Opposition Responds

[Anchor Lead]

The opposition camp blasted President Park's public address by saying it was only intended to disrupt the impeachment process. The opposition camp says it's determined to proceed with impeachment as planned.

[Pkg]

The opposition parties harshly criticized the president for her latest public address as an attempt to avoid impeachment, and vowed to proceed with the impeachment process as planned.

[Soundbite] Choo Mi-ae(Chair, Minjoo Party of Korea) : "We will pull together to carry out the impeachment process in an unwavering manner."

[Soundbite] Park Ji-won(Head of People's Party Emergency Committee) : "The president is trying to fool the National Assembly by refusing to step down no matter what."

The three opposition parties have agreed to step up preparations to pass the impeachment bill after discussing their opinions and coming up with a unified impeachment plan. The impeachment bill draft charges Park with several violations of the Constitution. It accuses her of violating popular sovereignty by abusing her power for her personal interests, and disregarding the career civil service system by letting Choi Soon-sil meddle in personnel decisions. The bill also mentions third-party bribery regarding irregularities in the selection of the Lotte and SK duty free shops, and includes the allegation that the president neglected her duties for seven hours when the Sewol ferry disaster occurred. Former chairman of the Minjoo Party of Korea, Moon Jae-in, blasted the president's public address, calling it a political scam aimed at dividing the parliament and avoiding impeachment. Former People's Party leader, Ahn Chul-soo, also criticized Park's address as an attempt to block the impeachment process by appealing to the ruling party.