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Demonstrators march through Busan calling on President Park Geun-hye to resign

The entire world is watching as South Korea’s candlelight protests spread like wildfire. Now is the time for the country’s politicians to embrace angry citizens’ peaceful yet determined demands for President Park Geun-hye to resign. Since not only the impeachment proceedings against Park but also the appointment of a special prosecutor and the beginning of the parliamentary investigation will be taking place in rapid succession, the first week of December is likely to go down in history as a turbulent time.

Nov. 26. (by Kim Il-woo

Park has disregarded the warnings of the candlelight protests, and now she is staring impeachment proceedings in the face. The opposition Minjoo Party and People’s Party will jointly prepare the motion for impeachment by Nov. 30, and on the same day the floor leaders of the three main opposition parties will meet to determine when to submit the motion. If the opposition parties have lined up enough support for impeachment from Saenuri Party lawmakers who are not aligned with Park, they could submit the motion as early as Nov. 30. In this case, the report would probably be made to a full session of the National Assembly on Dec. 1, and the motion would likely be passed on Dec. 2.

During a meeting on Nov. 27, a group of Saenuri Party lawmakers not aligned with Park announced that it would focus its efforts on mobilizing support for impeachment inside the party and pledged its unconditional participation in the opposition’s impeachment drive. At the same time, lawmaker Hwang Yeong-cheol, who is a spokesperson of sorts for the caucus, prefers bringing the motion to a vote on Dec. 9. “Dec. 2 is not appropriate since there is a lot of legislation on that day,” he explained.

While the opposition parties could decide to push back the vote for the impeachment motion to Dec. 9, the special prosecutor and the parliamentary investigation will be getting underway this week, too. If the Minjoo Party and People’s Party recommend two candidates for special prosecutor to the Blue House on Nov. 29, Park must appoint one of the two by Dec. 1. Immediately upon his or her appointment, the special prosecutor will embark on a 90-day investigation (which can be extended up to 30 days).

One important question is whether Park will be questioned by prosecutors before Nov. 29, which is the deadline that the prosecutors have announced. Along with abuse of power, leaking government documents and extortion, the prosecutors are also weighing the idea of charging Park with bribery.

Demonstrators in central Daegu chant slogans calling on President Park Geun-hye to resign

On Nov. 30, the National Assembly’s parliamentary investigation will also be hearing the first round of institutional reports from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism; the Ministry of Justice; and the National Pension Service, which are embroiled in the Choi Sun-sil influence-peddling scandal

As the impeachment proceedings draw closer, there is also likely to be increasing discord within the Saenuri Party. On Nov. 28, six leaders of the Park and non-Park factions of the party will be meeting to discuss the formation of an emergency action committee.

By Kim Jin-cheol, staff reporter

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