Impeachment: MDP Seeks NEC Ruling on President Roh’s Plans

The Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) plans to file a request with National Election Commission (NEC) to rule on the legality of the plans that President Roh Moo-hyun disclosed in a March 11 press conference to use the April National Assembly elections as a vote of confidence on his presidency, the MDP said on March 15.

Separately, the MDP filed an opinion of impeachment cases to the NEC and the Constitutional Court in which it alleged Roh’s plans, which underscore his all-out intervention in the elections, are not only in breach of election regulations but also in violation of the Constitution, which bans other means besides impeachment or resignation in determining whether or not the president will leave office.

“When he said he would link the elections to the issue of the confidence on his presidency, it was an enormous violation of election law by blackmailing people: ‘Support the Uri Party or I will ditch my presidency’,” said Rep. Kim Young-hwan, speaking for the MDP.

President Roh said on March 11, “I will take the will of the people that will be shown in the April general election and make a political decision that is consistent with the results. I’d like to address the issue of a confidence vote in this way.”

In related news, the MDP will lodge complaints with the Korean Broadcasting Commission and the prosecution against the Korea Broadcasting System (KBS), citing that the public broadcaster has spent 13 hours of its airtime against the impeachment while it ran an emergency program on the biggest blizzard in a century two weeks ago. It also plans to start party-wide protest and a boycott of viewer fees the KBS charges monthly.

MDP chairman Chough Soon-hyung and other MDP officials visited Ahn Dong-soo, the vice president of the KBS, and protested that the KBS has ignored its own responsibility and turned into a broadcaster for a political faction.

The leadership of the Grand National Party (GNP) visited three major TV networks to protest what it said is biased coverage and demanded to convene a meeting of Culture and Tourism Committee at the National Assembly. The GNP plans to form a taskforce on measures against the broadcasters to proactively respond to the “impartial coverage” of the impeachment by broadcasters.

Sung-Won Park swpark@donga.com