South Korea President Says willing to Leave Office Early

South Korean President Park Geun-hye said Tuesday that she will resign her office once parliament develops a plan for a safe transfer of power.

Park’s father, a dictator who as president deployed Stanford-educated economists to help South Korea rocket from the ruins of the Korean War, was assassinated by his intelligence chief in 1979 as nationwide demonstrations protested his rule.

What does it mean to say, as South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye has, that you are “willing to resign”?

“I am giving up everything now”, Park said in a televised address to the nation, again offering an apology for the corruption scandal that has paralyzed her government for weeks.

“I will step down from my position according to the law once a way is formed to pass on the administration in a stable manner that will also minimise political unrest and vacuum after ruling and opposition parties’ discussion”, she said.

Opposition parties in the National Assembly, with the support of dozens of lawmakers from Park’s Saenuri party, were planning to bring a motion to impeach the president as soon as Friday.

The opposition bloc, which holds a majority in parliament, is pushing to vote for impeachment as early as this Friday, to force Ms Park out of office early.

In a dramatic move that shifted the burden of resolving the crisis engulfing her presidency, Park asked parliament on Tuesday to decide how and when she should quit, which opposition lawmakers dismissed as a ploy to buy time and avoid impeachment.

Thousands of protesters march toward the presidential house in a candlelight procession against South Korean President Park Geun-hye in Seoul on Saturday.

Park has been named as a suspect in the growing investigation, making her the first sitting president to be subject to a criminal probe while in office.

But she later backtracked, with her lawyer rejecting a series of requests by prosecutors to make herself available for questioning.

But opponents on Tuesday rubbished her offer.

Park admitted again to carelessness in her ties with Choi, whom she has said helped her through hard times.

On Tuesday, Park said she will step down in line with a timetable and legal procedures agreed on by political parties during her third public speech delivered since the outbreak of an influence-peddling scandal, which dealt a harsh blow to her presidency.

Ms Kim said she and many friends of her age looked up to Ms Park as a “princess” during their childhood and later an “ideal, incorruptible” politician who kept her distance even from her own relatives.

“I have laid everything down”, the President said.

The opposition’s main spokesman, Rep. Youn Kwan-suk, said Park’s speech was insufficient.

Park acknowledged she was foolish to depend so heavily on Choi’s counsel but denied any role in pressuring companies to contribute money to her friend’s foundations. A presidential election will be held within 60 days of her stepping down, and the prime minister would take over as interim leader should she resign.