Key events
President’s party to vote against impeachment – reports
Justin McCurry
South Korea’s ruling party has decided to maintain its official position to vote against the impeachment of president Yoon Suk Yeol, local media has reported.
Last Saturday’s first impeachment vote ended in disarray after most members of Yoon’s conservative People Power party (PPP) boycotted the impeachment vote. But PPP lawmakers are expected to turn up to vote today.
Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the continuing political crisis in South Korea, where the parliament is preparing to vote for the second time on a motion to impeach the president, Yoon Suk Yeol, after his failed attempt to impose martial law.
Thousands of people have already taken to the streets of Seoul today in rival rallies for and against Yoon, hours ahead of the impeachment vote.
Protests demanding Yoon step down kicked off around midday outside the National Assembly, which will vote at 4pm (0700 GMT) on an impeachment resolution – a week after a first attempt to remove Yoon for the martial law debacle failed.
Police expect at least 200,000 people to demonstrate in support of removing him.
On the other side of Seoul near Gwanghwamun square, thousands more rallied in support of Yoon, blasting patriotic songs and waving South Korean and American flags.
Two hundred votes are needed for the impeachment to pass, meaning opposition lawmakers must convince eight parliamentarians from Yoon’s conservative People Power party (PPP) to switch sides. Seven have pledged to do so.
Here’s what else happened this week:
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Yoon defended his shock decision last week to impose martial law in a defiant and lengthy TV address on Thursday, vowing to “fight until the end” attempts to remove him from office. He repeated claims that he had been trying to defend the country from anti-state forces
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On Wednesday, police raided Yoon’s office, in an attempt to establish whether Yoon’s actions amounted to insurrection. It emerged later that Yoon’s security guards had prevented officers from getting into the main building
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Yoon’s former defence minister and one of his close associates, Kim Yong-hyun, tried to kill himself at a Seoul detention centre on Wednesday night, but was stopped by correctional officers. He had been arrested on allegations of playing a key role in a rebellion and committing abuse of power, becoming the first person formally arrested over the martial law decree
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The country’s police chief and the head of Seoul’s metropolitan police were also detained for sending their forces to the national assembly. Lawmakers voted on Thursday to impeach the police chief and the justice minister.
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Yoon was banned from leaving the country on Monday, and on Tuesday authorities banned more senior officials from leaving, including Cho Ji-ho, the commissioner general of the Korean National Police Agency. Already under a travel ban were the former defence and interior ministers and the martial law commander, Gen Park An-su.
