The turmoil that has engulfed South Korea for weeks has now crossed a critical threshold. The National Assembly voted on Friday to impeach President Park Geun-hye. She?s accused of more than a dozen constitutional and legal offenses, including helping her shadowy confidante extort money from corporations, peddle influence and meddle in state affairs. She joins a long line of Korean presidents who have been embroiled in scandals.
But the significance of the impeachment vote goes far beyond this particular scandal. This scandal brought to light particularly egregious examples of the coziness of government-business ties, elite privilege, the untrammeled powers of the presidency, and deep societal inequities. These factors together helped drive Park?s approval ratings down to 4 percent and help explain the increasingly large candlelight demonstrations calling for Park Geun-hye to resign.
The millions of people protesting Park?s refusal to resign prompted the opposition parties to impeach her. Together, the opposition parties hold a majority of seats in the National Assembly, but fewer than the two thirds required to pass the impeachment motion. The 234 votes for impeachment on Friday indicate that about half of the legislators from Park?s own conservative party, including some of her own faction, joined the opposition parties in voting for impeachment.
The impeachment motion is just the beginning. As the process grinds forward, candlelight demonstrations are likely to continue. The day after the impeachment vote, one demonstration drew nearly a million people. But tackling the endemic corruption and social inequities that this scandal represents will take much longer.
What comes next
The motion?s passage suspended Park?s powers, but not her title or salary. Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-Ahn took over as acting president. Hwang is also deeply unpopular, as a Park appointee and loyalist. He is unlikely to change policy.
The Korean Constitutional Court now has six months to weigh the evidence for Park?s impeachment. This may not be a quick or simple process. The court may wait for the independent counsel to finish investigating accusations leveled at Park in the impeachment motion. In addition, the court is reputedly conservative-leaning and at least six of the nine justices (and the terms of two are scheduled to end early next year) must vote to uphold the impeachment motion. If they clear this bar, then a presidential election will take place within 60 days.
