hankyoreh

The leaders of the three main opposition parties meet at the National Assembly to discuss a plan for the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye after Park’s third public address

The opposition is doubling down on plans for an immediate impeachment of President Park Geun-hye after her recent third address to the public over the ongoing Choi Sun-sil government interference scandal.

The opposition’s decision appears based on the cool public response to the President’s third address, in which she opted to leave responsibility for the timeline of her departure or retreat to a secondary role up to the National Assembly without stating her own plans. But the Saenuri Party’s non-Park faction, which holds the deciding vote in an impeachment, showed a more reserved stance than before, insisting on a Dec. 9 date for the impeachment vote while asking for negotiations with opposition leaders over a possible April resignation.

In a Nov. 30 meeting at the National Assembly, leaders of the three main opposition parties reaffirmed their refusal to take part in bipartisan talks on curtailing Park’s term and made renewed calls for her unconditional departure. They also agreed to try their best for a Dec. 2 vote on the impeachment motion, with passage coming during the last regular session plenary meeting on Dec. 9 at the latest. With their decision, they refused the non-Park faction’s “bipartisan negotiations first, impeachment motion second” compromise plan in favor of a hard-line response - an apparent attempt to prevent breaking of the ranks supporting impeachment.

The non-Park faction also fired back at critics’ charges that they had changed their stance on impeachment after Park’s address, insisting that its members had “not retreated” and could “definitely get the necessary votes for impeachment.”

“Late April of next year would be a suitable time for President Park to step down, but the people can‘t just wait around for negotiations,” said Hwang Young-cheol, a spokesperson for the Saenuri Party’s non-Park heavy Emergency Situation Committee. “We could have negotiations through the evening of Dec. 8, and if it doesn’t work we’ll have to begin impeachment procedures on the 9th.”

But another variable concerns Saenuri Party leader Lee Jung-hyun and other members of the pro-Park leadership, who persistently continue trying to talk the non-Park faction lawmakers out of voting for the impeachment. Even floor leader Chung Jin-suk, the figure negotiating with the opposition, has expressed opposition to impeachment, saying it would “only make the government chaos worse.” A few of the non-Park wing lawmakers who had previously supported Park‘s impeachment now oppose it or are withholding judgment after Park’s talk, sources said.

Despite the complex dynamics on both sides, politicians remain outwardly resolute. Soon after Park’s address the previous day, the civic group umbrella organization Emergency Citizen Action for the Park Geun-hye Administration’s Resignation and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and Federation of Korean Trade Unions denounced it as “deceptive” and “sneaky” and demanded Park‘s immediate resignation or impeachment. A sixth candlelight demonstration is scheduled to take place on Dec. 3, with the title “Day for Park Geun-hye’s Immediate Resignation.”

Even the senior figures who first suggested the idea of an April resignation at a Nov. 27 lamented that impeachment was “the only method left.”

“With the way [the President] keeps coming up with these craven and sneaky political ploys, there‘s no choice,” said former National Assembly Speaker Kim Soo-han in a telephone interview with the Hankyoreh. “The National Assembly has to push ahead with an impeachment.”

Another former Speaker, Lim Chae-jung said, “The public is quite angry now because of the address, and I think the candlelight demonstrations are only going to get stronger.”

“The non-Park [lawmakers] are going to have to come back to the impeachment option - if they don’t, we’re going to see a situation of such intensity and ferocity that I don’t want to imagine,” Lim predicted.

But others maintain the ruling and opposition party sides should at least try to negotiate toward an April resignation by Park.

“If you think of the chaos and divisions an impeachment would bring, it‘s better to follow the doyen’s advice and have the two sides agree on an orderly resignation sometime around April,” said Kim Gwang-du, director of the Institute for the Future of State.

“The pro-Park faction’s idea for tying the matter to amendment of the Constitution [as mentioned after the third address] is not feasible, and it’s only feeding the public’s distrust,” Kim said.

By Seok Jin-hwan and Lee Se-young, staff reporters

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