Impeachment motion against Yoon passed by S. Korea's National Assembly

South Korea's National Assembly passed on Saturday a motion to impeach President Yoon Suk-yeol amid growing calls for Yoon to step down over his martial law decree.

In a plenary session, the bill was approved in a 204-85 vote with three abstentions, according to Yonhap News Agency.

Although the majority of lawmakers from the ruling party boycotted the first impeachment vote on Dec 7, all 300 lawmakers voted on the second motion.

The passage of the impeachment motion is a decision made in accordance with the promise to uphold the Constitution, which was solemnly sworn to as representatives of the people, said National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik after announcing the result.

"The National Assembly and the government will work together to restore stability to people's livelihoods, while ensuring anxiety and concern in economy, foreign affairs and security and other issues will not further increase," said Woo.

Calls for Yoon to step down have been growing after he shocked the nation by declaring emergency martial law on the night of Dec 3. The declaration was revoked by the National Assembly about two hours later.

The first impeachment vote was scrapped on Dec 7 after the majority of lawmakers from the ruling party boycotted the vote.

Park Chan-dae, floor leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, said the passage of the vote is "the victory of the people and democracy".

After the impeachment vote is passed, the Constitutional Court is required to decide whether the motion is valid within 180 days.

In the previous case, it took the court 63 days and 91 days to rule on former presidents Roh Moo-hyun and Park Geun-hye's impeachment cases in 2004 and 2017, respectively.

If the court decides to impeach Yoon, a presidential election would take place within 60 days.

Nationwide rallies were held on Saturday as tens of thousands of people gathered on the streets to demand Yoon's impeachment.