South Korea delays impeachment vote against President Park

Now Park, the first sitting South Korean president to be subject to a criminal probe, is facing the bleak prospect of impeachment and potential imprisonment if she is forced out – a disgrace that was unimaginable only a year ago. Some members of Park’s conservative Saenuri party have vowed to support an impeachment attempt, arguing it would serve the party’s interests to distance itself from Park ahead of next year’s presidential election.

Kim Moo-sung, a Saenuri leader who has called for Park’s resignation, said after meeting Democratic Party leader Choo that he had proposed that Park leave office by the end of April so an election can be held around the end of June. In a November 30 meeting at the National Assembly, leaders of the three main opposition parties reaffirmed their refusal to take part in bipartisan talks on curtailing Park’s term and made renewed calls for her unconditional departure.

Under the country’s constitution, impeachment and constitutional amendment are the only options to cut short Park’s single, five-year term as the scandal-plagued leader refused a voluntary resignation citing the breach of the constitution that guarantees a full tenure except treason and insurrection. Legal experts have said the review could be over in a third of that time.

The incident comes as President Park is facing the greatest crisis of her political career amid the influence-peddling scandal of her confidante. But others maintain the ruling and opposition party sides should at least try to negotiate toward an April resignation by Park.

Park’s term in office is scheduled to end in February 2018. To impeach Park, they need only 28 Saenuri Party members to back the motion to secure the two-thirds majority necessary in the 300-seat body. Even the pro-Park faction has begun to call for her to resign “honorably”.

After the meeting, the three parties told a joint news conference that Park must step down immediately without setting any conditions and that their push for her impeachment remains unchanged.

The Saenuri’s antimainstream factions are poised to support an impeachment bill to be submitted by the opposition at a plenary session on December 9 if they fail to reach an agreement with opposition parties by December 8.

If impeached, Park’s powers would be suspended until the Constitutional Court makes a ruling on her fate.

President Park, who has never married, was regarded as something of a trailblazer when she was initially elected, and was ranked 11th on the Forbes list of the world’s 100 most powerful women.

According to a special law creating the independent counsel, there are 14 alleged law violations involving Park and her inner circle that the counsel is required to investigate.

However, the opposition bloc’s next biggest seat-holder – the People’s Party – broke ranks by urging a delay, with a spokesperson conceding that it was “effectively impossible for the motion to be passed” this week.

It also shed light on Park’s questionable, decades-long ties with Choi’s late father, a shady religious figure who in the 1970s was accused of using his ties with Park to extract vast amounts of money from local firms.