South Korea’s parliament on Saturday impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol over his stunning and short-lived martial law decree, a move that ended days of political paralysis but set up an intense debate over Yoon’s fate, as jubilant crowds roared to celebrate another defiant moment in the country’s resilient democracy.

The National Assembly passed the motion 204-85. Yoon’s presidential powers and duties were subsequently suspended and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, the country’s No. 2 official, took over presidential powers later Saturday.

The Constitutional Court has up to 180 days to determine whether to dismiss Yoon as president or restore his powers. If he’s thrown out of office, a national election to choose his successor must be held within 60 days.

It was the second National Assembly vote on Yoon’s impeachment after ruling party lawmakers boycotted it last Saturday. Some People Power Party lawmakers had since said they would vote for Yoon’s impeachment as public protests intensified and his approval rating plummeted.

National Assembly Speaker Woo Won Shik said Yoon’s impeachment was an outcome driven by “the people’s ardent desire for democracy, courage and dedication.”

Hundreds of thousands of people gathered near the parliament roared in jubilation, waved banners and brandished colorful K-pop glow sticks, as a lead activist shouted on stage, “We have preserved the constitutional order!”

In a central Seoul plaza, another huge crowd gathered supporting Yoon, but they grew subdued after hearing he had been impeached. Both rallies have largely been peaceful.

Yoon issued a statement saying he would “never give up” and calling for officials to maintain stability in government functions during what he described as a “temporary” pause of his presidency.

“I will carry with me all the criticisms, encouragement and support directed toward me, and I will continue to do my utmost for the country until the very last moment,” Yoon said.

Yoon’s Dec. 3 imposition of martial law, the first of its kind in more than four decades in South Korea, lasted only six hours, but has caused massive political tumult, halted diplomatic activities and rattled financial markets. Yoon was forced to lift his decree after parliament unanimously voted to overturn it.

Han, who became the acting leader, ordered the military to bolster its security posture to prevent North Korea from launching provocations by miscalculation. Han asked the foreign minister to inform other countries that South Korea’s major external policies remain unchanged, and the finance minister to work to minimize potential negative impacts on the economy by the political turmoil, according to Han’s office.

South Korea’s executive power is concentrated with the president, but the prime minister leads the country if the president becomes incapacitated. Han is a seasoned official and has previously held a string of top government posts such as trade and finance and was the ambassador to the U.S. He also served as a prime minister from 2007-2008.

After declaring martial law, Yoon sent hundreds of troops and police officers to the parliament to try to impede its vote on the decree, before they withdrew after the parliament rejected Yoon’s decree. No major violence occurred.

Opposition parties and many experts accuse Yoon of rebellion, citing a law that categorizes as rebellion the staging of a riot against established state authorities to undermine the constitution. They also say that a president in South Korea is allowed to declare martial law only during wartime or similar emergencies and has no right to suspend parliament’s operations even under martial law.

The impeachment motion alleged that Yoon “committed rebellion that hurts peace in the Republic of Korea by staging a series of riots.” It said Yoon’s mobilization of military and police forces threatened the National Assembly and the public and that his martial law decree was aimed at disturbing the constitution.

In a fiery speech on Thursday, Yoon had rejected the rebellion charges, calling his order an act of governance. The conservative Yoon said he aimed to issue a warning to the main liberal opposition Democratic Party, calling it “a monster” and “anti-state forces” that he argued has flexed its legislative muscle to impeach top officials and undermine the government’s budget bill for next year. He claimed the deployment of troops was meant to maintain order, rather than disrupt it.

Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung called Yoon’s speech a “mad declaration of war” against his own people.

Observers say Yoon’s speech suggested a focus on legal preparations to defend his martial law decree at the Constitutional Court, even as opinion surveys showed more than 70% of South Koreans supported his impeachment. A survey released Friday put Yoon’s approval rating at 11%, the lowest since he took office in 2022.

Some of Yoon’s claims don’t align with testimony by some military commanders whose troops were deployed to the Assembly.

Most notably, Kwak Jong-keun, commander of the Army Special Warfare Command, said that after martial law was announced, Yoon called him and asked for his troops to “quickly destroy the door and drag out the lawmakers who are inside.” Kwak said he didn’t carry out Yoon’s orders.

Yoon is the third South Korean president impeached while in office. In 2016, parliament impeached Park Geun-hye, the country’s first female president, over a corruption scandal. The Constitutional Court upheld her impeachment and dismissed her from office.

In 2004, President Roh Moo-hyun was impeached at parliament over an alleged election law violation but the court later overturned his impeachment and restored his presidential powers. Roh jumped to his death in 2009, after he had left office, amid a corruption scandal involving his family.

Yoon has been banned from leaving South Korea.

He has the presidential privilege of immunity from criminal prosecution but that doesn’t extend to allegations of rebellion or treason. Subsequently, Yoon could be investigated, detained, arrested or indicted over his martial law decree, but many observers doubt that authorities will forcefully detain him because of the potential for clashes with his presidential security service.

Yoon’s defense minister, police chief and the head of Seoul’s metropolitan police agency have been arrested. Other senior military and government officials also face investigations.

As the holiday season gets underway, many parties and gatherings might include a gift exchange. Along with Secret Santas and cookie swaps, guests might be invited to participate in a White Elephant gift exchange. 

White Elephants are a little different from other gift exchanges. Participants can steal gifts from other players, and more customized versions of the game can include cards and dice to really mix things up. 

Here’s what to know about the rules of White Elephant and how to best play the game. 

What are the basic White Elephant rules? 

To start, anyone who wants to participate in a White Elephant has to bring a gift. Often, those gifts will be silly or impractical. Players will select from the gift pool in an assigned order: Guests can draw straws to see who will go when, or the host can set an order prior to the event. Anything works, as long as people know when they’ll be up. 

When it’s time for the game to begin, the first player will select a gift. For most variations of the game, it’s important to make sure everyone knows what the player picked — this will be important later! 

When the second player goes, they’ll have two options: They can open a new gift, or steal the previous player’s gift. If a player gets a gift stolen from them, they then get to pick again before the game progresses to the next participant. The game will continue like that until every participant has a gift. After the last player has picked a gift, the first player will get the chance to steal, if they want. 

To keep the game moving, there are some limits on stealing. Usually, a present can only be stolen once per turn, so if the second participant steals a gift from the first, the first player can’t take the gift back immediately. But if the first player gets their gift stolen a second time, they can then reclaim their gift from the second player. It’s also common to automatically end the turn after three swaps, so the game doesn’t grind to a halt. 

How can you customize White Elephant rules? 

White Elephant rules can be customized in a variety of ways. To start, you can remove limits on steals or swaps per turn, but be warned that this will likely slow down the game. 

Players can also take those limits even more seriously. In some versions of the game, if a gift is swapped three times, it’s considered out of the game and cannot be stolen again, which means the person who is holding it after the third steal gets to keep it. In other versions, a player can be considered out of the game if they are stolen from three times. That means they can no longer be stolen from, and get to keep whatever gift they are holding at the time. 

White Elephant organizers could also set a theme for gifts, or keep them wrapped until after the game has ended to add an element of mystery. 

There are also ways to make White Elephants more complicated. White Elephant organizers could play the “dice game” variation, which incorporates a pair of die and a rules sheet created by the gift organizer. In this variation, players can select their playing order based on dice rolls. When the time for picking gifts starts, the first player will roll the dice, and then do whatever the corresponding item on the rules sheet is. Some versions don’t allow players to unwrap their gifts until told to do so by the rules sheet. In those cases, the game can continue until all players have unwrapped their gifts. 

There’s also a card game version with similar rules to the dice game. In this variation, players use cards to determine the order in which they’ll play and which actions they’ll take. 

Do you wrap a White Elephant gift? 

White Elephant gifts should be wrapped, especially if you are playing a version with a rules sheet or playing cards that dictate certain actions. Players will usually unwrap the gifts when the gift is first selected, unless the gift exchange is using a variation where gifts aren’t unwrapped until the end. 

What is the usual budget for a White Elephant gift exchange? 

The budget for a White Elephant is usually on the lower side. WhiteElephantRules.com recommends a $20 budget cap for most gatherings. 

Another variation of White Elephant could have a zero dollar budget — asking players to re-gift items or bring homemade presents.  

Why is it called White Elephant? 

A “white elephant” is generally something that’s expensive to maintain and hard to sell or get rid of — more trouble than it’s worth, in other words. The phrase is widely regarded coming from a legend about the King of Siam. In the myth, which the New York Times called “almost certainly apocryphal,” the King of Siam, who ruled an area now known as Thailand, would give someone who had made him unhappy a white elephant as a gift, which the person would then have to take care of despite not having a use for it. So while the gifts at a Christmas White Elephant exchange aren’t usually expensive, they’re often silly or impractical.