South Korea elections: Snap presidential vote after failed martial law bid

Key events leading to today’s electionpublished at 22:32 British Summer Time

22:32 BST

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Here is the timeline of key events that led to this snap election:

3 December: Former President Yoon Suk Yeol declares emergency martial law in a late night televised address. Heavily-armed troops surround the National Assembly to block lawmakers from entering.

4 December: Just past 01:00 local time, 190 lawmakers, including 18 from Yoon’s own party, voted to overturn the law. Yoon rescinds his order about three hours later.

7 December: Opposition lawmakers try to impeach Yoon for the first time but fail after a boycott by members of his conservative People Power Party.

12 December: Yoon defends his martial law order, saying he did it to protect the country’s democracy. He vows to “fight to the end”.

14 December: Amid days and nights of protests – both by Yoon’s supporters and detractors – the National Assembly votes to impeach Yoon.

31 December: A district court issues a detention warrant for Yoon.

15 January: Some 3,000 police officers manage to detain Yoon at his heavily-fortified residence. This is their second attempt. In the first, hundreds of them faced a six-hour deadlock with his security detail.

19 January: The court grants a formal arrest warrant for Yoon, leading a mob of his supporters to riot, some even breaking into the courthouse.

26 January: Prosecutors indict Yoon on charges of leading an insurrection using his martial law bid.

4 April: The constitutional court upholds Yoon’s impeachment and formally removes him as president. Authorities announce the following week that a snap election will be held on 3 June.