[UPDATES] S. Korean president expresses willingness to step down

By Park Sae-jin Posted : November 29, 2016, 15:16 Updated : November 29, 2016, 17:09

[Yonhap Photo]


Bowing to enormous public pressure, South Korean President Park Geun-hye expressed her willingness Tuesday to step down only on recommendations by parliament to take responsibility for a corruption scandal.

Opposition parties dismissed Park's gesture as a "trick" to escape her impeachment, saying the president should accept popular demands for her unconditional and resignation.

"The speech lacked self-reflection and repentance,"  the main opposition Democratic Party said in a statement. "What people want is her immediate resignation, not dragging it out and passing the responsibility to the parliament."

Park said in a televised statement that she would follow the National Assembly's decision about her possible resignation. "I will let the National Assembly determine my fate including the reduction of my presidential term."

"I will step down from the presidency according to a timetable and legal procedures if the ruling and the opposition parties work out ways to minimize an administrative vacuum and disturbances in state affairs and to transfer power in a stable manner," Park said.

Park's statement came after South Korean opposition groups agreed to push for a parliamentary vote probably this week on a bill to impeach the disgraced leader. Some ruling party legislators have promised to help the opposition secure the two-thirds majority needed.

The impeachment motion requires approval from more than 200 lawmakers. The ruling Saenuri Party controls 128 seats in the 300-member National Assembly. A final impeachment decision would be taken by the constitutional court, which may take up to six months.

The scandal involving Park's longtime friend Choi Soon-sil has seriously damaged the president's authority, triggering the worst crisis of her political career. Citizens have held a series of candle-lit rallies nationwide urging the resignation of Park who took office in early 2013 as South Korea's first female president.

In her statement Tuesday, Park said she should be blamed for mismanagement while insisting she has not sought any personal gains in executing state affairs.

"Now, I've taken my minds off everything. All I wish is that South Korea will get out of chaos as soon as possible and find back its track," she said.

If Park resigns, she could be potentially prosecuted because state prosecutors described the president as an accomplice who allegedly played a role in helping Choi export donations out of conglomerates for her own gain.

The scandal has put South Korea into a political quagmire, with state affairs crippled for weeks. Many citizens have been left with a deep sense of malaise and frustration. 
Park enjoys constitutional immunity, but the investigation by prosecutors leaves her vulnerable to prosecution after she quit office.

Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com


Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
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