South Korean lawmakers kickstarted a push to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol in the early hours of today, Thursday, accusing him of declaring martial law to stop criminal investigations into himself and his family.

Yoon’s declaration of South Korea’s first martial law in more than four decades was swiftly overturned by lawmakers in a night of drama, but has plunged the country into political turmoil and alarmed its close allies.

The future of Yoon, a conservative politician and former star public prosecutor who was elected president in 2022, now looks highly uncertain.

After jumping fences and tussling with security forces to get into parliament and vote down the martial law overnight, opposition lawmakers filed a motion to impeach Yoon.

The motion says Yoon “gravely and extensively violated the constitution and the law” and accuses him of imposing martial law “with the unconstitutional and illegal intent to evade imminent investigations… into alleged illegal acts involving himself and his family”.