Tag: Park Geun-hye

Here is the latest twist and turn in the South Korean Presidential political crisis:

President Park Geun-hye said Tuesday she will go the full distance with the impeachment process and has no intention of voluntarily stepping down.

Ahead of the scheduled National Assembly vote on a presidential impeachment motion Friday, Park met with Saenuri Party Chairman Lee Jung-hyun and floor leader Chung Jin-suk at the Blue House. After the 55-minute meeting, which was proposed by Park, Chung returned to the ruling party and made public Park’s position on the fate of a presidency gravely threatened by an influence-peddling and abuse of power scandal.

“If the impeachment process is moved forward as scheduled, and if the motion is passed, I am ready to stay calm and composed during the Constitutional Court’s deliberation on the legality of the impeachment,” Park was quoted as saying. “When the impeachment is passed, I will accept it and do all my best under that circumstance.”  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read the rest at the link, but according to the article the constitutional court has up to six months after impeachment to determine its legality.

Kim Jong-un may be enjoying the political scandal going in South Korea, but I am willing to bet the people in North Korea are noticing in the images shown in the media how South Koreans are allowed to rally and protest their government and they cannot:

Now, North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-Un can just sit back and watch as his counterpart President Park Geun-hye looks set to leave office under popular pressure. South Koreans have protested against Park for five straight weeks over her alleged involvement in an influence-peddling case, adding to spiking frustration with the nation’s history of political corruption.

“For North Korea’s leadership, the political instability [in South Korea] is excellent evidence for why its system and society are better than South Korea’s, supporting its position that North Korea is the one true, legitimate Korea,” Alison Evans, deputy head and senior Asia-Pacific analyst at IHS Markit, explained.

The two Koreas share language and family ties, but remain bitter enemies at the political level, having fought a three-year war to a stalemate in 1953. But they are currently experiencing a rare moment of unity in their common resentment towards Park.

Media outlets in both countries have lashed out against the head of state, with op-eds routinely referring to Park as a traitor and calling for her prosecution. Of course, North Korean media is entirely state-run, unlike the South.

“North Korean media has widely reported on the turmoil in South Korean politics to show how, unlike Kim Jong Un’s government, South Korea’s government does not listen to its people, particularly the workers’ unions,” Evans continued.  [CNBC]

You can read more at the link.

It is looking like President Park Geun-hye will resign as the South Korean President in late April which means elections are supposed happen 60 days after that.  That makes late June 2017 as the timeframe for the next ROK Presidential election:

A rift emerged in the opposition alliance to impeach President Park Geun-hye this week as last-minute talks among the leaders of three liberal parties broke down Thursday, while ruling party lawmakers united to promote an “orderly” resignation of the president in April.

Chairwoman Choo Mi-ae of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea, Rep. Park Jie-won, acting head of the People’s Party and Chairwoman Sim Sang-jeong of the Justice Party held a meeting Thursday afternoon to discuss a specific timeline for an impeachment motion in the National Assembly. Citing an agreement from the previous day, Choo and Sim said the motion must be submitted on Thursday to allow a vote today. Park disagreed. He said he opposed a vote that was guaranteed to fail.

The embattled president issued a public statement Tuesday saying she was willing to cut her term short. She asked the National Assembly to decide the fate of her presidency in response to a public clamor for her resignation over a still snowballing abuse of power scandal.

Her proposal was considered an alternative to impeachment. Since Tuesday, members of her own party who were supporting impeachment have swung to the idea of another kind of resignation, which has been code-named the “orderly” departure scenario.

Park won a five-year presidential term in the 2012 election and her tenure is scheduled to end in late February 2018. [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

It appears that one way or another President Park is not going to complete her little over one year remaining in office after this announcement:

President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday called on parliament to determine her fate, saying she will step down in line with a timetable and procedures reached by political parties that can minimize any confusion arising from a government change.

Opposition parties dismissed the call as part of a political gambit to stall for time and thwart their impeachment push, stressing they won’t break ranks and will continue their move to oust the president.

During her third address to the nation over the corruption scandal centered on her confidante Choi Soon-sil, Park renewed her apology for her inability to address mounting public fury, but repeated her denial of any involvement in the scandal.

Earlier this month, the prosecution cited Park as an accomplice in “considerable parts” of the alleged wrongdoings carried out by Choi and her former aides — allegations denied by the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae.

“I will entrust the National Assembly with (the task of) making decisions on issues, including the shortening of my presidential term,” she said during the five-minute address. Her single, five-year term ends in February 2018.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but I think President Park probably does not want to put her political party members in a tough situation in regards to whether or not to support the impeachment vote coming up.  Offering to resign buys her political party time to organize a campaign for a person to replace her.  After she resigns elections are supposed to be held in 60 days.  It is going to be interesting to see how this plays out for President Park.

I find it hard to believe that these Viagra pills were purchased solely to combat altitude sickness, but who knows:

Little blue pills in South Korea’s presidential Blue House?

President Park Geun-hye’s office on Wednesday confirmed revelations by an opposition lawmaker that it purchased about 360 erectile dysfunction Viagra pills and the generic version of the drug in December.

While the report has created a frenzy on the internet, Park’s office said the pills were bought to potentially treat altitude sickness for presidential aides and employees on Park’s May trips to Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya, whose capitals are 0.6 to 1.2 miles above sea level.

The pills weren’t used, said Jung Youn-kuk, a Blue House spokesman. South Korean doctors sometimes prescribe Viagra-style drugs to climbers because they are believed to be effective in preventing altitude sickness.

The presidential office also purchased a variety of injection drugs used for fatigue and anti-aging treatment, according to the office of lawmaker Kim Sanghee. Park’s spokesman explained that the presidential office purchases drugs for the president’s entire staff including security officers.  [CBS News]

You can read more at the link.

Just another Saturday night at the @Reuters Seoul bureau… pic.twitter.com/7jCu6bHXQL

— James Pearson (@pearswick) November 19, 2016

Choo Mi-ae, chief of the main opposition Democratic Party, shouts slogans as she leads a ceremony in Seoul on Nov. 18, 2016, to launch a party-wide body to popularize a movement in the general public to oust President Park Geun-hye over a seething political scandal involving Park and her longtime confidante Choi Soon-sil. (Yonhap)

People opposing the resignation of President Park Geun-hye march toward Namdaemun Gate, an iconic landmark from the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) and South Korea’s National Treasure No. 1, in Seoul on Nov. 19, 2016. Park has been under pressure to step down over a nation-rocking political scandal involving her and her longtime confidante Choi Soon-sil. (Yonhap)

이야 이건 진짜 센스가ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ pic.twitter.com/Z9BDGyu5CG

— 석류 (@Ryu_suni) November 12, 2016

This is the lowest I can remember any Korean President’s approval rating going:

Investigators have been declining to comment on possible investigation into Park, and they have not suggested that she profitted from the scandal either.

Despite suspicions by many in the country that Park profitted from the scandal, no president since Roh Tae-woo, who left office in 1993, has ever been implicated in using the office to amass personal wealth, although relatives and close associates have done so, with many going to jail for their misdeeds.

Park’s approval rating remained at a record-low 5 percent this week, according to local pollster Gallup Korea.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.