South Korean lawmakers on Saturday voted to remove President Yoon Suk Yeol from office for his failed attempt to impose martial law last week.

Out of 300 lawmakers, 204 voted to impeach the president on allegations of insurrection while 85 voted against.

Three abstained, with eight votes nullified.

Yoon is now suspended from office while South Korea's Constitutional Court deliberates whether to uphold his removal.

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo steps in as the interim president.

The court now has 180 days to rule on Yoon's future.

If it backs his removal, Yoon would become the second president in South Korean history to be successfully impeached.

For weeks, thousands of South Koreans have taken to the streets of Seoul to demand Yoon’s resignation and jailing after his short-lived martial law declaration sent soldiers and helicopters to parliament.

Lawmakers quickly responded, breaking the military cordon and assembling in parliament to vote down the declaration.

On Friday, prosecutors said they had arrested a military commander who headed the capital defence command.

Arrest warrants were also issued by the Seoul central district court for the national police chief and the head of the city’s police, citing the “risk of destruction of evidence”. (AFP/Agencies)