The ruling Saenuri Party holds an emergency meeting in parliament.[Yonhap News Photo]
South Korean opposition groups started drawing up a draft Monday on their motion to impeach President Park Geun-hye as the disgraced scandal-ridden leader ignored widespread public calls for her resignation.
Unless there is no clear commitment from Park, the opposition agreed to push for a parliamentary vote on her impeachment probably by the end of this week, with its morale lifted by huge candle-lit rallies in Seoul and elsewhere.
So far citizens have staged peaceful protests, but the situation was touch-and-go amid growing frustration and anger at Park's unyielding attitude.
At the latest rally on Saturday, calls for Park's arrest for playing a key role in a corruption scandal involving her longtime friend Choi Soon-sil and aides were louder than demands for her resignation, indicating public resentment has reached its peak.
The scandal has seriously damaged the president's authority, triggering the worst crisis of her political career and crippling state affairs, but Park who took office in early 2013 as South Korea's first female president has insisted she would carry out her duty as the head of state.
"(Park's) legal punishment appears to be unavoidable," Kim Moo-sung, a former Saenuri Party leader, said, adding many voters now want the president to stand trial.
Kim heads a faction of outspoken ruling party lawmakers who have promised to side with opposition groups. The main opposition Democratic Party said it would seek a parliamentary vote on Friday, or on December 9 as demanded by Kim's faction.
The motion requires approval from more than 200 lawmakers.The ruling Saenuri Party controls 128 seats in the 300-member National Assembly. After parliamentary approval, the motion will be sent to the Constitutional Court for up six months of deliberation. During the period, the president will be suspended.
Company owners voiced concern Monday about the scandal's impact on industrial activities after the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, one of the country's two umbrella labor groups, declared a general strike Wednesday to support the organizers of candle-lit rallies.
"The strike is illegal because it has nothing to do with industrial action aimed at improving working conditions," the Korea Employers Association said in a statement, accusing the militant confederation of aggravating economic woes.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
