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President impeached

UPDATE: 5:40 p.m.

Large crowds are expected to gather in South Korea's capital to celebrate the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye over an explosive corruption scandal that saw millions protest in previous weeks.

Protesters on Saturday are planning to march near the Seoul presidential palace where the notoriously aloof Park will remain mostly alone for up to six months until the constitutional Court rules whether she should step down permanently.

State prosecutors accuse Park of helping a close confidante extort money and favours from the country's largest companies and manipulate state affairs. Park has apologized for putting trust in her friend, Choi Soon-sil, but denies any legal wrongdoings.

If the court approves Park's impeachment, a presidential election will be held within 60 days.


South Korean lawmakers on Friday impeached President Park Geun-hye, a stunning and swift fall for the country's first female leader amid protests that drew millions into the streets in united fury.

After the vote, parliamentary officials hand-delivered formal documents to the presidential Blue House that stripped Park of her power and allowed the country's No. 2 official, Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, to assume leadership until the constitutional Court rules on whether Park must permanently step down. The court has up to six months to decide.

"I'd like to say that I'm deeply sorry to the people because the nation has to experience this turmoil because of my negligence and lack of virtue at a time when our security and economy both face difficulties," Park said after the vote, before a closed-door meeting with her Cabinet where she and other aides reportedly broke down in tears.

Hwang separately said that he wanted "the ruling and opposition political parties and the parliament to gather strength and wisdom so that we can return stability to the country and people as soon as possible."

Once called the "Queen of Elections" for her ability to pull off wins for her party, Park has been surrounded in the Blue House in recent weeks by millions of South Koreans who have taken to the streets in protest. They are furious over what prosecutors say was collusion by Park with a longtime friend to extort money from companies and to give that confidante extraordinary sway over government decisions.

Organizers said about 10,000 people gathered in front of the National Assembly to demand that lawmakers pass the impeachment motion. Some had spent the night on the streets after travelling from other cities. Scuffles broke out between angry anti-Park farmers, some of whom had driven tractors to the assembly from their farms, and police. When impeachment happened, many of those gathered raised their hands in the air and leapt about, cheering and laughing.

"Can you hear the roar of the people in front of the National Assembly?" Kim Kwan-young, an opposition lawmaker said ahead of the vote, referring to South Korea's formal name. "Our great people have already opened the way. Let's make it so we can stand honourably in front of history and our descendants."

The handover of power prompted the prime minister to order South Korea's defence minister to put the military on a state of heightened readiness to brace for any potential provocation by North Korea. No suspicious movements by the North were reported, however.

Park will be formally removed from office if at least six of the constitutional Court's nine justices support her impeachment, and the country would then hold a presidential election within 60 days.

Lawmakers from both parties faced huge pressure to act against Park, the daughter of a military dictator still revered by many conservatives for lifting the country from poverty in the 1960s and 1970s.

Her approval ratings had plunged to 4 per cent.



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