The impeachment of embattled South Korean President Park Guen-hye in a snowballing corruption case inched closer yesterday when the main opposition party said it was examining its options.
The move comes one day after prosecutors named Park as a criminal suspect in a major influence-peddling case.
“We will immediately review the timing and methods of impeachment and set up a subcommittee to review a push for impeachment,” said Choo Mi-ae, head of the opposition liberal Democratic Party.
Two smaller opposition parties have already said they would seek to remove her.
Lawmakers have been under growing public pressure to oust Park, with weekly mass protests drawing hundreds of thousands of protesters across the country.
However, with impeachment proceedings likely to drag on for months, the Democratic Party has been reluctant to move because of fears of a backlash from conservative voters.
On Sunday, Seoul prosecutors said Park had colluded with her friend Choi Soon-sil, who is accused of coercing more than US$60 million from local firms and meddling in state affairs.
Park’s five-year term ends in February 2018, and observers said she is likely to do all she can to serve out her time, because a sitting president cannot be charged with a criminal offense except insurrection or treason.
The three opposition parties hold a combined 55 percent of parliamentary seats — short of the two-thirds majority required to pass an impeachment bill.
However, dozens of lawmakers in Park’s own party on Sunday vowed to support a push for her impeachment, wary of growing public anger about the scandal.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia