Scores of S.Korean ruling party lawmakers agree to disband party over scandal

Scores of South Korean ruling Saenuri Party lawmakers agreed Sunday to disband their party following the largest mass rally in three decades the previous night to demand President Park Geun-hye's resignation.

About 80 Saenuri lawmakers, including members of the non-President Park faction within the governing party, held an emergency meeting, issuing a statement to declare "Saenuri Party already ended its days."

They decided to push the dissolution of their party to take responsibility for the scandal involving President Park's decades-long confidante Choi Soon-sil suspected of meddling in state affairs from the shadows, according to local media reports.

The legislators urged the scandal-hit president to put down everything, indicating their demand for Park's resignation.

It was a more aggressive action from the previous position that President Park should distance herself from government affairs and the ruling party leadership should step down.

Such calls followed the candlelight vigil and peaceful march in central Seoul on Saturday night that drew about 1 million people, the largest since June 1987 when the identical number of demonstrators protested against the military dictatorship.

Presidential spokesman Jung Youn-kuk told reporters that the president took situations gravely, saying Park is worrying about how to normalize state affairs.

Saenuri Party chairman Lee Jung-hyun told a closed-door supreme council meeting that he will step down soon after a parliament-proposed prime minister is appointed and a politically-neutral cabinet is launched. His comments are not in line with the non-Park faction's call for the leadership's immediate resignation. Enditem