Countdown to impeachment motion begins

40 Saenuri lawmakers expected to vote for unseating Park

By Kim Hyo-jin

Opposition parties are seeking to put a motion to impeach President Park Geun-hye to a vote as early as next week.

Floor leaders of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), the second-largest opposition People’s Party and the minor opposition Justice Party agreed, Thursday, to deal with it within the regular session of the National Assembly, which is scheduled to run until Dec. 9.

The move ― once seen as a tall order ― is gaining faster momentum as a growing number of lawmakers from the ruling party are apparently leaning toward unseating the scandal-ridden President.

The opposition has been seeking to oust Park over allegations that she let her longtime confidant Choi Soon-sil intervene in state affairs to benefit her private interests. The prosecution’s interim investigation results released Sunday accused Park of conspiring with Choi.

“We plan to seek the impeachment of President Park within the regular session of the National Assembly. Voting for an impeachment motion will be arranged Dec. 2 at the earliest, or 9 at the latest,” DPK floor leader Woo Sang-ho said earlier in the day.

“We will cooperate in the move if the DPK plans to go forward with it,” said floor leader Park Jie-won of the second-largest opposition People’s Party.

The opposition parties are set to come up with an impeachment motion by early next week, according to party officials. The floor leaders agreed to devise details of the motion together.

They decided to postpone discussing a motion to sack Defense Minister Han Min-koo until after the voting on the impeachment motion. The opposition has called for Han’s resignation to take responsibility for the hastily signed General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) with Tokyo.

The People’s Party floor leader stressed the need to push for the plan along with ruling party lawmakers, saying he was in close contact with proponents from the Saenuri Party.

“We will have to hold a four-way meeting between the three opposition parties and the ruling Saenuri Party to discuss submitting a joint motion,” he said.

A growing number of Saenuri Party lawmakers are showing support for the impeachment motion, according to party officials, raising the possibility of its smooth endorsement.

The atmosphere has been buoyed since former Chairman Kim Moo-sung announced Wednesday that he will take the initiative in pushing for Park’s impeachment within the party.

Kim, a de-facto leader of anti-Park lawmakers within the ruling party, started receiving signatures from his fellow lawmakers to count certain votes. The number has reportedly reached over 40.

For the motion to be passed, a minimum of 28 votes were required from the ruling party.

It needs support from two-thirds of the 300 Assemblymen. The opposition views that securing 35 votes from the ruling party will be ideal assuming there could be some opponents among the 172 opposition and independent lawmakers.

Rep. Kim Sung-tae, a non-mainstream lawmaker in the ruling party, said in a radio interview, “There are 20 to 30 lawmakers in the party who are on the fence, which means they also could back the impeachment.”

President Park has resisted stepping down voluntarily despite an escalating public outcry fueled by the country’s biggest corruption scandal involving her and Choi.

After tagging the President as an accomplice, the prosecution indicted Choi and former presidential aides on charges including abuse of authority, coercion, and mishandling of confidential documents.

In the latest Realmeter poll, an overwhelming percentage of respondents said they want the scandal-ridden Park to be impeached ― 79.5 percent supported impeachment while 14.6 percent opposed it.