|
Home>News Center>World | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Roh in turbulent storm Embattled Roh, who faces the Republic of Korea (ROK)'s first presidential impeachment push, apologized yesterday for corruption scandals involving former aides and said he may step down if lawmakers supporting him fare poorly in parliamentary elections next month. Opposition leaders hoped to vote on Roh's impeachment as early as yesterday afternoon, and the president held a nationally televised news conference to try to deflect criticism before the intensifying showdown. The minority Uri Party, which backs Roh, staged a sit-in at the National Assembly to protest the impeachment and has pledged to physically block the National Assembly speaker from calling a vote. Roh who has no party affiliation again refused to apologize for comments supporting the minor party he intends to join. . The standoff has fanned turmoil ahead of the hotly debated April 15 parliamentary poll and is a distraction as the Republic of Korea (ROK) tries to manage the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) nuclear crisis and a fledgling economic recovery. Roh vs opposition Roh's camp and the political opposition have been rocked by allegations that they collected illegal campaign funds from businesses around the time of the 2002 presidential election. Several close aides to President Roh have come under scrutiny for alleged corruption, and in December, three former Roh aides were indicted on charges of collecting illicit funds in the presidential campaign. Roh apologized for the corruption, saying: "First of all, I am sorry... I bow my head and extend my apologies." Although the president has yet to be implicated, his reputation as an independent reformer has been battered since taking office in February 2003. On Monday, prosecutors said Roh's camp and the main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) had amassed illegal funds from such ROK companies as Samsung, Korean Air, Hyundai and SK Group. Local media calculated that Roh's allies had amassed about 11 billion won (US$9.4 million), while the GNP took in 84 billion won (US$72 million). The next day, the Grand National Party and the fellow opposition Millennium Democratic Party submitted the nation's first presidential impeachment motion against the leader. The National Election Commission said it was a minor infraction which did not warrant criminal charges. Session adjourned The ROK's parliamentary speaker Park Kwan-yong adjourned an unprecedented session yesterday, calling to try to impeach Roh yesterday because Roh supporters had blocked him from presiding over the opposition-inspired vote. Foreign investors closely watching political stability in the ROK A parliamentary announcer said today's session would start at 10 am (0100 GMT). Park has the right to call guards to clear the chamber. Technically, he failed even to open yesterday's session because pro-Roh Uri Party members had occupied the speaker's area in the National Assembly, a domed building near the Han River in Seoul. The opposition has until 6:30 pm (0930 GMT) today to hold the vote. "By our count, we have a two-thirds majority," Park Jin of the main opposition GNP told reporters. Frantic supporter A political supporter of President Roh set himself on fire in front of the ROK's National Assembly building yesterday evening, after opposition lawmakers squared off with Roh allies over a motion to impeach the embattled leader. The man was a member of Nosamo, a group of mostly young citizens who organized through the Internet to help Roh's 2002 presidential campaign, according to a police spokesman. Another officer, Sergeant Kim Young-sang, said earlier that police personnel were rushing the man to the hospital. Yonhap news agency identified the 51-year-old man only by the family name Baek. Roh likely to survive Opposition heavyweights are now twisting arms in hopes of changing the minds of enough dissident lawmakers to pass a motion to impeach President Roh Moo-hyun. As it stands now, the historic motion has little chance of passing when a vote is called sometime before tomorrow. Even if the motion gets the required two-thirds majority, many experts are convinced it will not stand up under the scrutiny of a high court. Initially, 159 lawmakers from the Grand National Party and the Millennium Democratic Party voted to introduce the motion, enough for the required simple majority. But the motion needs at least 21 more lawmakers to vote in favour of it in order to remove a president for the first time in the history of the ROK. The two main opposition parties have 206 members in the 273-member National Assembly, more than the two-thirds majority or 180 members required to impeach the country's head of state. If enough MDP and GNP lawmakers oppose impeachment, it will kill the motion. |
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
