Han, then the leader of Yoon’s People Power Party (PPP), was widely seen as one of the presiden’t closest allies. Yet that was Han’s first hint that Yoon was about to do something unprecedented.

By midnight, the president had plunged the country into a political maelstrom, declaring martial law as part of a self-proclaimed bid to eliminate “anti-state forces” and North Korea sympathisers.

“When I first heard the news of martial law, I thought, ‘We must stop it, because if it isn’t lifted that very night, a bloodbath might occur,'” Han tells BBC Korean.

“The fear and terror that South Korea’s decades-long, hard-won achievements might suddenly collapse were overwhelming.”

Soon after Yoon’s announcement, the opposition’s Democratic Party leader hosted a live stream urging people to assemble in protest outside the National Assembly building in central Seoul.

Thousands responded, clashing with police and blocking military units as opposition lawmakers rushed into the assembly building, clambering over fences and walls in a desperate attempt to block Yoon’s order.

Han was among them.

The late-night martial law edict seemed to have come from nowhere. It was, and remains, unclear who in Yoon’s party supported or even knew of the move before it was made. But in the hours that followed, Han would help lead a successful attempt to overturn Yoon’s order and have the declaration lifted.

Weeks later, he would also play a key role in impeaching the disgraced president – a move that would see him branded a “traitor” by mainstream members of the PPP, and ultimately lead to his resignation as party leader.

Han says he has “no regrets” about overturning Yoon’s martial law attempt, insisting that he’d “choose the same again”.

But in many people’s eyes, his subsequent decision to impeach the very president he’d helped get elected was a surprising heel turn for someone formerly viewed as Yoon’s right-hand man.

“We have experienced so much together over many years,” Han says of his relationship with Yoon.

“I find the current situation extremely painful and regretful. Both the president and I worked in good faith for the betterment of our country – yet I must say that I deeply regret how things have turned out.”

For years, Han and Yoon were inseparable allies. Having both attended Seoul National University, the two forged a close bond as prosecutors while jointly investigating corruption in the country’s halls of power.

Han gained political prominence when Yoon was narrowly elected president in May 2022, after beating his opponent by less than 1% of the vote.

Han was made Minister of Justice and later entrusted with the key role of Emergency Countermeasures Committee Chairman for the PPP, becoming the leader of the ruling party at the age of 50.

Yoon’s time in office was beleaguered by scandals and political failures – not least of all his landslide loss to the opposition Democratic Party last April.

The result of those parliamentary elections was widely seen as a vote of no confidence against Yoon, and rendered him a lame-duck president.

For most of Yoon’s administration, the PPP’s conservative base was enthusiastic about Han. The lawyer-turned-politician had quickly emerged as a likely party candidate for the next presidential election, originally scheduled for 2027.

Now, as the increasing likelihood of a 2025 election looms amid the fallout of Yoon’s ill-fated martial law attempt, Han’s reputation is largely defined by the way he acted during and after that fateful night.

While some still see him as a fresh and promising political figure, many view him as having betrayed the very president who had furthered his career.

In the weeks following Yoon’s abortive martial law order, the embattled president curried favour among PPP hardliners by refusing to cede political ground.

While he apologised for the events of December 3, he refused to resign, instead holing up in his official residence in defiance of calls for his impeachment.

He rallied his base and defended his decision by playing on unsubstantiated fears that the country was in danger.

It was these staunch Yoon loyalists who would come to turn against Han.

Despite having rejected Yoon’s martial law declaration on December 3, Han initially opposed the impeachment motion put forth against the president by South Korea’s political opposition – siding with almost every other PPP member in boycotting the first vote on December 7.

Days later, Han changed course. This was after allegations had emerged that during the martial law attempt Yoon had ordered key political figures – including Han – to be arrested. In allegiance with his close political aides, Han threw his full support behind a second and ultimately successful impeachment attempt, ousting Yoon as president.

“I wanted nothing more than for this government to succeed,” Han tells the BBC, reflecting on the storm of condemnation that then followed from within his own party ranks.

“I initially sought an orderly early resignation plan for the president – a plan I earnestly pursued, but which ultimately failed,” he adds.

“I am deeply pained by the outcome and empathise with those who remain unconvinced and heartbroken. Nonetheless, I believe it was a necessary decision for South Korea’s continued progress and development.”

Yoon has been suspended from his presidential duties and is currently under investigation on insurrection charges. Han, meanwhile, stepped down as PPP leader in mid-December, maintaining that although Yoon’s impeachment was painful, he did not regret his decision.

In the two months that followed, Han says he took some time to “quietly reflect” on whether he could have done more during such a turbulent period for South Korea.

“And I wrote a book,” he adds: a memoir, titled “The People Come First”, which chronicles the two weeks following Yoon’s martial law declaration.

It’s no surprise the book has become a bestseller: after all, it claims to be a first-hand account of events that have already gone down as some of the most dramatic in South Korea’s political history. It hit shelves on 26 February, one day after the Constitutional Court held its final hearing on Yoon’s impeachment trial.

It also hints at Han’s future ambitions. Publishing a memoir is seen as a common first step in launching a political campaign in South Korea, and some believe “The People Come First” underscores Han’s hopes to run as the PPP’s presidential candidate, if the court impeaches Yoon and triggers a snap election.

Within the book’s 384 pages, Han also discusses the need for constitutional reform and suggests that if he were to become president, he would change South Korea’s five-year presidential term to four years.

Should he choose to run, the memoir serves to remind South Koreans where he stands on crucial issues – and that he is no longer an ally of a disgraced president.

As it stands, the odds look stacked against him. A recent poll found that Han’s approval rating to become the next president sat at 6% – a fraction of the 22% rating he scored in January 2024. The decline of his political fortunes is compounded by the critics within the PPP, who accuse him of failing to protect both his former party and the president.

But Han plays down the suggestion that his memoir is intended as a political tool.

“I have published a book in which I truthfully express what I experienced and thought during these events,” he tells the BBC. “I am not returning with any specific political manoeuvre, but simply to share that message with you all.”

Another message Han seems eager to share is one of contrition towards the people of South Korea. He doesn’t regret voting to impeach his president and former ally, he insists, but he does regret this.

“Yoon did impose martial law, and I believe that was a wrong act – one that does not align with the principles of liberal democracy,” he says. “As the leader of the ruling party that put that president in office, I want to express my deepest apologies to the people.”

“I am truly sorry that our actions, and the reactions we displayed, hurt the people. I think we must overcome and resolve this crisis.”

The warrant comes after Yoon, who is being investigated for abusing his power and inciting an insurrection, ignored three summonses to appear for questioning over the past two weeks.

Yoon’s legal team has called the warrant “illegal and invalid” and said they would challenge it in court.

South Korea has been in political crisis since the short-lived martial law declaration, with Yoon and a successor both impeached by the opposition-dominated parliament.

Yoon is South Korea’s first sitting president to face arrest.

Investigators have until 6 January to execute the warrant that was approved by a court in the capital Seoul, and can request an extension.

It is unclear, however, if investigators will be able to execute the warrant as they may be thwarted by his security team and protesters.

The presidential security service had earlier blocked investigators from entering the presidential office grounds and Yoon’s private residence to conduct court-approved searches.

In the past, South Korean authorities have given up arrest attempts against prominent politicians after their aides and supporters have physically blocked the police.

On Monday, Yoon’s legal team said that investigators had no authority to arrest him, as declaring martial law was within the president’s constitutional authority.

Yoon had earlier defended his decision to declare martial law and vowed to “fight to the end” – though he also said that he would not avoid his legal and political responsibilities.

His lawyer, Yun Gap-geun, said that Yoon’s failure to comply with the earlier three summonses was due to “legitimate concerns”.

Yoon’s whereabouts are not publicly known, but he has been banned from leaving the country.

While he has been suspended from presidential duties since 14 December after lawmakers voted to impeach him, he can only be removed from office if his impeachment is upheld by the country’s constitutional court.

There are currently only six judges on the constitutional court’s nine-member bench. This means a single rejection would save Yoon from being removed.

Opposition lawmakers had hoped the nomination of three additional judges would improve the odds of Yoon getting impeached, but their proposal was vetoed by prime minister Han Duck-soo last week.

The opposition has since then voted to impeach Han, who had stepped in as acting leader after Yoon was suspended.

Now, they are threatening to do the same to finance minister Choi Sang-mok, who currently serves as both acting president and acting prime minister.

On Tuesday Choi appointed two new judges but said a third would require consensus among opposition and governing parties.

A total of 192 lawmakers voted for his impeachment, more than the 151 votes needed for it to succeed.

Prime minister Han took over the role after President Yoon was impeached by parliament following his failed attempt to impose martial law on 3 December.

Han was supposed to lead the country out of its political turmoil, but opposition MPs argued that he was refusing demands to complete Yoon’s impeachment process.

Chaos erupted in parliament as the vote was held on Friday.

Lawmakers from Yoon and Han’s ruling People Power Party (PPP) protested after National Assembly speaker Woo Won-shik announced that only 151 votes would be needed to pass the impeachment bill.

This meant that, unlike the 200 votes required for Yoon’s impeachment, no votes from ruling lawmakers would be needed this time for Han to be impeached in parliament.

Ruling party MPs gathered in the middle of the voting chamber chanting, “invalid!” and “abuse of power!” in response, and called for the Speaker to step down. Most of them boycotted the vote.

Han will be suspended from his duties as soon as he is officially notified by parliament.

The opposition first filed an impeachment motion against Han on Thursday after he blocked the appointment of three judges that parliament had chosen to oversee Yoon’s case.

Korea’s Constitutional Court is typically made up of a nine-member bench. At least six judges must uphold Yoon’s impeachment in order for the decision to be upheld.

There are currently only six judges on the bench, meaning a single rejection would save Yoon from being removed.

The opposition had hoped the three additional nominees would help improve the odds of Yoon getting impeached.

This is the first time an acting president has been impeached since South Korea became a democracy.

Finance minister Choi Sang-mok is set to replace Han as acting president.

Like Yoon, Han’s impeachment will need to be confirmed by the constitutional court, which has 180 days to rule on whether the impeachment should be upheld.

“I respect the decision of the National Assembly,” Han said Friday, adding that he “will wait for the Constitutional Court’s decision.

“He also said that he would suspend his duties to “not add to the chaos”.

On 3 December, Yoon took the country by surprise as he declared that he was imposing martial law, citing the need to protect the country from “anti-state” forces.

Hours later he reversed the order after 190 MPs voted it down, with many of them climbing fences and breaking barricades to get into the voting chamber.

Yoon later apologised but said he had sought to protect the country’s democracy.

Since then, Yoon and his allies have been dogged by the political and legal repercussions of the short-lived martial law order.

Top officials from Yoon’s government have been arrested and indicted on allegations of insurrection, while Yoon is facing an impeachment trial. However, the suspended president, who is banned from leaving the country, has been defying summons from investigating authorities.

On Friday, the Korean won plunged to its lowest level against the dollar since the global financial crisis 16 years ago – with both parties blaming each other for the chaos.

Han’s removal will likely intensify the political gridlock and uncertainty the country is currently grappling with.

MPs voted to impeach Yoon last Saturday, after his actions sparked widespread protests calling for him to step down.

The court now has six months to decide whether to remove Yoon or reinstate him.

Yoon’s ruling People Power Party (PPP) has been grappling with the fallout ever since, with its leader announcing his resignation on Monday.

While public hearings for Yoon’s impeachment trial could take months, the court is under pressure to decide quickly and bring an end to political uncertainty.

Protesters have vowed to keep up their calls for Yoon’s removal during court proceedings.

In the previous two instances a South Korean president faced impeachment, the court reversed one decision and upheld the other.

Observers say what will complicate Yoon’s trial is the fact that the court only has six justices out of nine, as three had retired recently and have yet to be replaced.

If the court upholds impeachment in Yoon’s case, the country must hold fresh presidential elections within 60 days. In the meantime, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo is serving as acting president.

It is unclear if Yoon will take the stand himself during the court hearings.

He ignored a summons to meet prosecutors in Seoul on Sunday, and is set to be ordered in again for questioning. If he fails to come forward this week, police may move to arrest him.

Yoon has defended his decision to impose martial law, and after his impeachment he once again said he would fight until the end.

Minutes after the constitutional court convened on Monday morning, PPP leader Han Dong-hoon announced his resignation.

“I sincerely apologise to all the people who are suffering from this emergency situation,” Han said in a televised press conference.

Han has faced growing calls for his resignation particularly from the large pro-Yoon faction of his party, following the president’s impeachment.

Han had initially tried to stage an orderly exit for Yoon. But after a defiant speech by Yoon, Han did an about-face and called for his impeachment, saying it was the only way to stop him.

On Saturday, 12 PPP lawmakers voted for impeachment, enabling the motion to pass. But most of the other PPP lawmakers voted against Yoon’s impeachment.

All five Supreme Council members of the PPP said after the vote that they would resign – which would automatically dissolve the party leadership.

As the Supreme Council has been “destroyed”, Han, it was now “impossible” to serve his duties as party chief.

“While it pains me to think of my heartbroken supporters, I don’t regret it,” Han said, in reference to his decision to call for Yoon’s impeachment.

At least 74 left-wing complainants, including human rights and labour leaders, asked the country’s House of Representatives on Wednesday to unseat Duterte over the alleged misuse of government funds.

The request follows an impeachment motion filed earlier this week that focused on a recent public threat against the president. The incident has brought a power struggle between the pair’s powerful political clans to light.

Wednesday’s motion was over a “betrayal of public trust” concerning the misappropriation of 612.5 million pesos ($10.3m) in so-called “confidential funds”, and demanded that Duterte be permanently barred from office.

The complaint against the 46-year-old lawyer, daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte, is the second in as many days.

On Monday, civil society and religious leaders submitted a case covering 24 alleged crimes and irregularities involving corruption and misconduct.

The complaints included the death threat that Duterte made against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr at a news conference last month, which is currently being probed by government investigators.

It also addressed her alleged role in her father’s brutal crackdown on illegal drugs while he was in office, which is under investigation by the International Criminal Court.

Duterte swept to power in 2022 in an alliance with Marcos but that has spectacularly collapsed in the leadup to elections in May, with their powerful families clashing.

Duterte has said that her instruction to have her estranged ally killed, which she revealed in late November, was not a plot to kill him but only meant to be triggered if any potential plot to assassinate her should be successful.

On Friday, Marcos drew criticism for warning that any impeachment complaint against his estranged vice president would only distract Congress and not help people.

In Wednesday’s complaint, activists said the vice president’s office spent 125 million pesos ($2m) over a period of 11 days during the Christmas holidays on suspicious expenditures, including renting “safe houses” and paying for unspecified confidential information.

The vice president, they alleged, had tried to cover up the misuse of public funds by submitting fabricated reports, receipts and documents and deliberately obstructing a congressional investigation.

“The impeachment is the antidote to impunity,” said Renato Reyes of Bayan, a left-wing political coalition. “Citizens and taxpayers need to hold public officials accountable.”

The impeachment complaints will be examined by the House of Representatives, which is dominated by allies of Marcos and his cousin and key backer, House Speaker Martin Romualdez – also targeted by Duterte in last month’s death threat – before a potential impeachment trial in the Senate.

The country woke up to an uncertain reality on Wednesday after a night of unprecedented scenes which saw Yoon unexpectedly impose martial law, 190 lawmakers gathering to vote it down, and a sudden reversal of the decision.

After tabling the impeachment motion, South Korea’s main opposition Democratic Party condemned Yoon’s initial martial law declaration as “insurrectionary behaviour”.

Parliament will have to vote on whether to impeach Yoon by Saturday.

“We can no longer allow democracy to collapse. The lives and safety of the people must be protected,” said Kim Yong-jin, a member of the Democratic party’s central committee.

The Party also said it wants to charge Yoon with “crimes of rebellion”.It named Minister Kim Yong-hyun and Interior Minister Lee Sang-min as “key participants” of the martial law declaration, saying it also wanted them charged alongside Yoon.

Schools, banks and government offices in Seoul are operating as usual, but protests have continued throughout the city.

“Arrest Yoon Suk-yeol,” some angry citizens chanted as they filled the streets.

South Korea’s largest labour group, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, vowed on Wednesday to go on indefinite strike until the president steps down.

Wednesday’s announcement comes after dramatic scenes overnight, which saw some opposition lawmakers break barricades and climb fences to get to the voting chamber.

Hundreds of troops stormed the parliament after Yoon declared martial law, as military helicopters circled the site.

Thousands of protesters arrived at the gates of the National Assembly, as 190 lawmakers evaded police lines and forced themselves inside to vote down the order.

His second announcement – that he was reversing his earlier order – was met with cheers from protesters outside South Korea’s parliament.On Wednesday, Yoon’s senior aides, including chief of staff Chung Jin-suk and national security adviser Shin Won-sik, tendered their resignations. Whether their resignations will be accepted is unclear.

The presidential office has defended the initial decision to declare martial law as “strictly within [the country’s] constitutional framework”. It said on Wednesday that the announcement was timed to “minimise damage” to the economy and people’s lives.

Once an impeachment bill is proposed, two-thirds of South Korea’s 300-member National Assembly must vote to impeach – that translates to at least 200 votes. The vote must take place within 72 hours.

Once the impeachment is approved, the president will immediately be suspended from office, while the prime minister becomes acting president.

A trial will then be held before the Constitutional Court, a nine-member council that oversees South Korea’s branches of government.

If six of the court’s members vote to sustain the impeachment, the president will be removed from office.

In 2016, then-President Park Guen-hye was impeached after she was charged with bribery, abusing state power and leaking state secrets.

In 2004, another South Korean president, Roh Moo-hyun, was impeached and suspended for two months. The Constitutional Court later restored him to office.

If Yoon resigns or is impeached, the government will have to hold an election within 60 days for the country to vote for its new leader, who will start a fresh five-year term.

Under South Korea’s constitution, the president has the authority to declare martial law during war, armed conflict, or other national emergencies.

The last time martial law was declared in the country was in 1979, when the country’s long-time military dictator Park Chung-hee was assassinated in a coup.

A group of military leaders, led by General Chun Doo-hwan, declared martial law in 1980, banning political activities and arresting dissidents.

Hundreds of people died amid a crackdown on protesters before martial law was lifted in 1981.

Martial law has not been invoked since South Korea became a parliamentary democracy in 1987.

Yoon pulled the trigger on Tuesday, saying he was trying to save the country from “anti-state forces”.

But some analysts have described the move as his bid to thwart political opposition.

Yoon has been a lame duck president since the opposition won a landslide in the country’s general election in April this year – his government has not been able to pass the laws it wanted and has been reduced instead to vetoing bills the opposition has proposed.

The president’s approval ratings have hit record lows of 17% this year, as he and his wife Kim Keon-hee have been mired in a spate of scandals.