Park ousted as court upholds impeachment over influence-peddling scandal

By law, the court's ruling takes effect immediately after the reading. Park will be required to leave the presidential Blue House as she officially lost all of her presidential power as well as her title as the incumbent president.

President Park became the first South Korean leader to be forcibly removed from office through the impeachment. She was also the second president to be impeached in the country's constitutional history.

In March 2004, late President Roh Moo-hyun was impeached for his call on voters to support his own party in the parliamentary election of that year. About two months later, he was reinstated as the court ruled that his violation of an election law was not grave enough to boot him from office.

Park's impeachment is an unprecedented event in South Korea's modern history, so there is no specific law stipulating that the impeached leader must leave the Cheong Wa Dae by a given date.

Lee Jae-myung from the Minjoo Party, mayor of Seongnam city to the southeast of Seoul, said, "Today is a great day for people. Impeachment is the start to build a fair country free from corruption, foul play and privilege."

"Genuine unity will only be made possible when completely clearing away the legacy of old days," he added.

Cheong Wook-sik, director of local advocacy group Peace Network, believed the result was not surprising.

"President Park breached the constitution and fell short of people's expectations," he said.

Although the deployment of the controversial Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) was not the main reason for Park's impeachment, it adversely affected South Korea's foreign policy, he added.

Cheong hoped the new government to be produced in the upcoming election could revoke the THAAD deployment plan and mend South Korea's ties with China.

Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Friday that he respected the court's decision.

Only when people, especially those who protested against the impeachment, accepted the ruling, "can the rule of law, which is the basic value of the South Korean constitution, stand upright," Ban was quoted by Yonhap news agency as saying.

Since the Dec. 9 passage in the National Assembly of the impeachment bill, a total of 20 hearings had been held in the court. It took 92 days before the court's final decision, longer than 64 days required for the 2004 ruling on Roh's impeachment. During the 64-day period, only seven hearings were held in 2004.