South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who lawmakers voted to impeach and was indicted on criminal charges for declaring martial law last December, was cleared to be released from detention on Friday.

The Constitutional Court is expected to decide in the coming days whether to oust Yoon in a case that ignited South Korea's worst political crisis in decades and rattled markets. In central Seoul, anti-Yoon protesters filled a large square,

South Korea's acting President Choi Sang-mok called on Friday for the nation to respect and accept any decision, ahead of a Constitutional Court's ruling on the impeachment of leader Yoon Suk Yeol over his short-lived martial law order.