S.Korean parliament passes bill to impeach president

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, March 12, 2004

S.Korean parliament passes bill to impeach president

South Korea's National Assembly passed an impeachment bill against President Roh Moo-hyun on Friday, announced National Assembly Speaker Park Kwan-yong.

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South Korea's National Assembly passed an impeachment bill against President Roh Moo-hyun on Friday, announced National Assembly Speaker Park Kwan-yong.

A total of 195 lawmakers attended the ballot, with 193 voting for the bill and the two others against.

Roh's presidential powers will be frozen and the Constitutional Court will make a final decision on whether he must step down. The court has 180 days to rule.

The parliament approved the impeachment bill on Roh's illegal electioneering and incompetence charges, following hours of scuffles and dramatic protests, including a man who set himself on fire.

The voting took place while pro-Roh lawmakers who earlier tried to block the vote were barred from entering the chamber by National Assembly security officers.

Live television footage showed huddles of lawmakers crushed behind the podium as security officers dragged out screaming pro-Roh Uri Party members one by one.

Lawmakers loyal to Roh had planned to thwart debate and stall for time, hoping that the impeachment motion would automatically expire according to the sunset clause on Friday evening.

It is stipulated that if the National Assembly had failed to act on the bill by Friday evening, it would have automatically died.

Dozens of pro-Roh Uri Party members had camped out around the podium overnight after South Korea's two main opposition parties first tried to call a vote on Thursday but were blocked.

A 20-minute scuffle took place earlier Friday when about 20 opposition legislators stormed the National Assembly hall to try to remove their rivals.

Later, about 200 Roh supporters briefly exchanged punches with riot police, who blocked them from marching on the National Assembly building. They chanted, "Let's block impeachment!"

President Roh later apologized for the chaos and urged calm.

"Regardless of which side is wrong, I offer my sincere apology for the situation in which the political confrontation has led to an impeachment move against me," Roh said in a statement read by his senior public relations secretary, Lee Byong-wan. "I strongly urge all sides to regain self-control."

On Thursday, a Roh supporter set himself on fire outside parliament, shouting "Let's block impeachment!"

The embattled leader has yet to apologize for the main point of the impeachment attempt: accusations that he broke election laws by stumping for the Uri Party in the upcoming April 15 parliamentary campaign.

Roh does not belong to a party, but has said he wants to join Uri.

The National Elections Commission ruled last week that Roh had engaged in illegal electioneering, but that the breach was minor, not warranting criminal charges.

Opposition lawmakers also charged Roh with incompetence at a time the country is trying to balance tensions over the nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula with a fragile economic recovery.

Profile

Roh, 58, was sworn in as the ninth president of the Republic of Korea for a five-year term of office on Feb. 25, 2003 after winning the presidential election in December 2002.

Roh, whose parents were farmers, graduated from Busan Commercial High School in 1966. Before entering politics, he worked as Judge at the Daejeon District Court in 1977 and a practicing attorney in 1978.

In 1988, Roh, a father of two, was elected to the 13th National Assembly in Busan's Eastern District and became a member of the Special Committee to Investigate Political Corruption.

He became Senior Member of the Central Committee of the United Democratic Party in 1993 and worked as vice president of the National Congress for New Politics (NCNP) since 1997. From August 2000 to March 2001, Roh was Minster of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries.

In September 2001, Roh announced to participate in the presidential election, one month before being elected Senior Member of the Central Committee of the then ruling Millennium Democratic Party.

On Sept. 29, 2003, Roh quitted the Millennium Democratic Party.

Source: Xinhua

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