Roundup: S. Korean ruling party's floor leader resigns after president's public censure

Floor leader of South Korea's ruling Saenuri Party Yoo Seung-min resigned on Wednesday two weeks after President Park Geun-hye publicly lambasted him for his "politics of betrayal."

The ruling party held a closed-door meeting to discuss whether to force Yoo to step down, agreeing to a resolution recommending his resignation. Yoo immediately accepted the decision.

Yoo's resignation came after President Park publicly censured him during the June 25 cabinet meeting for his role in passing the revision bill on parliamentary law, which Park and her aides viewed as unconstitutional.

Park vetoed the bill and sent it back to the National Assembly for re-voting, and the bill would be automatically repealed as pro- Park faction lawmakers rejected the re-voting.

More than two-thirds, including pro-Park lawmakers, voted for the revision on May 29 to grant the parliament the right to challenge administrative enactment such as the government's enforcement ordinance.

President Park, whose approval rating plunged after the outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) for insufficient response, publicly mentioned the bill belatedly to place top priority on the tackling of the viral disease.

On June 25, Park said the revision bill would empower the parliament to intervene in "every" administration of the government, indirectly denouncing Yoo for his leading role in negotiating with the main opposition party to pass the bill through the parliament.

Park censured the passage of the bill in an unusually strong tone, describing Yoo's role as "politics of betrayal" as her former close aide only focused on his own "political interests." Yoo is now allegedly classified as the so-called "non pro-Park faction."

After Park's public censure, pro-Park faction lawmakers began to criticize Yoo and pressure him to resign from the post of floor leader, which is elected through the party convention.

Non pro-Park faction lawmakers, reportedly larger in size than the pro-Park clan, strongly denounced the pressure because even the president has no right to pressure the "elected" floor leader to step down. Yoo was elected on Feb. 2.

Former South Korean leaders had been called "imperial presidents" in the 1980s and 90s as they were given super authorities beyond the constitution, serving as the leader of both the administration and the ruling party.

Since the 2003-07 presidency of the late President Roh Moo-hyun, the excessive power of leaders was normalized as Roh voluntarily became one of rank and files of his ruling party.

Accepting the resignation resolution, Yoo told reporters at the parliamentary building that he had defied the calls for his resignation as he had to keep the precious value of the first clause of article 1 of the constitution.

The first clause stipulates that South Korea is a republic of democracy. Yoo's comments indicated that he resigned under the pressure of the chief executive, rather than the party members. Endi