Seoul, South Korea—— South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol was detained on Wednesday following a massive law enforcement operation at the presidential palace, ending a weeks-long standoff between his bodyguards and the country's anti-corruption agency. He is wanted in connection with the December 3 decision to impose martial law in the country.

The National Assembly declared his brief statement invalid just hours after it was announced.

At the time, Yoon claimed he took the action because the liberal opposition, which holds a legislative majority, was blocking his agenda and even blocking approval of his budget. He described the opposition as "anti-national forces" sympathetic to North Korea who "wreak havoc and are responsible for the downfall of our country."

Here is the timeline of events:

More than six weeks after Yin's unfortunate seizure of power, anti-corruption investigators and police raided the presidential palace and detained Yin. Yoon, the first sitting president to be arrested, has been holed up at his Hannam-dong residence in the capital, Seoul, for weeks while vowing to "fight to the end" to overthrow him.

The Constitutional Court held its first formal hearing on the case. The meeting lasted less than five minutes as Yin refused to participate. The next hearing is scheduled for January 16.

Park Jung-joon, director of the Presidential Security Agency, resigned.

On January 3, scuffles broke out and dozens of investigators were blocked from entering Yin's residence by presidential security forces, military personnel and vehicle roadblocks.

The Seoul Western District Court issued an arrest warrant and detained Yoon for interrogation.

Congress voted to impeach South Korea's acting president Han Deok-soo over his unwillingness to fill a vacancy on the Constitutional Court, plunging the country into further political turmoil.

The National Assembly voted 204-85 to pass the motion to impeach Yoon. Subsequently, his presidential powers and duties were suspended and the country's second-ranking figure, the Prime Minister of South Korea, took over the presidential powers.

Yoon has defended his martial law as an act of governance and denied rebellion charges, vowing to "fight to the end" in the face of attempts to impeach him.

The National Assembly passed a motion to impeach National Police Chief Cho Ji-ho and Justice Minister Park Sung-jae, suspending them from official duties for their alleged role in enforcing martial law.

Former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun was formally arrested on suspicion of colluding with Yoon and others to implement martial law. The Justice Department said Kim Jong-un's attempted suicide was thwarted hours before a Seoul court issued an arrest warrant.

South Korean police sent officers to search Yoon's office for evidence related to the imposition of martial law, but they were blocked from entering the compound by Yoon's security team.

Police detained the national police chief and senior Seoul officials for their roles in enforcing Yoon's martial law order.

Kwak Jong-keun, commander of Army Special Operations Command, whose troops were sent to Congress after Yun declared martial law, told lawmakers he received direct instructions from former Defense Minister Kim Jong-il to prevent them from entering the chamber. Main hall. He said Kim Jong Un's instructions were to prevent the 300-member parliament from obtaining the 150 votes needed to overturn President Yun's martial law order.

Guo said Yin later called him directly and asked the troops to "quickly destroy the door and drag out the MPs inside." Guo said he did not carry out Yin's orders.

South Korea's Justice Ministry has banned Yoon from traveling abroad, and police, prosecutors and South Korea's anti-corruption agency are expanding competing investigations into rebellion charges and other charges related to his martial law order.

Prosecutors detained former Defense Minister Kim for his alleged role in planning and enforcing Yoon's martial law order.

Mr Yoon apologized and said he would not evade legal or political responsibility for declaring martial law. He also said he would let his party chart a course through the country's political turmoil, "including issues related to my tenure".

Yoon survived an impeachment vote that was boycotted by most ruling party lawmakers, rejecting the motion that required a two-thirds majority.

Han Dong-hun, leader of the reformist wing of Yun's party, expressed support for suspending Yun's constitutional powers, saying the president posed "a significant risk of taking extreme actions, such as renewed attempts to impose martial law, which could lead to the republic being in trouble," It was an explosive reversal. South Korea and its citizens are in great danger. "

Yoon replaces Defense Minister Kim Jong Un, who is believed to be a close aide who advised the president to declare martial law. Yoon's party leader Han said he would work to defeat an opposition-led impeachment motion, although he criticized Yoon's statement as "unconstitutional." Han said it was necessary to "prevent damage to citizens and supporters caused by unprepared chaos."

Shortly after midnight, National Assembly Speaker Oh Won-sik said via his YouTube channel that the Speaker of the National Assembly would respond to President Yoon's martial law order with "constitutional procedures."

At around 12:35 noon, John Woo arrived at the parliament hall. Some South Korean troops broke through windows to enter parliament but failed to reach the hall. John Woo held a meeting at 12:47 noon to vote on whether to lift martial law.

Around 1 a.m., 190 lawmakers, including 18 from Yoon Eun-hye's conservative People's Power Party, voted unanimously to lift martial law. Soon after, the army and police began to retreat from the parliament.

At 4:30 a.m., martial law was officially lifted after a cabinet meeting.

In a surprise announcement at 10:29 p.m., President Yoon told a national television audience that he would declare martial law, saying the opposition-controlled National Assembly had become a "den of criminals" that had paralyzed government affairs.

Yun vowed to "eradicate" his political opponents, calling them "anti-national forces" sympathetic to North Korea and responsible for "causing serious damage and being the main culprits of our country's downfall." He did not back up his claims with direct evidence.

In response, the main opposition Democratic Party called for an emergency session.

As lawmakers began rushing to the National Assembly, the military's martial law command issued a proclamation declaring sweeping powers for the government, including the suspension of party activities and other political gatherings that could lead to "social disorder" and control of the media and publications . It said anyone violating the ordinance can be arrested without a warrant.

Hundreds of heavily armed troops surrounded parliament in an apparent attempt to prevent lawmakers from gathering to vote on martial law. Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung live-streamed his journey from his car, imploring people to gather at parliament and help lawmakers get inside. Shaky footage shows him climbing over a fence to reach the ground.

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Associated Press writer Patrick Quinn in Bangkok contributed to this report.