South Korea’s opposition might have secured just enough votes from South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s ruling party to impeach her this week, getting a boost from the biggest candlelight protests yet over her influence-peddling scandal.
A faction in Park’s ruling party on Sunday agreed to support an impeachment motion set for a vote on Friday, Saenuri Party lawmaker Chang Je-won said on Facebook.
Votes from the 29 lawmakers, when added to the 171 opposition and independent politicians already supporting impeachment, would be just enough to reach the threshold of 200 required to pass the motion in the 300-seat South Korean National Assembly.
The faction led by former floor leader Yoo Seong-min last week said it would oppose impeaching Park if she agreed to step down at the end of April next year.
That condition no longer applies, Chang said, calling the decision by his faction a “tough” one.
“Joining the impeachment vote is the only way to humbly accept the wishes of the people reflected in the candles and put the government affairs back on track,” he said.
The anti-Park rally on Saturday — the sixth since she apologized to the nation in October for allowing her friend, Choi Soon-sil, to meddle in government affairs — drew 320,000 protesters in Seoul, police said.
Organizers put the number at 1.7 million.
Moon Jae-in, the front-runner in presidential polls, planned to lead another candlelight rally at the National Assembly yesterday to keep the pressure on the Saenuri Party, said Lee Ji-soo, a spokesman for the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea.
Park might give her fourth national address over the scandal today or tomorrow, and she might say she will resign by the end of April, Yonhap News Agency reported yesterday, citing unidentified people in the ruling bloc.
Her office did not immediately reply to an inquiry on whether she plans to speak this week.
Park’s single, five-year term is scheduled to end in early 2018. Her impeachment, if approved by the legislature, has to be reviewed by the South Korean Constitutional Court, which can take as long as 180 days.
A presidential election would follow in 60 days if the court agrees to remove her from power.
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