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1. Choi Soon-sil Scandal and the Impeachment of Pres. Park

2016-12-29

Choi Soon-sil Scandal and the Impeachment
of Pres. Park

The influence-peddling scandal involving President Park Geun-hye’s confidante Choi Soon-sil sparked massive candlelight vigils nationwide and ultimately led to the impeachment of the president.

The National Assembly on December ninth passed at a plenary session a motion seeking Park’s impeachment.

A total of 171 lawmakers from the three opposition parties as well as independent lawmakers cosponsored the motion and handed it over to parliament on December eighth.

Two-hundred-99 lawmakers out of the total 300 voted on whether to impeach the president. The National Assembly voted in favor of the motion 234 to 56. Two lawmakers abstained and seven votes were invalidated.

As a result, Park’s duties as chief executive were suspended. The Constitutional Court now has six months to rule whether Park must leave office altogether, or whether she should be reinstated as president.

The Choi Soon-sil scandal first drew attention after suspicions of irregularities arose over the establishment of the Mir and K Sports foundations. The suspicions expanded into a major influence-peddling scandal after Choi was found to have received the president’s speeches in advance and edited them.

Candlelight vigils demanding an explanation developed into massive rallies that voiced for the president to step down. In the face of such calls, Park replaced key aides allegedly involved in the scandal and apologized to the people in televised speeches, saying she would undergo probes by prosecutors and an independent counsel.

Despite the president’s efforts, the massive candlelight vigils continued every weekend, drawing more than one million people at a time.

The president’s proposals to hold a meeting with opposition camp leaders and to appoint a prime minister recommended by parliament were all rejected by the opposition.

A crucial factor that led to Park’s impeachment was the results of a prosecution probe on the scandal that identified the president as an accomplice in many of the criminal acts allegedly committed by Choi.
The results further angered the public. Park’s close aides at the center of the scandal, including Choi, were indicted.

The South Korean people are now waiting for the results of a probe by an independent counsel that launched full-fledged operations on December 21st and the ruling by the Constitutional Court on Park’s impeachment motion.