Seoul (AFP)
South Korean lawmakers vote on Saturday on whether to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol over his failed martial law bid, in a second parliamentary showdown that remains too close to call.
Protests demanding Yoon step down kicked off around midday outside the National Assembly, which will vote around 4:00 pm (0700 GMT) on an impeachment resolution for "insurrectionary acts" -- a week after a first attempt to remove Yoon for the martial law debacle failed.
"I was too furious since last week so I had to come to (the National Assembly) today," Yoo Hee-jin, 24, told AFP.
"If Yoon isn't impeached today, I'll return next week," she said, adding that "I'll keep coming every week until it happens."
Yoon has vowed to fight "until the very last minute".
Two hundred votes are needed for the impeachment to pass, meaning opposition lawmakers must convince eight parliamentarians from Yoon's conservative People Power Party (PPP) to switch sides. Seven have pledged to do so.
'Defend democracy'
Local media have reported that many lawmakers are still making up their minds.
The main opposition Democratic Party on Saturday said a vote for impeachment was the "only way" to "safeguard the Constitution, the rule of law, democracy and South Korea's future".
Insurrection claims
Should his impeachment be approved, Yoon would be suspended from office while South Korea's Constitutional Court deliberates.
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo would step in as the interim president.
The court would then have 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.
Defiant
Yoon has remained unapologetic and defiant as the fallout from his disastrous martial law declaration has deepened and an investigation into his inner circle has widened.