Key events leading to Yoon's removal as South Korea's president

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has been removed from office over his imposition of martial law in December. The unanimous ruling Friday triggers a presidential election to be held in two months that is likely to be one of the tensest South Korea has seen. Yoon also faces a criminal trial on rebellion charges that are punishable by a death sentence or life in prison.

Here is a timeline of events:

According to the criminal indictment, Yoon meets with Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun to discuss gridlock in the National Assembly as opposition lawmakers use their majority to impeach senior officials and prosecutors and cut government budgets. Prosecutors say Yoon told Kim he wanted to take “emergency measures” against the liberals, something they allege he had been saying for months.

In a surprise announcement televised at 10:29 p.m., Yoon tells the nation he’s declaring martial law, saying the National Assembly has become a “den of criminals” paralyzing government affairs.

Yoon vows to “eradicate” his political rivals, describing them as North Korea-sympathizing “anti-state forces” and “the main culprits of our nation’s downfall.” He doesn’t offer direct evidence to back his claims.

As lawmakers begin rushing to the National Assembly, the military’s martial law command issues a proclamation declaring sweeping government powers, including the suspension of political parties’ activities and other political gatherings that could cause “social confusion” and control over media and publications. It says anyone who violates the decree can be arrested without a warrant.

Hundreds of heavily armed troops encircle the Assembly, apparently to prevent lawmakers from gathering to vote on the martial law declaration, while opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung live-streams his journey from a car, calling for people to converge on the parliament to help lawmakers get inside. The shaky footage shows him climbing over a fence to reach the grounds.

Shortly after midnight, National Assembly Speaker Woo Won Shik says on his YouTube channel that the Assembly will respond to Yoon’s martial law declaration with “constitutional procedure.”

Woo reaches the Assembly’s main chamber around 12:35 a.m., as troops break windows to enter the Assembly but fail to reach the main chamber. Woo opens a meeting at 12:47 a.m. to vote on lifting martial law.

At around 1 a.m., 190 lawmakers, including 18 from Yoon’s own conservative People Power Party, vote unanimously to lift martial law. Troops and police begin to retreat from the Assembly shortly after.

At 4:30 a.m., martial law is formally lifted following a Cabinet meeting.

Yoon replaces Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun, a close ally who had a key role in mobilizing troops to enforce martial law. Han Dong-hun, the leader of Yoon’s party but a factional rival, says he will work to defeat the opposition-led impeachment motion despite criticizing martial law as “unconstitutional.”

In a bombshell reversal, Han supports suspending Yoon’s constitutional powers, saying that the president poses a “significant risk of extreme actions, like reattempting to impose martial law, which could potentially put the Republic of Korea and its citizens in great danger.”

Yoon apologizes and says he won’t shirk legal or political responsibility for declaring martial law. He also says he would leave it to his party to chart a course through the country’s political turmoil, “including matters related to my term in office.” Yoon survives an impeachment vote boycotted by most ruling party lawmakers.

Prosecutors detain former defense minister Kim over his alleged role in planning and executing the declaration of martial law.

South Korea’s Justice Ministry bans Yoon from traveling overseas as investigations into allegations of rebellion and other charges are expanded.

Kwak Jong-keun, commander of the Army Special Warfare Command whose troops were sent to parliament after Yoon declared martial law, tells lawmakers that he received direct instructions from the former defense minister to obstruct them from entering the National Assembly’s main chamber in order to prevent it from gathering a quorum to overturn Yoon’s martial law order.

Kwak says Yoon later called him directly and asked for the troops to “quickly destroy the door and drag out the lawmakers who are inside.” Kwak says he did not carry out Yoon’s orders.

Kim, the former defense minister, is formally arrested over his alleged collusion with Yoon and others in imposing martial law.

South Korean police send officers to search Yoon’s office for evidence related to the martial law introduction but they are blocked from entering the compound by Yoon’s security team.

Police detain the national police chief and the top police officer for Seoul over their roles in enforcing Yoon’s martial law orders.

Yoon defends his martial law decree as an act of governance and denies rebellion charges, vowing to “fight to the end” in the face of attempts to impeach him.

The National Assembly passes motions to impeach national police chief Cho Ji Ho and Justice Minister Park Sung Jae, suspending them from official duties, over their alleged roles in the enforcement of martial law.

The National Assembly impeaches Yoon on a 204-85 vote. His presidential powers and duties are suspended and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, the country’s No. 2 official, takes over.

The National Assembly votes to impeach Han as acting president over his unwillingness to fill vacancies on the bench of the Constitutional Court.

The Seoul Western District Court issues a warrant to detain Yoon for questioning.

Dozens of investigators arrive at the presidential residence in Seoul in an attempt to detain Yoon, but are blocked by presidential security forces and vehicle barricades.

The chief of the presidential security service, Park Jong-joon, resigns.

The Constitutional Court holds its first formal hearing on Yoon’s impeachment, which lasts less than five minutes because Yoon refuses to attend.

Anti-corruption investigators and police raid the presidential compound and detain Yoon, who is the first sitting president to be detained.

The Seoul Western District Court grants law enforcement’s request for a formal arrest warrant for Yoon, citing concerns he could destroy evidence. His arrest triggers a riot by his supporters, who break into the court, smashing windows and equipment. Nearly 90 of them are arrested.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office indicts Yoon on charges of masterminding an attempted rebellion, describing his power grab as an illegal bid to seize the legislature and election offices and arrest political opponents.

The Seoul Central District Court orders Yoon released from detention, citing unresolved issues about whether investigators had the proper authority to detain him. He is released the following day.

The Constitutional Court overturns the legislature’s impeachment of Prime Minister Han, restoring his powers as acting leader.

The Constitutional Court upholds Yoon’s impeachment and removes him as president, forcing an election within 60 days to choose his successor.

FILE - Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, center, greets his supporters upon his arrival outside of presidential residence in Seoul, South Korea, on March 8, 2025. (Kim In-chul/Yonhap via AP)

FILE - A huge screen shows a footage of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol as supporters stage a rally to oppose his impeachment near the presidential residence in Seoul, South Korea, on Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)

FILE - South Korea's Constitutional Court's judges, from left, Chung Kye-sun, Kim Bok-hyeong, Jung Jung-mi, Lee Mi-son, acting Chief Justice Moon Hyung-bae, Kim Hyung-du, Cheong Hyung-sik and Cho Han-chang sit for the first formal hearing of a trial on the validity of President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment by the National Assembly at the constitutional court of Korea in Seoul, South Korea, on Jan. 14, 2025. (Kim Min-Hee/Pool Photo via AP, File)

FILE - Park Jong-joon, the chief of the presidential security service, arrives at the Joint Investigation Headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, on Jan. 10, 2025. (Lim Hwa-young/Yonhap via AP, File)

FILE - South Korea's opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, bottom center, walks past lawmakers of the ruling People Power Party protesting to South Korea's National Assembly Speaker Woo Won Shik, top center, during a plenary session for the impeachment motion against South Korean acting President Han Duck-soo at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, on Dec. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)

FILE - Participants react after hearing the news that South Korea's parliament voted to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol outside the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, on Dec. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)

FILE - TV screens show the broadcast of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's speech at the Yongsan Electronic store in Seoul, South Korea, on Dec. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)

FILE - South Korean police officers arrive for the search and seizure at the office of former Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun at the Defense Ministry in Seoul, South Korea, on Dec. 8, 2024. (Kim Chul-sun/Yonhap via AP, File)

FILE - South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol bows at the end of his announcement at the presidential office in Seoul, South Korea, on Dec. 7, 2024. (South Korean Presidential Office/Yonhap via AP, File)

FILE - South Korea's ruling People Power Party leader Han Dong-hun, right, speaks during a meeting of the party's leadership at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, on Dec. 5, 2024. (Kim Ju-hyung/Yonhap via AP, File)

FILE - South Korea's main opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, top center, speaks at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, on Dec. 4, 2024. (Kim Ju-hyung/Yonhap via AP, File)

FILE - In this photo provided by South Korea Presidential Office, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks during a press briefing at the presidential office in Seoul, South Korea, on Dec. 3, 2024. (South Korea Unification Ministry via AP, File)

FILE - South Korea's Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul, right, looks on as South Korea's Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun speaks during a news conference in Ottawa, Ontario, on Nov. 1, 2024. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

FILE - Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol greets his supporters as he comes out of a detention center in Uiwang, South Korea, on March 8, 2025. (Kim Do-hun/Yonhap via AP, File)

A member of ruling People Power Party stands against impeachment of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in front of the Constitutional Court in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. The banner reads "Dismiss impeachment." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Protesters stage a rally calling for impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to step down in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, March 29, 2025. The banners read "Dismiss Yoon Suk Yeol." (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

FILE - South Korea's impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol attends a hearing of his impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court in Seoul, South Korea, on Feb. 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, Pool, File)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday, becoming the first foreign leader to visit Trump since he unleashed tariffs on countries around the world.

Whether Netanyahu’s visit succeeds in bringing down or eliminating Israel’s tariffs remains to be seen, but how it plays out could set the stage for how other world leaders try to address the new tariffs.

Here's the latest:

The White House did not offer any immediate explanation for why the news conference was canceled, but Trump and Netanyahu were expected to make comments to reporters at the start of their scheduled Oval Office meeting.

President Trump threatened to raise the tariffs if Beijing doesn’t withdraw its retaliatory tariffs.

“At this point, it is extremely unlikely for China to back down,” said Yun Sun, director of the China program at the Washington-based think tank Stimson Center, adding any leadership summit between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping “doesn’t appear likely in the near future.”

“China is increasingly convinced that the tariff is not negotiable because Trump’s eventual goal is to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S.,” Sun said.

Craig Singleton, senior China fellow at another Washington-based think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies, called Trump’s threat Monday “a blunt ultimatum to Beijing that sharply raises the takes in the U.S.-China tariff war.” He said Beijing’s rigid system and fear of looking weak prevent Xi from opening back channels with the Trump administration that could offer relief.

A member of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency team has terminated some of the last remaining life-saving programs for refugees and others in the Middle East, two U.S. and U.N. officials tell The Associated Press.

The AP viewed some of the new contract termination notices, sent late last week by Jeremy Lewin, a DOGE associate now overseeing the dismantling of USAID. A USAID official and an official with the U.N. spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak.

The move severs U.S. funding for some key projects by the World Food Program, the world’s largest provider of food aid. Another notice viewed by the AP terminated funding for sending Afghan women overseas for education. An administrator for the program, which is a project of Texas A & M University, said the women would now face return to Afghanistan, where their lives may be in danger from the Taliban. That administrator also spoke on condition of anonymity because that person wasn’t authorized to speak.

— Ellen Knickmeyer and Sam Magdy

The Monday visit was to congratulate the baseball team for winning the World Series last season.

Trump singled out several Los Angeles Dodgers for their achievements last season, praising Ohtani for becoming baseball’s first 50/50 player, Japanese pitcher Yoshi Yamamoto and NL Championship Series MVP Tommy Edman.

Trump praised Betts for his play — and took a dig at the Boston Red Sox for trading him to the Dodgers — and they shook hands at the ceremony.

Trump also boasted that egg prices have dropped “73%” on his watch and he refused to introduce some senators at the ceremony, because “I just don’t particularly like them, so I won’t introduce (them).”

Trump campaigned last year in opposition of the deal, saying a Japanese company’s acquisition of the company would hurt American manufacturing. But shortly after becoming president, Trump said he’d reached an agreement for Nippon Steel to instead invest in U.S. Steel without providing details.

The directive signed Monday by Trump would give the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, CFIUS, 45 days to review the proposed purchase.

It raises fresh concerns that Trump’s drive to rebalance the global economy could lead to a trade war.

The threat, which Trump delivered Monday on social media, came after China said it would retaliate against U.S. tariffs announced last week.

“If China does not withdraw its 34% increase above their already long term trading abuses by tomorrow, April 8th, 2025, the United States will impose ADDITIONAL Tariffs on China of 50%, effective April 9th,” he wrote on Truth Social. “Additionally, all talks with China concerning their requested meetings with us will be terminated!”

Trump has remained defiant as the stock market continued plunging and fears of a recession grew.

▶ Read more about Trump’s tariffs

The Trump administration has notified the World Food Program and other partners that it’s terminated some of the last remaining lifesaving humanitarian programs across the Middle East, a U.S. and U.N. official told The Associated Press.

An official with USAID says about 60 letters canceling contracts were sent over the past week, including to the World Food Program.

An official with the United Nations says WFP received termination letters for Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.

The USAID official says U.S. funding for key programs in Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan and Zimbabwe also were affected, including those providing food, water, medical care and shelter for people displaced by war.

▶ Read more about the canceled USAID contracts

— Ellen Knickmeyer and Sam Magdy

The Justice Department argued in an emergency appeal to the justices that U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis overstepped her authority when she ordered Kilmar Abrego Garcia returned to the United States.

Abrego Garcia is no longer in U.S. custody and the government has no way to get him back, the administration argued.

Xinis gave the administration until just before midnight Tuesday to “facilitate and effectuate” Abrego Garcia’s return.

The federal appeals court in Richmond, Virginia, denied the administration’s request for a stay.

▶ Read more about Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s deportation

Wilmer Escaray left Venezuela in 2007 and enrolled at Miami Dade College, opening his first restaurant six years later.

Today, he has a dozen businesses that hire Venezuelan migrants like he once was, workers who are now terrified by what could be the end of their legal shield from deportation.

Since the start of February, the Trump administration has ended two federal programs that together allowed more 700,000 Venezuelans to live and work legally in the U.S. along with hundreds of thousands of Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans.

In the largest Venezuelan community in the United States, people dread what could face them if lawsuits that aim to stop the government fail. It’s all anyone discusses in “Little Venezuela” or “Doralzuela,” a city of 80,000 people surrounded by Miami sprawl, freeways and the Florida Everglades.

▶ Read more about fears in Miami’s ‘Little Venezuela’

The Monday meeting will make Netanyahu the first foreign leader to visit Trump since he unleashed tariffs on countries around the world.

Whether Netanyahu’s visit succeeds in bringing down or eliminating Israel’s tariffs remains to be seen, but how it plays out could set the stage for how other world leaders try to address the new tariffs.

Netanyahu’s office has put the focus of his hastily organized Washington visit on the tariffs, while stressing that the two leaders will discuss major geopolitical issues including the war in Gaza, tensions with Iran, Israel-Turkey ties and the International Criminal Court, which issued an arrest warrant against the Israeli leader last year. Trump in February signed an executive order imposing sanctions on the ICC over its investigations of Israel.

▶ Read more about Trump’s meeting with Netanyahu

The stock market briefly spiked on a report that Kevin Hassett, a top White House economic adviser, said the president was considering a 90-day pause on tariffs.

The supposed remark from Hassett circulated on social media, but no one could pinpoint where it came from even as the market flashed from red to green.

Hassett had spoken to Fox News earlier in the morning, when he was asked about a potential pause. However, he was noncommittal.

“I think the president is going to decide what the president is going to decide,” he said.

▶ Read more updates on the financial markets

Vance’s mother, Beverly Aikins’ on Friday received a 10-year sobriety medallion in the Roosevelt Room at a ceremony with friends and family.

Vance described Aikins’ past drug addiction in his bestselling book “Hillbilly Elegy.”

The cases are likely headed to a Supreme Court showdown on the president’s power over independent agencies.

A divided U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued the ruling in the lawsuits separately brought by Merit Systems Protection Board member Cathy Harris and National Labor Relations Board member Gwynne Wilcox.

The ruling reverses, at least for now, a judgement from a three-judge panel from the same appellate court.

▶ Read more about Trump and the board members

The dispute over tariffs has caused some fracturing within Trump’s political coalition.

Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman said the president was “launching a global economic war against the whole world at once” and urged him to “call a time out.”

“We are heading for a self-induced, economic nuclear winter,” he wrote on X on Sunday.

Top White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett told Fox News on Monday morning that Ackman should “ease off the rhetoric a little bit.”

Hassett said critics were exaggerating the impact of trade disputes and talk of an “economic nuclear winter” was “completely irresponsible rhetoric.”

The president showed no interest in changing course despite turmoil in global markets.

He said other countries had been “taking advantage of the Good OL’ USA” on international trade.

“Our past ‘leaders’ are to blame for allowing this, and so much else, to happen to our Country,” he wrote on Truth Social. “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Trump criticized China for increasing its own tariffs and “not acknowledging my warning for abusing countries not to retaliate.”

On a day when stock markets around the world dropped precipitously, Alabama Republican Party Chairman John Wahl led a celebration of the president whose global tariffs sparked the sell-off.

With no mention of the Wall Street roller coaster and global economic uncertainty, Wahl declared his state GOP’s “Trump Victory Dinner” — and the broader national moment — a triumph. And for anyone who rejects Trump, his agenda and the “America First” army that backs it all, Wahl had an offer: “The Alabama Republican Party will buy them a plane ticket to any country in the world they want to go to.”

Wahl’s audience — an assembly of lobbyists and donors, state lawmakers, local party officials and grassroots activists — laughed, applauded and sometimes roared throughout last week’s gala in downtown Birmingham.

Yet beyond the cheerleading, there were signs of a more cautious optimism and some worried whispers over Trump’s sweeping tariffs, the particulars of his deportation policy and the aggressive slashing by his Department of Government Efficiency.

▶ Read more about Trump’s support in Alabama

This morning, at 11 a.m., World Series Champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers, will visit the White House and meet the president. Later, at 1 p.m., Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit the White House and meet with Trump. At 2 p.m., Netanyahu and Trump will participate in a Bilateral Meeting in the Oval Office. At 2:30 p.m., they will hold a joint news conference.

Trump said Sunday that he won’t back down on his sweeping tariffs on imports from most of the world unless countries even out their trade with the U.S.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said he didn’t want global markets to fall, but also that he wasn’t concerned about the massive sell-off either, adding, “sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something.”

His comments came as global financial markets appeared on track to continue sharp declines once trading resumes Monday, and after Trump’s aides sought to soothe market concerns by saying more than 50 nations had reached out about launching negotiations to lift the tariffs.

The higher rates are set to be collected beginning Wednesday. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said unfair trade practices are not “the kind of thing you can negotiate away in days or weeks.” The United States, he said, must see “what the countries offer and whether it’s believable.”

▶ Read more about the global impact of Trump’s tariffs

Pedestrian are reflected on a brokerage house's window as an electronic board displays shares trading index, in Beijing, Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Shipping containers are stored at Bensenville intermodal terminal in Franklin Park, Ill., Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

President Donald Trump arrives at the White House on Marine One, Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)