South Korean President Park Geun-hye's powers were suspended at 7.03pm today (6.03pm in Malaysia) after Parliament voted to impeach her, her office said.

Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn took over as acting president and told a cabinet meeting he would do his best to ensure a stable government continued to function, Reuters reported.

Hwang said financial authorities should take preemptive steps to prevent volatility in financial markets.

The Constitutional Court will review the impeachment motion, a process that is expected to take at least two months.

South Korea's National Assembly voted today to impeach President Park, who has been dogged by accusations of corruption, dpa reported.

Of 300 lawmakers, 234 came out in favour of the move in a vote broadcast live on South Korean television, meeting the minimum two-thirds requirement and meaning that members of Park's own Saenuri Party sided with the opposition.

The president's authority will now be suspended while the Constitutional Court reviews the legitimacy of the vote, which could take up to 180 days and keep the country's political crisis dragging on for months.

If the court upholds the vote, Park would be the first president to be deposed since the country returned to democracy in 1987.

"Although the president's duties will be suspended, state affairs must be carried out normally," National Assembly speaker Chung Sye Kyun was quoted as saying by the South Korean news agency Yonhap.

"For the past months, the state affairs have been virtually paralysed. Since the impeachment motion has been passed, the confusion must end," Chung said.

The impeachment of the country's first female president comes after weeks of protests, which saw hundreds of thousands of South Koreans take to the streets to demand Park's resignation.

In October, the president became embroiled in an influence-peddling scandal involving her close friend and confidante Choi Soon Sil, who has been indicted on charges including abuse of authority and attempted fraud.

Park is accused of having allowed Choi to meddle in state affairs and of giving Choi access to official state documents - even though she holds no official government position.

The president is also suspected of having put pressure on top Korean companies, including electronics giant Samsung, to donate to two foundations controlled by Choi.

Park, the daughter of military strongman Park Chung Hee, who seized power in the 1960s and ruled with an iron fist until his assassination in 1979, has apologised several times for the scandal, but has denied any criminal wrongdoing.

- Agencies