Change of power in S. Korea
Park Geun-hye removed from office on charges of corruption
South Korean President Park Geun-hye, in a motorcade vehicle, left the presidential palace Sunday evening, two days after the country’s Constitutional Court removed her from office over a massive corruption scandal.
SEOUL, South Korea — For months, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators have gathered almost weekly near the presidential Blue House in Seoul, calling for the departure of Park Geun-hye as South Korea’s leader.
On Sunday, two days after the Constitutional Court removed her from office on charges of corruption and abuse of power, they got their wish, as Park left quietly in a motorcade that whisked her to her two-story red brick house in the southern part of the capital.
Park became the first South Korean leader to be forced out of office in response to popular pressure since the country’s founding president, Syngman Rhee, fled into exile in Hawaii in 1960 after protests against his corrupt, authoritarian rule.
“I am sorry that I could not finish the presidential duty that was entrusted to me,” Park said in a brief statement read by one of her former aides to reporters outside her home. “I will bear with me all the consequences.”
Park, who has been pressured by the opposition to publicly accept the court’s ruling and whose own party said it “humbly respected” the decision, hinted that she disagreed with it. “It will take time,” she said, “but I am sure that the truth will be known.”
As the motorcade carrying Park arrived at the house where she lived from 1990 to 2013, it pulled past hundreds of supporters lining the alley.
Supporters said they could not accept the Constitutional Court ruling, and held up a variety of signs to express that sentiment: “You are our president forever!” “We love you,” and “Park Geun-hye, the president of the people, welcome back!”
After the ruling was announced on Friday, thousands of Park supporters, mostly older conservatives, tried to march on the courthouse and called for its destruction, with some clashing with police officers who blocked them with a barricade of buses.
On Saturday, Park supporters rallied in central Seoul, vowing to start a political party to fight “pro-North Korea” leftists who they said conspired to bring down Park and calling the Constitutional Court ruling “sedition.” No violence was reported.