South Korea's parliament impeaches acting president

South Korea's parliament has voted to impeach acting President Han Duck-soo.

The move could deepen a constitutional crisis in the Asian country triggered by a short-lived period of martial law declared by Mr Han's predecessor, Yoon Suk Yeol.

After the vote on Friday, Mr Han said he will step aside to avoid more chaos.

The opposition brought impeachment proceedings against him over his refusal to immediately fill three places on South Korea's Constitutional Court - where the former president is on trial.

Three justices had been approved by parliament - where the opposition Democratic Party has a majority - but Mr Han said he would not formally appoint them without bipartisan agreement.

Leader of the opposition Lee Jae-myung had vowed to go ahead with the impeachment in order to, he said, eradicate those helping people responsible for "insurrection".

Now that Mr Han - who is also prime minister - has been impeached, his finance minister Choi Sang-mok is set to take over as acting president.

Some 192 lawmakers voted to impeach him out of the 300-member parliament.

Following the vote, Mr Han said he would respect the decision and will await a ruling from the Constitutional Court on the impeachment motion.

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