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Park Geun-hye: S Korea lawmakers vote to impeach leader | |
(35 minutes later) | |
South Korea's parliament has voted to impeach President Park Geun-hye over a corruption scandal. | |
The National Assembly motion passed by 234 votes to 56, meaning some members of Ms Park's ruling Saenuri party voted to impeach her. | |
Ms Park's authority now passes to Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn. | |
She has been embroiled in a political scandal that led thousands of Koreans to take to the streets in recent weeks demanding her removal from power. | |
At the heart of the crisis is the relationship between Ms Park and her close confidante, Choi Soon-sil, who stands accused of using her connections to gain influence and financial benefits. | |
Prosecutors say Ms Park had a "considerable" role in the alleged corruption, which she has denied and over the last few weeks she has repeatedly apologised for her role in scandal. | |
The vote means Ms Park is now suspended from her position, but the decision still needs final approval from the nine-judge constitutional court, which has six months to deliberate. | |
If it upholds the decision, only then would Ms Park be dismissed. She would then become the first sitting South Korean president to be deposed in the country's democratic era. |