US says Park’s removal won’t change relations

In this Jan. 1, 2017, file photo provided by the South Korean Presidential House, impeached South Korean President Park Geun-hye, center, listens to a reporter’s question during a meeting with a selected group of reporters at the presidential house in Seoul, South Korea. In a historic ruling Friday, March 10, 2017, South Korea’s Constitutional Court formally removed impeached President Park Geun-hye from office over a corruption scandal that has plunged the country into political turmoil, worsened an already-serious national divide and led to calls for sweeping reforms. South Korean Presidential House via AP File Photo

SEOUL, South Korea—The latest on South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s removal from office Friday by the Constitutional Court (all times local):

11:55 a.m.

The United States says the removal of South Korean President Park Geun-hye is a domestic issue that doesn’t affect its strong alliance with the country.

The Constitutional Court formally removed the impeached Park from office Friday over a corruption scandal.

READ: South Korea’s disgraced president booted from power by court

State Department spokesman Mark Toner says the U.S. will continue to work with the acting president, Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, and looks forward to whomever South Koreans choose in a presidential election to be held within two months.

Toner says Park’s removal is “a domestic issue on which the United States takes no position,” and that it’s up to the South Korean people to determine their country’s future.

He says the two nations’ alliance “will continue to be a linchpin of regional stability and security.”/rga