South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday was facing pressure from legislators and the public to step down or be impeached after he ended a martial law, which led to troops encircling parliament, that he called for just hours earlier.

Yoon’s senior advisers and secretaries offered to collectively resign. The president’s Cabinet members, including Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun, were also facing calls to resign. All members of the South Korean State Council reportedly expressed their intention to resign.

On Tuesday night, Yoon abruptly imposed martial law and pledged to eliminate “anti-state” forces after he struggled to move his agenda through the opposition-dominated parliament. The martial law, however, was only in effect for about six hours since the National Assembly voted to overrule the president’s decision.

The martial law was formally lifted during a cabinet meeting at around 4:30 a.m.

SOUTH KOREAN PRESIDENT LIFTS MARTIAL LAW AFTER LAWMAKERS REJECT MOVE

Lawmakers submitted a motion to impeach the president over his martial law declaration.

The liberal opposition Democratic Party, which holds a majority in the parliament, threatened earlier in the day that its lawmakers would move to impeach the president if he did not resign immediately.

“President Yoon Suk Yeol’s martial law declaration was a clear violation of the constitution. It didn’t abide by any requirements to declare it,” the Democratic Party said in a statement. “His martial law declaration was originally invalid and a grave violation of the constitution. It was a grave act of rebellion and provides perfect grounds for his impeachment.”

WHY DID YOON’S PARTY LOSE IN SOUTH KOREA’S ELECTIONS AND WHAT TROUBLES DOES HE FACE NOW?

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks during a pre-recorded interview with KBS television at the presidential office in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, Feb. 4, 2024. (South Korea Presidential Office via AP, File)

Impeaching the president would require the approval of two-thirds of the parliament’s 300 members. The Democratic Party and other small opposition parties together make up 192 seats. But 18 lawmakers from Yoon’s ruling People Power Party cast ballots opposing the president’s decision when the parliament rejected Yoon’s martial law declaration in a 190-0 vote.

The leader of the People Power Party, Han Dong-hun, criticized Yoon’s martial law declaration as “unconstitutional.”

If Yoon is impeached, he will not have his constitutional powers until the Constitutional Court can rule on his fate. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, the second in command in the South Korean government, would take over his presidential responsibilities.

South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol waves as he arrives to address a joint meeting of Congress, Thursday, April 27, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Amid calls for Yoon’s Cabinet to resign, Han issued a public message asking for patience and calling for Cabinet members to “fulfill your duties even after this moment.”

Yoon’s martial law declaration was the first of its kind in more than 40 years. Scenes of military intervention had not been seen since South Korea achieved genuine democracy in the late 1980s.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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The US aims to grow its influence in sub-Saharan Africa.

Angola has rolled out the red carpet for US President Joe Biden’s last-ditch trip to Africa. With just over a month left in office, what does Biden’s trip reveal about the US scramble to reassert itself in the continent?

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Years of legal wrangling have come to an end for a woman who spent 43 years behind bars for a killing that her attorneys argue was committed by a discredited police officer.

A judge ruled Tuesday that Sandra Hemme can’t be retried, the final step in a tumultuous journey to making her freedom permanent. Hemme had been the longest-held wrongly incarcerated woman known in the U.S., according to her legal team at the Innocence Project.

She was freed in July but under a cloud as Attorney General Andrew Bailey continued to argue that she should remain imprisoned. Last month, an appellate court found that some arguments raised by Bailey’s office bordered “on the absurd” and sided with the lower court judge that overturned her murder conviction. The ruling gave prosecutors 10 days to refile charges.

Once that time ran out, Hemme’s attorneys filed a motion seeking her “unconditional release.” They had no immediate comment on the decision to grant their request.

Hemme was being treated with heavy doses of antipsychotic drugs when she was first questioned about the 1980 murder of 31-year-old library worker Patricia Jeschke in St. Joseph. One of Hemme’s attorneys, Sean O’Brien, likened the drugs to a “chemical straightjacket” in an October hearing and said they raised questions about her ultimate confession.

O’Brien also outlined evidence that was withheld that pointed to Michael Holman — a former police officer, who died in 2015. Evidence showed that Holman’s pickup truck was seen outside Jeschke’s apartment, that he tried to use her credit card, and that her earrings were found in his home.

Judge Ryan Horsman in Livingston County cited some of that evidence when he found that Hemme’s attorney had established “clear and convincing evidence” of “actual innocence.”

But Bailey asked the appellate court to review Horsman’s decision, leading to a monthlong fight over whether she should be freed while that review took place. A circuit judge, an appellate court and the Missouri Supreme Court all agreed Hemme should be released, but she was still held behind bars as Bailey argued that she still had time to serve on decades-old prison assault cases.

Hemme walked free only after Horsman threatened to hold the attorney general’s office in contempt.

Now it is over. Tuesday’s ruling from Horsman orders her “permanently and unconditionally discharged from custody.”