Published : Feb. 8, 2017 - 16:40
Amid growing tension that the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye may be thwarted or delayed considerably, opposition parties Wednesday renewed the call for her prompt ouster, which would give way to an earlier-than-planned election.
They also demanded special prosecutors be given an extra month to continue the ongoing investigation into the president‘s corruption allegations.
The leaders of three opposition parties met Wednesday afternoon, pledging to participate in yet another massive candlelight rally Saturday.
From left: Reps. Park Jie-won, Choo Mi-ae and Sim Sang-jeung, the heads of the People’s Party, the Democratic Party of Korea and the Justice Party, respectively, hold a press conference at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, Wednesday (Yonhap)
“On this first full moon day of the new Lunar New Year, we shall stand with the people to demand for a prompt impeachment and an extension of the independent counsel period,” said. Rep. Choo Mi-ae, chairperson of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea.
Choo also accused the president and her legal representatives of deliberately delaying the trial by summoning an excessive number of witnesses.
Rep. Park Jie-won of the runner-up opposition People’s Party also urged the nation’s top court to speed up the impeachment trial process without being swayed by the embattled president.
“The only thing that should affect the trial is the people’s call (for impeachment),” Park said in a party meeting, demanding the final decision be made by March 13.
Reps. Choo and Park, along with Rep. Sim Sang-jeung of the small progressive Justice Party, also advocated for the independent counsel being given an extra month to fulfill its duties.
The authority to allow the extension currently lies in the hands of Prime Minister and acting President Hwang Kyo-ahn, who has so far reserved his stance on the issue.
The trilateral meeting was arranged after the court decided a day earlier that it would reschedule additional hearings through Feb. 22, effectively crossing out the possibility of a final ruling within the month.
Since the National Assembly passed the impeachment bill on Park on Dec. 9, the political clock has been set on the scenario that the Constitutional Court will uphold the motion by February of March, leading to a presidential election in April or May.
The legal deadline for the court is early June, by which it has to decide whether to unseat or reinstate the president.
The dilemma for the opposition parties, however, is that they may not hold on to the candlelight rallies for much longer, as they also have the presidential election and the preceding in-party primary.
The pressure is especially heavy upon Moon Jae-in, former chairman and front-runner of the Democratic Party, who is seen as needing to embrace the anti-government public sentiment.
“President Park is not only violating the Constitution but is also attempting to paralyze the Constitutional Court,” Moon wrote via his Facebook account Wednesday.
“The way that she tries to maintain her presidency, without facing the trial, cannot be accepted.”
Moon, who is largely anticipated to announce his presidential bid early next week, pledged to participate in the candlelight protests, just as he had during the weeks running up to the passage of the impeachment bill.
“It isn’t over until it’s over, now is the time for the people to unite once again,” Moon said.
Other minority candidates, such as South Chungcheong Province Gov. An Hee-jung and Seongnam Mayor Lee Jae-myung, were even more forthright on the issue.
“It is time (for presidential candidates) to return to the streets (and protest),” Lee said.
The ruling conservative Saenuri Party, on the other hand, denounced the opposition’s move as an attempt to infringe upon the independence of the Constitutional Court.
But the Bareun Party, which split away from the Saenuri Party amid disputes on the president’s impeachment, took a different stance and demanded the president stop dragging on with the impeachment trial process.
By Bae Hyun-jung (
tellme@heraldcorp.com)