North Korea's communist forces and to eliminate anti-state elements plundering people's freedom and happiness," Yoon said.

Soon after, security forces sealed the National Assembly, helicopters landed on the roof and almost 300 soldiers tried to lock down the building, seemingly to prevent lawmakers from getting inside.

But as parliamentary staffers blocked the soldiers with sofas and fire extinguishers, enough MPs -- some leaping over barriers -- got inside and voted down Yoon's move.

This brought cheers from the hundreds of protesters braving bitter temperatures outside, many waving national flags and chanting for Yoon to be arrested.

But several tense hours followed before Yoon appeared on television again to rescind martial law.