The Hindu : Impeached Roh pins hopes on court decision

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Mar 13, 2004

International

International

Impeached Roh pins hopes on court decision

By P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE, MARCH 12. The South Korean President, Roh Moo-hyun, was today stripped of his powers following his impeachment by the National Assembly in Seoul. The Constitutional Court will decide within 180 days whether Mr. Roh should be indicted or allowed to resume office. The impeachment motion was based on the charge that Mr. Roh had violated electoral laws by openly pledging to do whatever he could, within legal bounds, to ensure the success of the pro-Government Uri Party in the prospective parliamentary elections, scheduled for April 15. The political genesis of the move was traced to the financial irregularities which his aides were alleged to have perpetrated at the time of his election in December 2002 to a five-year term.

Soon after the impeachment, the Prime Minister, Goh Kun, took over as chief executive, without being formally sworn in as President, to prevent a political vacuum. Mr. Goh, 66-year old veteran politician, identified "economic stability'' as the "supreme priority'' and pledged to prevent the erosion of South Korea's "international credibility''.

The Government said Mr. Goh would function as the supreme commander of the armed forces and uphold the domestic and foreign policies. It was stated officially that "the Government has quickly moved to take necessary measures to prevent the nation from spiralling into confusion''.

A continuance of the policies was also cited as a reason for such swift action. The unprecedented action by the unicameral Parliament against South Korea's plenipotentiary head of state brought Seoul under intense international spotlight. South Korea is a key participant in the ongoing process of six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons `programme'. Seoul is also poised to send additional troops, inclusive of combat-ready personnel, to Iraq.

The U.S.-South Korean military alliance has also come under scrutiny by both sides, with neither indicating a strategic divorce, though. The impeachment resolution was carried by the mandatory two-thirds majority in the 271-member Assembly, with 193 voting for and only two against. The pro-government legislators did not participate in the voting in a chamber dominated by the Opposition parties.

Scenes of anger and frustration punctuated the proceedings prior to the voting that followed the Speaker, Park Kwan-yong's orders that the protesting members be removed from the House. The pro-government Uri Party had earlier sought to block a passage-way inside the chamber.

Shock waves swept across the financial markets in South Korea, which was among the early East Asian countries to make the grade as a "tiger economy''.

The Government said that the Korea Composite Stock Price Index plummeted, on the whole, by 2.43 per cent. A series of fluctuations had marked the day's trading. The pro-government party characterised the political denouement as "parliamentary coup d'etat''.

At the other end of the political spectrum, the main architect of the impeachment move, the Opposition Grand National Party, said the suspension of Mr. Roh, "who contaminated state affairs with corruption and confusion, was an act of (political) determination to save the nation''. Another prime mover, the Millennium Democratic Party, described the impeachment as "a victory for the people and representative democracy''.

Even as the South Korean Foreign Ministry sought to reassure immediate neighbours of continuity in policies, the Head Justice of the Constitutional Court, Yun Yung-chul, pledged that the court would "try its best to make a proper decision (on Mr. Roh's impeachment) as soon as possible, considering the possibilities of political and social turmoil following the President's suspension from duty''.

A two-third majority is required in the nine-member Constitutional Court as well. Mr. Roh, on his part, expressed the hope that the outcome would be different at the Constitutional Court because "it will make a legal judgment which is different from a political judgment''.

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