With the Passage of the Impeachment Bill, Roh’s Authority is Suspended

On March 12, the bill authorizing Roh’s impeachment was passed in the National Assembly.

According to this decision, the authority of President Roh was immediately suspended after a copy of the impeachment bill was received by the General Affairs Department of Cheong Wa Dae at around 4 p.m. this day. Prime Minister Goh Kun has assumed the proxy role of president of Korea. The passage of the impeachment bill targeting the incumbent president is the first occurrence of its kind in the 56-year history of the Constitution in Korea. The Constitutional Court will make the final decision regarding the impeachment bill within 180 days.

On this day, as all the congressmen of the Open Uri Party, objecting to the passage of the impeachment bill, resigned from their seats in the National Assembly, and as the confrontation between pro-Roh and anti-Roh factions intensify, the political world, facing with the upcoming general election only 30 days from now, is wrapped up in a blinding blizzard.

At the voting of the impeachment bill, 195 among the 271 registered congressmen participated and passed the bill with 193 casting in favor and two against. The National Assembly Speaker, Park Kwan-yong, invoked his right of order restoration at around 11:06 a.m. in this morning and kicked out the Uri Party congressmen, who had obstructed and blocked the seat of the speaker, and concluded the voting procedure in 50 minutes.

Just after the passage of the impeachment bill, the head of the Legislation Judiciary Committee Kim Ki-chun sent the original text of the impeachment and a duplicate to the Constitutional Court and President Roh respectively.

The acting president, Goh Kun, summoned a temporary state council this afternoon and stated, “The entire Cabinet should put their heart and soul into carrying out the government responsibilities in order to settle down the anxiety of the public and prevent any adverse influences from affecting Korea’s national credence rate.”

The National Security Council (NSC) also held an executives meeting at Cheong Wa Dae this afternoon and disclosed, “The unprecedented predicament of presidential authority suspension may cause hazardous results in terms of national security. We will deal with this situation dauntlessly on the firmly accumulated basis of national security.”

On the other hand, the head of Grand National Party (GNP) Choi Byung-ryul, at the general meeting of congressmen which was held just after the passage of impeachment bill, remarked, “The impeachment bill was passed due to Roh’s incompetence which has ruined the country for a year since his inauguration. We should use all our strength to stabilizing the national administration by assisting the acting president and the Cabinet.”

The head of Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) Jo Soon-hyung also held a press conference and remarked, “In order to receive a briefing from Acting President Goh Kun on the matter of national administration and discuss about measures to cope with this situation and also to give the utmost support to the Goh Kun administration, we suggest holding a summit talk of the four parties and summoning an extraordinary session of the National Assembly.” GNP’s head, Choi Byung-ryul, MDP’s Chough Soon-hyung, and United Liberal Party’s Kim Jong-pil decided to hold a meeting at the congress on March 13, 2 p.m.

The head of the Open Uri Party, the ruling party, Jung Dong-young, appealed, “Since the passage of the impeachment bill is a coup d’etat masqueraded by the arm of law, it is invalid. One hundred ninety-three congressmen who voted for the impeachment bill should be excluded from the general election in April.” The Open Uri Party will appeal to the court to issue a provisional disposition on the impeachment bill on March 13.

Yeon-Wook Jung Jung-Hun Kim jyw11@donga.com jnghn@donga.com