Opposition should negotiate with Pres. Park while preparing for impeachment

Opposition should negotiate with Pres. Park while preparing for impeachment. November. 18, 2016 07:17. by 박제균논설위원 phark@donga.com.

A telephone survey of 101 of the ruling Saenuri Party’s 129 lawmakers found 39 of the respondents were in favor of President Park Geun-hye’s resignation or impeachment, the Kookmin Ilbo daily newspaper reported Thursday. Among them, 29 said they would support the start of her impeachment process or her detachment of herself from domestic affairs. Considering that the number of opposition party lawmakers or opposition-leaning legislators stands at 171, the addition of 29 lawmakers from the ruling party would enable the National Assemble to impeach the president. Park Joo-sun, deputy speaker of the National Assembly, asked on Thursday, “What politician in the right mind would not participate in the impeachment?”

The leaders of the three opposition parties – the main opposition Minjoo Party, the People’s Party and the Justice Party – met Thursday, only to fail to reach a conclusion between the Minjoo and Justice parties’ proposal of a movement to oust the president and the People’s Party’s call for a negotiation with the president over the nomination of a prime minister. Even though President Park is attempting to regain control by refusing the prosecution’s investigation of her and over her scandal and appointing vice ministers, it is irresponsible for the National Assembly to have failed to present any political, systemic, legal, or institutional resolution of the situation. The Minjoo Party and its former leader Moon Jae-in are seeing their approval rate falling in a recent opinion poll, as Moon is being dragged by the party, which supports an anti-Park struggle outside of the parliament.

At a time when the presidential office is hiding behind the Constitution while refusing to have an “orderly retreat” in the hope of the conservatives’ rallying, she is leaving the National Assembly with only one option to choose from putting pressure on the president by starting an impeachment procedure in accordance with the Constitution. Constitutional scholars view that President Park’s handing over her power mandated by Korean people to such a private citizen as Choi Soon-sil is a grave violation of the Clause 1 of the Constitution, which defines the sovereignty of the people.

Although the term of Park Han-cheol, chief justice of the Constitutional Court, expires in late January 2017, the court can finish its deliberation of the president’s impeachment considering that it took 66 days for the top court to issue a ruling on the 2004 impeachment of then President Roh Moo-hyun. Even if the court needs more time, an opposition-appointed prime minister who would be the acting president would be able to name a new chief justice for the court. If the court can issue a ruling by the end of March 2017, the country can hold a presidential election by the end of May. This is in line with the call by Ahn Chul-soo, former leader of the People’s Party, to elect a new leader by the end of the first half of next year.

The opposition parties should be quick to reach an agreement on a new prime minister while proceeding with the impeachment. It is desirable for the president to hold a dialogue with opposition leaders. But if there is no time as Park Jie-won, acting chairman of the People's Party, insists, the opposition parties can name a new prime minister after how much power President Park is willing to hand over to a new prime minister. Both the ruling and opposition parties should realize that simply urging the president who has no intention of stepping down to resign would only prolong her stay in power.