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| Rep. Kim Moo-sung, former chairman of the ruling Saenuri Party, gestures to reporters during a welfare event held at the National Assembly, Monday. He is leading the party's non-mainstream lawmakers who have vowed to join forces with opposition parties to impeach President Park Geun-hye. / Yonhap |
Impeachment motion needs 28 votes from ruling party to pass
By Kim Hyo-jin
Rival factions in the ruling Saenuri Party are key to the passage of an impeachment motion against President Park Geun-hye, if submitted by the opposition parties this week.
While drawing up the joint impeachment motion, the opposition bloc is paying keen attention to how many anti-Park lawmakers in the ruling party will join to oust Park.
At least 28 Saenuri Party lawmakers are needed to vote for the motion to pass, assuming that all 172 opposition and independent lawmakers vote in favor. The law requires support from two-thirds of the 300-member National Assembly to pass the motion.
Rep. Park Jie-won, interim leader of the minor opposition People's Party, expressed confidence of a smooth endorsement, saying the expected number of votes in favor has already far exceeded the minimum required.
"I heard from the Saenuri Party that the number of lawmakers on board has reached about 60," he said in a party meeting. "The legal requirements for impeachment are in the making. Now, there is only about a week left for the presidential term."
Rep. Woo Sang-ho, floor leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), however, remained cautious, saying, "It could be true that a growing number of lawmakers in the ruling party are supporting impeachment but it can't be as many as 60."
Rep. Cho Won-jin, a Park loyalist and member of Saenuri's Supreme Council, refuted the People's Party leader, saying he is seeking to drive a wedge between factions in the ruling party.
"Rep. Park should stop lying. By my count, the number of pro-impeachment lawmakers is only around 30," he told reporters. "It's a mere tactic intending to divide the ruling party."
Anti-Park lawmakers have gathered forces in the Saenuri Party to protest against loyalist leadership and mainstream members amid the fallout of the country's biggest corruption scandal involving the President and her confidant Choi Soon-sil.
They announced last week that 32 lawmakers had agreed to support the commencement of the impeachment procedure.
The atmosphere was further buoyed after the ruling party's former leader Kim Moo-sung, a former major presidential candidate, gave up his presidential bid and vowed to lead the move in the party. Rep. Hwang Young-cheul, who has been a mouthpiece of the anti-Park group, said Friday about 40 lawmakers would vote in favor of the motion.
The opposition is striving to pin down Saenuri Party lawmakers' votes.
Former opposition leader Moon Jae-in suggested the opposition get signatures from ruling party lawmakers on the impeachment motion and release a list of the names.
But the ruling party lawmakers viewed this as unlikely to happen. "Participating in proposing the motion seems a bit out of line, considering the motion intends to end the government launched by us," an anti-Park lawmaker said, noting the vote will be the extent of their involvement.
Meanwhile, the ruling party's ethics committee began deliberations on whether to take disciplinary action against the President for her involvement in the corruption scandal.
This comes after anti-Park lawmakers made a request, saying the case can be applied "when a member's actions severely undermine the interests of the party" ― a requirement for disciplinary action stipulated in party regulations.
The committee can opt for expelling Park from the party in the worst-case scenario. But officials said it is not likely as the procedure requires a decision by the pro-Park leadership as the final step.
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