South Korean leader loses power, but keeps title, house and salary
MPs opt to impeach Park Geun-hye over corruption scandal
SEOUL // South Korean MPs voted to impeach president Park Geun-hye yesterday, stripping away her sweeping executive powers over a corruption scandal and opening a period of national uncertainty.
The national assembly vote immediately transferred Ms Park’s authority to the prime minister, pending a decision by the constitutional court on whether to rati- fy the decision and permanently remove the president from office.
A ruling could take up to six months, during which time Ms Park, 64, will keep the title of president and continue to enjoy all the perks that come with the position. She will still live at the presidential Blue House, use her official car and plane, collect the same monthly salary – about US$15,000 (Dh55,096) – and receive round-the-clock security.
But with nothing officially to do, it is uncertain how she will spend her days.
In 2004, when liberal president Roh Moo- hyun was impeached after being accused of minor election law breaches and incompetence, he spent his time at the Blue House reading books and newspapers or mountain-climbing with journalists, South Korean media reported.
The constitutional court restored Mr Roh’s powers about two months later, however, ruling that his wrongdoings were not serious enough to justify his unseating.
The chances of the court reinstating Ms Park, however, are considered low because the charges against her – constitutional and criminal offences ranging from a failure to protect people’s lives to bribery and abuse of power – are much graver. South Koreans, meanwhile, are left facing an extended period of political anxiety and policy paralysis at a time of slowing economic growth, rising unemployment and elevated military tensions with North Korea.
“I’d like to say that I’m deeply sorry to the people because the nation has to experience this turmoil because of my negligence and lack of virtue at a time when our security and economy both face difficulties,” Ms Park said after the vote, before a closeddoor meeting with her cabinet.
At the meeting, Ms Park and other aides were reported to have wept.
The result means prime minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, a former prosecutor who has never held elected office, suddenly finds himself in charge of Asia’s fourth-largest economy and supreme commander of its armed forces.
In a televised address hours after the vote, Mr Hwang, 59, emphasised that the country was primed to respond to any North Korean provocation.
“The government will maintain a watertight national defence posture,” Mr Hwang said.
“We will stabilise the financial and currency markets and make efforts to maintain South Korea’s sovereign ratings,” he said. But Mr Hwang comes with baggage. Seen by critics as a stiff and uncompromising defender of Ms Park, last month he suggested that he was to blame for the scandal around the president because he had failed to support her properly. The motion to impeach Ms Park was won by 234 votes to 56, easily securing the required two-thirds majority in the 300seat chamber. The vote stripped the president of her powers as commander-in-chief of South Korea’s 630,000- strong military, and her ability to appoint officials, sign treaties with other countries and dole out special pardons for inmates. She also cannot preside over meetings of presidential secretaries.
News of the vote triggered celebrations among hundreds of anti-Park activists gathered outside the national assembly.
“This is a great moment,” said Kim Jun-hweh, 21. “This is what we wanted and we want her out of the Blue House now.”
Ms Park is the daughter of a military dictator still revered by many conservatives for lifting the country out of poverty in the 1960s and 1970s. Her approval ratings plunged to 4 per cent, the lowest among South Korean leaders since democracy arrived in the late 1980s, and even elderly conservatives who once made up her political base distanced themselves from her. The push for impeachment was driven by protests in which millions took to the streets of Seoul and other cities in recent weeks, demanding her removal. “This has been an honourable civil revolution in which our people defeated an incompetent leader,” the president of the main opposition Democratic Party said after the vote.
The scandal that felled Ms Park focused on her friendship with long-time confidante Choi Soon- sil. Ms Choi is awaiting trial on charges of meddling in state affairs and using her Blue House connections to force dozens of conglomerates to donate about US$70 million (Dh257m) to foundations she controlled.
In a first for a sitting South Korean president, Ms Park was named a suspect by prosecutors investigating the case.
The scandal came after years of frustration from opponents. Critics saw in Ms Park an unwillingness to tolerate dissent as her government cracked down on press freedom, pushed to dissolve a leftist party and allowed suppression of anti-government protests, which led to the death of an activist this year.