Impeachment Vote

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A vote is under way in the National Assembly on a motion to impeach President Park Geun-hye. The impeachment motion against the president is the second of its kind in the Republic of Korea's constitutional history. Here’s more.

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The National Assembly is holding a vote on President Park Geun-hye's impeachment motion. The impeachment bill was introduced to Parliament Thursday, six days after it was first submitted. And the motion was put forward for a vote on Friday, the last day of the Assembly's regular session.

[Soundbite] Kwon Yeong-jin(National Assembly Secretariat) : "Here are the items to be reported. On Dec. 3, an impeachment bill on Pres. Park Geun-hye was submitted by 171 lawmakers including Rep. Woo Sang-ho, Park Jie-won and Roh Hoe-chan."

The motion proposed by the three opposition parties and independent lawmakers indicates a third-party bribery charge, Choi Soon-sil's interference in state affairs and charges of leaking presidential documents as grounds for impeachment. The president's insufficient response during the early hours of the Sewol ferry sinking in 2014 which non-mainstream members of the ruling Saenuri Party had requested to be dropped from the bill also remains as is. Earlier, the Saenuri Party's pro-president leadership called for prudence regarding the impeachment vote repeatedly urging for discussions on a roadmap for Park's resignation in April followed by a presidential election in June. The opposition bloc has declared that all members will step down from their parliamentary seats if the impeachment motion fails. Foreign news media are also covering Korea's impeachment vote as a major news headline. The result of the impeachment vote against the president, only the second in Korea's constitutional history, is drawing keen attention at home and abroad.