Tag: Park Geun-hye

It is official President Park has been impeached:

The National Assembly passed the motion to impeach President Park Geun-hye over a corruption scandal, Friday.

Park was suspended from office at 7:03 p.m. immediately after the result was officially delivered to the presidential office, and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn began working as acting head of state.

The President’s fate is now in the hands of the Constitutional Court, which is expected to make a ruling on whether the impeachment was valid in a few months.

Park is the second Korean president to be impeached after the late President Roh Moo-hyun in 2004. Roh was able to return to office thanks to wide public support after the Constitutional Court overturned the Assembly’s decision.

The impeachment motion, signed by 171 opposition and independent lawmakers, passed overwhelmingly with 234 in favor, 56 against, two abstentions and seven invalid votes in the 300-member Assembly. Pro-Park lawmaker Choi Kyung-hwan of the ruling Saenuri Party was absent.

This well exceeded the necessary approval of two-thirds of the 300 lawmakers required for its passage. [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but the most significant thing that has happened is that South Korea now has a new acting President which is Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn.

So who is Hwang?  His a 59 year old lawyer who worked as a state prosecutor for 30 years before entering politics.  He is well known for being a close confidant of President Park.  In 2013 he served as the Justice Minister for Park before becoming the Prime Minister in 2015.  ROK Heads may remember that back in July Hwang was detained by protesters outside of the selected THAAD site and pelted with eggs.

I doubt Prime Minister Hwang will make any major policy decisions because of his close ties to Park that could lead to widespread public protests.  That is why I think he will probably just be keeping the seat warm until the Constitution Court reviews the impeachment.  The last impeachment of a ROK President occurred in 2004 with President Roh Moo-hyun.  The Constitutional Court took 63 days to rule that the impeachment was not legal and he was reinstated.  Considering the widespread public outrage against President Park I doubt she will be reinstated.  However, the court has up to six months to rule on the legality of the impeachment.  If they rule the impeachment is legal then an election will be held 60 days after the ruling.  I think the conservative party will want this to drag on so they can select a candidate and organize a campaign to run against the Korean left wing parties who have taken maximum political advantage of the Park Geun-hye crisis.

It will continue to be interesting to see how this all plays out over the next few months.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out, but the Korean left may be overplaying their hand with including the Sewol ferry tragedy as part of the reason for impeachment:

South Korea’s National Assembly on Thursday officially set the date for the vote on the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye who is at the center of the corruption scandal rocking the country.

The anonymous vote will take place on Friday during the parliamentary session at 3:00 p.m., with the fate of the president to be ultimately decided by the country’s Constitutional Court. Under the parliamentary law, an impeachment motion can be put up for vote 24 hours after being reported at the parliament.

The opposition parties handed in the motion to parliament last week, saying that Park violated the Constitution and other laws by allowing her confidante Choi Soon-sil to exert power in state affairs and enjoy unlawful benefits. State prosecutors have accused Park of being Choi’s accomplice.

A successful passage calls for approval from at least 200 lawmakers from the 300-seat National Assembly. Accordingly, at least 28 lawmakers from the ruling Saenuri Party must give it a nod, even if every single opposition and independent lawmaker votes for the impeachment.

A group of non-Park lawmakers in Saenuri said it has secured support from around 40 lawmakers, but uncertainties remain, with some casting doubts on the level of support.

While the group earlier asked the opposition parties to exclude the sinking of the Sewol ferry, which left more than 300 dead or missing, as one of the grounds for Park’s impeachment, the main opposition Democratic Party said it has no intention to do so.

The opposition parties claim Park failed to protect the safety of the people as stipulated by the Constitution.

The Park dissenters’ group said it will continue to persuade the opposition parties, adding the issue remains one of the major hurdles for Saenuri’s participation in the motion.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but like I have always said what does the political opposition think Park should have done when the ferry boat sunk?  Swim out into the ocean and rescue kids herself?  If they want to complain about lax safety regulations this has been an ongoing problem in Korea for decades long before Park ever took office.  It seems by trying to ram this into the impeachment proceedings will unnecessarily cause uncertainty now on whether the impeachment will pass.

Park, during missing 7 hours when Sewol ferry sank, was getting her hair done? 박 대통령, 세월호 가라앉을때 ‘올림머리’ 하느라 90분 날렸다 https://t.co/6bK32anfPV

— James Pearson (@pearswick) December 6, 2016

Here is the latest twist and turn in the South Korean Presidential political crisis:

President Park Geun-hye said Tuesday she will go the full distance with the impeachment process and has no intention of voluntarily stepping down.

Ahead of the scheduled National Assembly vote on a presidential impeachment motion Friday, Park met with Saenuri Party Chairman Lee Jung-hyun and floor leader Chung Jin-suk at the Blue House. After the 55-minute meeting, which was proposed by Park, Chung returned to the ruling party and made public Park’s position on the fate of a presidency gravely threatened by an influence-peddling and abuse of power scandal.

“If the impeachment process is moved forward as scheduled, and if the motion is passed, I am ready to stay calm and composed during the Constitutional Court’s deliberation on the legality of the impeachment,” Park was quoted as saying. “When the impeachment is passed, I will accept it and do all my best under that circumstance.”  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read the rest at the link, but according to the article the constitutional court has up to six months after impeachment to determine its legality.

Kim Jong-un may be enjoying the political scandal going in South Korea, but I am willing to bet the people in North Korea are noticing in the images shown in the media how South Koreans are allowed to rally and protest their government and they cannot:

Now, North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-Un can just sit back and watch as his counterpart President Park Geun-hye looks set to leave office under popular pressure. South Koreans have protested against Park for five straight weeks over her alleged involvement in an influence-peddling case, adding to spiking frustration with the nation’s history of political corruption.

“For North Korea’s leadership, the political instability [in South Korea] is excellent evidence for why its system and society are better than South Korea’s, supporting its position that North Korea is the one true, legitimate Korea,” Alison Evans, deputy head and senior Asia-Pacific analyst at IHS Markit, explained.

The two Koreas share language and family ties, but remain bitter enemies at the political level, having fought a three-year war to a stalemate in 1953. But they are currently experiencing a rare moment of unity in their common resentment towards Park.

Media outlets in both countries have lashed out against the head of state, with op-eds routinely referring to Park as a traitor and calling for her prosecution. Of course, North Korean media is entirely state-run, unlike the South.

“North Korean media has widely reported on the turmoil in South Korean politics to show how, unlike Kim Jong Un’s government, South Korea’s government does not listen to its people, particularly the workers’ unions,” Evans continued.  [CNBC]

You can read more at the link.

It is looking like President Park Geun-hye will resign as the South Korean President in late April which means elections are supposed happen 60 days after that.  That makes late June 2017 as the timeframe for the next ROK Presidential election:

A rift emerged in the opposition alliance to impeach President Park Geun-hye this week as last-minute talks among the leaders of three liberal parties broke down Thursday, while ruling party lawmakers united to promote an “orderly” resignation of the president in April.

Chairwoman Choo Mi-ae of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea, Rep. Park Jie-won, acting head of the People’s Party and Chairwoman Sim Sang-jeong of the Justice Party held a meeting Thursday afternoon to discuss a specific timeline for an impeachment motion in the National Assembly. Citing an agreement from the previous day, Choo and Sim said the motion must be submitted on Thursday to allow a vote today. Park disagreed. He said he opposed a vote that was guaranteed to fail.

The embattled president issued a public statement Tuesday saying she was willing to cut her term short. She asked the National Assembly to decide the fate of her presidency in response to a public clamor for her resignation over a still snowballing abuse of power scandal.

Her proposal was considered an alternative to impeachment. Since Tuesday, members of her own party who were supporting impeachment have swung to the idea of another kind of resignation, which has been code-named the “orderly” departure scenario.

Park won a five-year presidential term in the 2012 election and her tenure is scheduled to end in late February 2018. [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

It appears that one way or another President Park is not going to complete her little over one year remaining in office after this announcement:

President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday called on parliament to determine her fate, saying she will step down in line with a timetable and procedures reached by political parties that can minimize any confusion arising from a government change.

Opposition parties dismissed the call as part of a political gambit to stall for time and thwart their impeachment push, stressing they won’t break ranks and will continue their move to oust the president.

During her third address to the nation over the corruption scandal centered on her confidante Choi Soon-sil, Park renewed her apology for her inability to address mounting public fury, but repeated her denial of any involvement in the scandal.

Earlier this month, the prosecution cited Park as an accomplice in “considerable parts” of the alleged wrongdoings carried out by Choi and her former aides — allegations denied by the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae.

“I will entrust the National Assembly with (the task of) making decisions on issues, including the shortening of my presidential term,” she said during the five-minute address. Her single, five-year term ends in February 2018.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but I think President Park probably does not want to put her political party members in a tough situation in regards to whether or not to support the impeachment vote coming up.  Offering to resign buys her political party time to organize a campaign for a person to replace her.  After she resigns elections are supposed to be held in 60 days.  It is going to be interesting to see how this plays out for President Park.

I find it hard to believe that these Viagra pills were purchased solely to combat altitude sickness, but who knows:

Little blue pills in South Korea’s presidential Blue House?

President Park Geun-hye’s office on Wednesday confirmed revelations by an opposition lawmaker that it purchased about 360 erectile dysfunction Viagra pills and the generic version of the drug in December.

While the report has created a frenzy on the internet, Park’s office said the pills were bought to potentially treat altitude sickness for presidential aides and employees on Park’s May trips to Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya, whose capitals are 0.6 to 1.2 miles above sea level.

The pills weren’t used, said Jung Youn-kuk, a Blue House spokesman. South Korean doctors sometimes prescribe Viagra-style drugs to climbers because they are believed to be effective in preventing altitude sickness.

The presidential office also purchased a variety of injection drugs used for fatigue and anti-aging treatment, according to the office of lawmaker Kim Sanghee. Park’s spokesman explained that the presidential office purchases drugs for the president’s entire staff including security officers.  [CBS News]

You can read more at the link.

Just another Saturday night at the @Reuters Seoul bureau… pic.twitter.com/7jCu6bHXQL

— James Pearson (@pearswick) November 19, 2016

Choo Mi-ae, chief of the main opposition Democratic Party, shouts slogans as she leads a ceremony in Seoul on Nov. 18, 2016, to launch a party-wide body to popularize a movement in the general public to oust President Park Geun-hye over a seething political scandal involving Park and her longtime confidante Choi Soon-sil. (Yonhap)