Opposition party to study impeachment
SEOUL: The head of South Korea’s main opposition party said yesterday her party will “immediately” study the conditions of impeachment proceedings against beleaguered President Park Geun-hye over an influence-peddling scandal involving a confidante, according to a statement posted on the party’s website.
“Impeachment proceedings need perfect preparations as much as possible,” Choo Mi-ae was quoted as telling a meeting of officials of the Democratic Party of Korea. She added that the best option remains for Ms Park to voluntarily step down.
“After t he parliament passes t he impeachment motion, [the president] would be impeached at the Constitutional Court if the court makes judgement in a reasonable way on [the president’s] criminal charges that have surfaced far,” Ms Choo said.
An impeachment motion at South Korea’s 300-member unicameral legislature, controlled by the opposition parties, requires the support of at least half of the parliament to start and needs a two-thirds majority to pass.
The No 2 opposition People’s Party said it has started efforts to remove Ms Park from office.
The decision to permanently remove the president from office lies in the Constitutional Court, which must decide on the legality of the legislature’s impeachment within 180 days. If six of its nine judges uphold the impeachment, the president will be removed from office.
On Sunday, South Korean prosecutors said they believe Ms Park was an accomplice in the scandal.
The prosecution team looking into the scandal announced in an interim probe result that Choi Soon-sil, Ms Park’s friend, was indicted on a string of charges, including using her relationship with Ms Park to win sizeable donations from corporations for her non-profit foundations. Two of Ms Park’s former aides were also indicted.
Later on Sunday, the presidential spokesman denounced the prosecutors’ announcement and said fairness and political neutrality were not being protected. Ms Park’s lawyer also rejected the allegation and said she would not respond to a request for questioning.
According to the Constitution, the country’s president is immune from indictment except in cases of insurrection or treason. However, a president can be punished if he or she resigns or is impeached.