The Constitutional Court in a landmark ruling has declared unconstitutional a series of emergency decrees by the military government of president Park Chung-hee in the 1970s.

The ruling comes weeks after Park's daughter Park Geun-hye became Korea's first female president.

In a unanimous decision Thursday, the eight judges ruled that emergency decrees one, two and nine were unconstitutional and "grossly violated the basic rights of the people."

The decrees, based on the so-called Yushin or revitalizing Constitution, allowed Park senior to stay in power for more than 18 years.