Park fights for her political life amid scandal that has made her country’s least popular leader since it became democratic

The South Korean president, Park Geun-hye, is fighting for her political life after MPs on Friday voted by a huge margin to impeach her over a corruption and cronyism scandal that has made her the country’s most unpopular leader since it became a democracy in the late 1980s.

Park, the daughter of a former South Korean dictator, who became the country’s first female president in late 2012, apologised to ministers for her “carelessness” and said she hoped for an early resolution to a political crisis that has engulfed everyone from senior aides in the presidential Blue House to leaders of some of the country’s biggest companies.

“I solemnly accept the voice of the parliament and the people and sincerely hope this confusion is soundly resolved,” Park said, according to the presidential office. “I wholeheartedly offer words of apology to the people as my lack of virtue and carelessness have caused great confusion at a time when the nation faces challenges over national security and the economy.”

As expected, Park said she would prepare for a court review of the impeachment motion, and asked ministers to cooperate with South Korea’s acting leader, the prime minister, Hwang Kyo-ahn.

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Hwang, a Park loyalist who could struggle to build public support around his leadership, immediately ordered the defence minister, Han Min-koo, to put the military on a state of heightened readiness in case of any provocations by North Korea. The unification ministry, which handles affairs related to the North, said policy towards the regime in Pyongyang would continue “without disruption”.

Japan said it was “closely watching” developments in South Korea, while China said it hoped that the country’s political stability would be restored soon.

Friday’s vote in favour of impeachment is also being seen as a reflection of public anger over how South Korea, despite decades of economic development and freedoms that contrast dramatically with its neighbour North Korea, remains in the grip of a political and industrial elite.

Massive anti-Park demonstrations held in recent weeks have called for a new era of cleaner politics and for whoever becomes the next president to force the country’s family-run chaebol conglomerates to be more transparent and accountable.

The crisis, which was sparked in late October by Park’s relationship with Choi Soon-sil, a longtime friend, is by far the most serious of her presidency, which was supposed to run until February 2018.

Allegations that Park abused her position to help Choi secure tens of millions of dollars of funding for her foundations from major South Korean companies, and even allowed her to influence policy, provoked a wave of anger across the country, sending the president’s approval rating to a record low of 4%.

Choi faces embezzlement charges while Park, who has been named as a formal suspect, has repeatedly apologised for her “naivety” but denied seeking any personal gain. Her lawyer has denounced as groundless prosecutors’ allegations that she was “collusively involved” in Choi’s alleged activities.

Park first met Choi in the 1970s after the death of Park’s mother during an assassination attempt on her father, Park Chung-hee, who was then South Korea’s president. Choi’s father, the leader of shady religious cult, emerged as Park’s mentor after Park Chung-hee was assassinated by his head of intelligence in 1979.

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When Park announced her candidacy for president, older South Koreans were sympathetic towards a woman who was thrust into the spotlight as acting first lady after her mother’s death. During her campaign, Park, who never married, said the absence of family life meant she would be able to devote every waking moment to running the country.

But Friday’s vote was a measure of just how deeply her reputation has sunk in the space of less than two months. By the time MPs’ votes had been tallied, enough members of Park’s own Saenuri party had backed her impeachment to ensure the vote was carried.

Kang Dong-wan, a professor at Dong-A University in Busan, attributed the overwhelming vote in favour of impeachment to the strength of feeling on display at recent demonstrations in Seoul and other cities.

“It looks like more from the ruling Saenuri party gave their support than many had expected after realising that the party could collapse if the bill doesn’t get approved,” Kang said.

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The national assembly speaker, Chung Sye-kyun, said the bill had been passed by a vote of 234 for and 56 against, with nine invalid votes and abstentions. The bill needed the support of 200 of the assembly’s 300 members to pass.

As lawmakers brought Park’s presidency to the brink of destruction, protesters gathered in front of the national assembly. Inside the chamber, opposition MPs sat on the floor, raised their fists and chanted “Impeach!”

“Can you hear the roar of the people in front of the national assembly? We need to overcome the old establishment and create a new Republic of Korea by passing [the impeachment motion],” Kim Kwan-young, an opposition lawmaker, said just before the vote. “Our great people have already opened the way. Let’s make it so we can stand honourably in front of history and our descendants.”

After the vote, people outside cheered and held up signs saying “Victory for the people” and “New Republic of Korea”.

Park, 64, will now wait for the country’s constitutional court to decide whether the impeachment vote is valid – a process that could take up to six months.

The bill’s success means Park will be stripped of her power and her duties will be temporarily transferred to Hwang while the court reviews whether parliament observed due process in impeaching her.

If six of the court’s nine justices support impeachment, Park will be removed from office and a presidential election held within 60 days. If six judges reject impeachment, however, she will be immediately reinstated and could serve the rest of her single, five-year term.

Though powerless, Park will retain the title of president. While the court deliberates, she will continue living at the Blue House while Hwang will work out of his office in Seoul. Park will also be able to use her official car and plane, and will receive her monthly salary of around $15,000.

However, she is no longer commander-in-chief of South Korea’s 630,000-strong military, and must cede to Hwang the power to appoint officials and sign treaties.



Park would lose presidential immunity if she left office early, and could be prosecuted for abuse of power and bribery, among other charges. No sitting South Korean president can face criminal charges, other than for insurrection and treason.

Analysts said Park would be mistaken to pin her last hopes of survival on the constitutional court’s conservative bench. While the judges have sided with her before, Kim Jong-dae, who served on the bench for six years until 2012, believes they will ratify Park’s impeachment.

“I believe the judges will make a decision based on their love of the country and conscience,” Kim said. “They are also people of the Republic of Korea, breathing the same air as all of us.”

Attention has inevitably turned to Park’s potential successors as South Korean president.

Moon Jae-in, a veteran lawmaker from the opposition Democratic party of Korea, is the current frontrunner. The former human rights lawyer has won plaudits for his uncompromising stance towards Park and his warning to constitutional court judges that overturning an impeachment vote would be a betrayal of the South Korean people.

The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, has slipped to second place after suffering a dip in support due to his close association with Park’s Saenuri party – although he is not a member.

The 72-year-old career diplomat served as South Korea’s foreign minister from 2004 to 2006. He has signalled that he is interested in returning to South Korean politics after he leaves his UN post at the end of the year, but has recently refused to comment publicly on the Park scandal.

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There has been talk of Park’s predicament creating a “Trump effect” in South Korea, fuelled by public fury towards the political establishment and, as underlined by the current scandal, its cosy ties with the country’s powerful conglomerates.

That sentiment could open the door to Lee Jae-myung, the liberal mayor of Seongnam and a vocal supporter of Park’s impeachment. The 52-year-old, who could threaten Moon’s left-leaning support base, has been a visible presence at the huge demonstrations that have swept South Korea in recent weeks, using them to call for a “revolution” in the country’s politics.

Friday’s vote marks a stunning downfall for a politician who was once known as the “queen of elections” for her ability to rally support for her party at the polls.

“Choi-gate” aside, Park has faced intense criticism over her handling of the April 2014 Sewol ferry tragedy, in which more than 300 schoolchildren and teachers died. Park was absent for seven hours on the day of the disaster, sparking a flurry of media speculation over her whereabouts.

Critics say her conduct as president has uncomfortable echoes of her father, who kickstarted South Korea’s industrial development but presided over widespread human rights abuses as leader in the 1960s and 70s.

Under the younger Park, South Korea has become a more illiberal place, her critics claim, as she sought to silence dissent with crackdowns on press freedoms, and threw her support behind police suppression of anti-government protests and the court-ordered dissolution of a minor leftwing party that was seen as pro-North Korean.