S.Korean people's concerns over impeachment of president grow

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

S.Korean people's concerns over impeachment of president grow

With the passage of the impeachmentbill against South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun earlier Friday, concerns among local ordinary people increased.

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With the passage of the impeachmentbill against South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun earlier Friday, concerns among local ordinary people increased.

The parliament approved the impeachment bill on Roh's illegal electioneering and incompetence charges, following hours of scuffles and dramatic protests.

The voting result came around 12:00 a.m. (0300 GMT) Friday. At the news of the surprising voting result of 193-2, the local stockmarket plunged.

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index, the barometer of the main bourse, tumbled 39.04 points to 830.89 as of 12:45 am (0345 GMT). The tech-heavy KOSDAQ market also plunged 27.80 points to 407.45.

Lim Song-hak, a director at Kyobo Securities Co., said foreign stock investors would be disappointed by the passage of the impeachment motion.

"With President Roh suspended from office, political uncertainty would heat up, rocking the stock market," he said.

"The passage of the bill is surely a negative factor for the economy at a time when corporate capital expenditures remain weak," Sohn Sang-ho, a researcher at the Korea Institute of Finance, said. "Companies may postpone their investment activities."

Officials at the Financial Supervisory Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) said they feared that foreign direct investments (FDI) in the South Korean market may be negatively affected by the latest political turmoil surrounding Roh's leadership.

The FDI in South Korea has continually decreased since 1999.

A disappointed feeling is prevailing here over the passage of the bill: an issue that could have been solved step by step has evolved into a catastrophe only because politicians are more concerned about party interests than the livelihood of people.

An accident happened earlier Friday morning reflected anger of local people. A business man ran his car into the National Assembly compound, and ignited his car to express dissatisfaction over lawmakers. He condemned legislators did not pay attention to ordinary people's livelihood but on partisan interests.

The Ministry of Finance and Economy convened an emergency meeting of ranking officials Friday and stressed that the government's economic policy will not be affected by the impeachment bill passage.

South Korean government tried to appease concerns emerging fromthe local business circles, saying no major change will be made during the period of time when South Korean Prime Minister Goh Kunacts as the chief executive until the the Constitutional Court makes its verdict.

According to the South Korean Constitution, Goh will serve as both president and prime minister until the Constitutional Court makes a final decision within 180 days on whether Roh must step down.

Participants in the economic emergency meeting, in particular, said that policies on creating more jobs, stabilizing real estate prices and boosting investment will proceed without halt.

But economic observers said confusion caused by the situation may pour cold water on efforts to revive the economy. The South Korean government previously set the goal of 5 percent growth in gross domestic product this year.

Head of the Asian country's central bank, the Bank of Korea (BOK), Park Seung also pointed out that political turmoil and social unrest may delay economic recovery.

Local people saw the unprecedented chaos in the National Assembly voting by local TV channels live broadcasting. They also saw legislators from different parties clashing severely, which certainly cast a shadow on their mind, analysts said.

Source: Xinhua

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