Tessa Wong
in Seoul

President Yoon Suk-yeol is expected to arrive at the National Assembly any moment now.

There's a growing media scrum gathering just at the entrance. Inside, opposition lawmakers have formed a line, chanting "Impeach! Impeach!"

Image source, Tessa Wong

More details are emerging on President Yoon's order to arrest key politicians when he declared martial law on Tuesday night.

A leader of the National Intelligence Service has just revealed that the arrest list included Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party; opposition lawmakers Woo won-shik, Park Chan-dae and Cho Kuk; and the leader of Yoon's ruling party Han Dong-hoon, according to Yonhap.

Yoon's order was to "use this chance to arrest them and wipe them out", said Hong Jang-won, the first deputy director of the intelligence agency.

Rupert Wingfield-Hayes
in Seoul

We don't know a lot about this upcoming meeting between President Yoon and the ruling party leader Han Dong-hoon, but it certainly seems like it will make for an awkward conversation.

That's because Yoon apparently ordered the arrest of Han - who is from his own People Power Party (PPP) - on Tuesday night.

Han made the allegation earlier today, adding that a number of other politicians were also supposed to be targeted.

A day after first saying the PPP would not support impeachment, Han said this arrest list had prompted the party to rethink its stance.

He called Yoon a danger to democracy and said he should step down. And mere hours after those strong comments, the pair are set to come face-to-face.

Laura Bicker
in Seoul

Han says he's found new information about the night when martial law was declared, and there is evidence that President Yoon was going to put politicians in a detention centre.

Yoon remains a risk to the public safety and to the Republic of Korea now, he says, and that is his reasoning for coming out today and saying that it is time that he is removed from office.

The opposition only needs eight defectors to vote with them for the impeachment to go through. Although Han does not have a vote, this does signal to his party that there will be no repercussions if they decide to cross the aisle onto the opposition side on this and vote with them.

It is also important to know why PPP might not want Yoon impeached. This all goes back to 2016 when the then president Park Geun-hye was impeached. At that time, they thought by impeaching her and seeing the back of it, they would hopefully win the next election.

But they did not. Instead, they got a drubbing at the polls after that impeachment.

With the memories of that lingering on, the party will fear that if an election does have to happen, that they will be defeated resoundingly.

But there maybe is a thinking now that if they do not vote for impeachment, that might run against them just as much as they do. And seeing the continual protests on the streets might be having an influence on them.

Image source, EPA

Democratic Party lawmaker Lee Seong-yoon tells the BBC that members of his party are all currently in the main National Assembly building.

No one is to leave until tomorrow in case they have to vote - either on Yoon's impeachment or against a second martial law order, should that be imposed.

Just a reminder, vice defence minister Kim Seon-ho had earlier denied that a second martial law order would be declared this evening, saying "even if such an order comes we will not follow [it]".

Han Dong-hoon, the ruling party leader, is set to meet with Yoon at the presidential residence this afternoon - though a specific time has not been stated.

Han has in an about-turn indicated that the People Power Party may support the impeachment motion against Yoon, calling him a danger to the country and urging him to step down.

Since Yoon's martial law declaration on Tuesday night, public anger over the move has been palpable. Large-scale protests have been held calling for Yoon to resign or be impeached, and even the president's own party members have called for his removal.

These are the latest photos we're seeing coming out of Seoul:

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, EPA-EFE

Vice defence minister Kim Seon-ho - who is now the acting defence minister after the resignation of Kim Yong-hyun - said in a briefing this afternoon that rumours of a second martial law being declared are "completely untrue".

"Even if there is demand to declare martial law, the defence ministry and [military chiefs] will never accept it," he said, adding that the defence ministry will fully cooperate with the investigation into Yoon's short-lived martial law order.

"Even if such [an] order comes we will not follow."

Richard Kim
BBC Korean

The imminent vote on Yoon's impeachment is "not a one-shot deal", Lee Jae-myung, the leader of South Korea's main opposition party, told me this morning in an interview.

"Failure in a single attempt doesn’t mean we’ll give up entirely.

"Our responsibility now is to do everything possible to ensure the motion passes. If things don’t go well, we will reassess the situation then," Lee said.

Image source, BBC Korean

Jake Kwon
Reporting from Seoul

Concluding his speech, General Kwak said he regretted his decision to carry out the martial law order.

"Looking back now, I should have refused the order. But as a soldier, I judged that I needed to follow it. I was limited in my thinking about its illegality," he said.

When opposition MPs asked if he would follow another martial law order if it happened again, his response was firm.

“I am clearly telling you, that will not happen. Even if such an order comes, I will refuse it."

Jake Kwon
Reporting from Seoul

We are hearing more from General Kwak as he goes on to describe what happened inside the National Assembly building that night.

"Some soldiers entered the main voting floor. I was ordered by Kim Yong-hyun [the now-resigned defence minister] to remove MPs from the main floor," he told opposition MPs.

"In my judgement, removing the MPs is illegal and soldiers who carry it out will be held responsible later. I knew it was refusal to follow the order but I ordered soldiers not to enter the floor."

He also added that the only time he spoke to President Yoon was when soldiers were on their way to the parliament - Yoon had reportedly called him to ask on their whereabouts.

It was Kim Yong-hyun who gave him orders for the rest of the night, he says.

Jake Kwon
Reporting from Seoul

In a livestream, Gen. Kwak Jong-keun, the commander of the Special Forces, has revealed how the events of Tuesday night unfolded.

Speaking to MPs from the opposition Democratic Party of Korea, he says he received a call from the now-resigned defense minister 20 minutes before martial law was imposed, informing him that a situation would unfold - though he was not told of anymore specifics. It was only through watching the TV that he learnt of the order.

Gen Kwak claims he was instructed to seize the National Assembly and control the people inside, as well as take control of the National Election Commission and an influential opposition-aligned news outlet.

“When I was given the order, I thought it was a soldier’s duty to carry it out. However, the situation at the site didn’t look justified. I ordered that no live ammunition be used, and I commanded that no harm come to civilians,” he said.

Here’s what it will take to impeach President Yoon:

An impeachment bill first needs to be tabled by a majority of lawmakers in the National Assembly - this was already done on Wednesday by the Democratic Party, which holds more than 170 seats in the 300-strong parliament.

Then, at least two-thirds of the National Assembly has to vote in favour of the motion - the magic number is 200. There are 192 opposition lawmakers supporting the motion, and they need at least eight votes from Yoon's camp.

If the motion passes in parliament, the president is suspended and a trial is held before the Constitutional Court, consisting of nine members. If six of the court’s members vote to sustain the impeachment, the president is removed from office.

The impeachment of a president is not uncharted territory for South Korea, which last removed a president through this process in 2016. During the impeachment of former president Park Geun-hye, 234 members of the National Assembly voted in favour of the motion and the impeachment was upheld unanimously by the Constitutional Court.

Just yesterday, Han Dong-hoon, leader of the ruling People Power Party, had stated that the party would block the opposition's impeachment motion.

Here’s what has changed since then:

• Five PPP MPs held a press conference in which they said they had not yet decided how they would vote on the motion—a sign they were not fully aligned with the party's position
• This morning, Cho Kyung-tae, who was not among the five, became the first ruling party MP to publicly voice support for Yoon’s impeachment

• Also this morning, Han held an emergency meeting with PPP's senior officials to discuss the impeachment vote
• During the meeting, he said that Yoon could put the public at risk if he stays in office and should be suspended from his duties
• Han's change of stance was welcomed by the opposition leader Lee Jae-myung

Yvette Tan
Live editor

The head of South Korea's ruling party has in a stunning shift of tone appeared to suggest the party would support the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol, calling him unfit to lead the country after his short-lived attempt to impose martial law on Tuesday night.

Han Dong-hoon, head of the People Power Party, said President Yoon posed a "great danger" if he remained in power.

Emergency meetings are now being held amid reports that MPs could bring forward a vote to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol - which could happen as soon as the main opposition party can guarantee it has the numbers to pass the motion.

The opposition have 192 seats and would need at least eight ruling party MPs to support the impeachment motion to secure the 200 votes needed for it to pass.

Stay with us as we bring you the latest updates from our teams in South Korea and Singapore.