20 November 2016•Update: 20 November 2016
By Alex Jensen
SEOUL
South Korea’s opposition parties are openly considering impeachment proceedings against President Park Geun-hye, who was officially named a suspect Sunday in a snowballing scandal that has dragged her approval rating down to a record-low five percent and prompted weeks of mass protests.
Park's status shifted when prosecutors publicly accused her for the first time of colluding with secret confidante Choi Soon-sil and two former aides in alleged wrongdoing.
The declaration came as Choi and ex-senior secretaries An Chong-bum and Jeong Ho-seong were indicted for their suspected roles in crimes including forcing conglomerates to give donations worth tens of millions of dollars for illicit gain and giving away state secrets.
Public anger has additionally been provoked by claims that Choi ensured preferential education treatment for her daughter and even wielded an undue influence over governing the country with access to dozens of confidential materials despite being a private citizen.
Park already admitted to sending speech drafts to be checked by her old acquaintance Choi and insisted her fundraising motives were "pure”.
But having agreed to become the first sitting South Korean president to be questioned by prosecutors, it remained to be seen whether she would be interrogated as expected in the coming week.
Her attorney Yoo Yeong-ha stated Sunday that he “cannot accept” any part of the prosecution’s findings that list Park as an accomplice.
As the president is protected from criminal prosecution by her position, it would be up to lawmakers in the National Assembly to trigger the impeachment process.
“President Park has now become a suspect, creating legal conditions to table a motion for her impeachment,” main opposition Democratic Party spokesperson Youn Kwan-suk told reporters.
“She should follow people's demands through a decision to resign voluntarily rather than making the worst choice that would plunge the nation into a bigger crisis.”
That opinion was shared by the opposition bloc generally, as eight hopefuls for next year’s presidential election held an emergency meeting.
Moon Jae-in, the frontrunner among them, reaffirmed “that reasons are sufficient for her impeachment”.
Even some members of Park’s own ruling party are pushing for the president’s removal from office, suggesting that the move could well achieve the required two-thirds of a vote in the Assembly.
The presidential office responded by vowing to prove Park’s innocence through an upcoming independent investigation and accusing the prosecution of being hasty and under political influence -- although that separate probe was primarily passed by the Assembly’s opposition bloc, who will be nominating the candidates to oversee it.
Certainly, these most recent developments will have done little for Park's popularity a day after hundreds of thousands of protesters gathered in Seoul and cities nationwide to demand her resignation for a fourth consecutive weekend -- with plans to do the same next Saturday.
