South Korea's interim president Goh Kun yesterday vetoed a bill passed by the opposition-dominated parliament to restrict the president's power to grant special amnesties.
The bill requires the president to seek opinions from the National Assembly before granting special amnesties.
Opposition parties insist it is designed to stop the president from abusing his power.
But Goh disagreed, sending the bill back to the legislature which can present it again with a two-thirds majority.
The bill was approved after the government proposed an amnesty for several aides to former president Kim Dae-Jung who were convicted and jailed last year for illegally remitting money to North Korea ahead of a landmark inter-Korean summit in 2000.
The veto dealt a blow to opposition parties whose popularity has dwindled rapidly since they joined forces on March 12 to impeach President Roh Moo-Hyun for alleged election law violations, corruption and incompetence.
The Constitutional Court has summoned Roh to defend himself in person on March 30 at the first public hearing on his impeachment. The court has up to 180 days to decide whether to reject or uphold the impeachment.
Roh, 57, will be banned from holding public office for five years if the impeachment is upheld by at least six of the nine judges.
His legal defense sent a letter to the court late Monday insisting the impeachment was unconstitutional.
In the letter, Moon Jae-In, a former presidential secretary who leads Roh's legal team, insisted that the impeachment vote be overruled.
"The statement points out that the impeachment lacks legality in its procedures and constitutionality in itself," Moon was quoted by an aide as saying.
"We are preparing another statement to elaborate on our views from a more legal perspective," the aide told reporters.
The impeachment polarized politics and triggered a public backlash and daily protests by supporters of the former human right lawyer who took office in February last year.
The pro-government Uri Party, a progressive group with fewer than 50 parliamentary seats, is the big gainer in opinion polls, while support for the conservative main opposition Grand National Party with 145 seats in the 272-member National Assembly has been falling ahead of parliamentary elections next month.
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