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2nd LD Writethru: S.Korean president to calmly accept impeachment if passed

Xinhua, December 6, 2016 Adjust font size:

South Korean President Park Geun-hye said Tuesday that she will calmly accept the impeachment if it is passed in the scheduled parliamentary vote three days later.

Her comments were made during the one-hour meeting with the ruling Saenuri Party's chairman and floor leader in the presidential office that kicked off at about 2:30 p.m. local time.

Saenuri Party whip Chung Jin-suk told reporters after coming back to the National Assembly building that President Park has continued to consider accepting the party's call to let the president resign by next April to hold an early presidential election two months later.

Park said she will calmly accept the impeachment if it is passed through the unicameral assembly slated for this Friday, vowing to make every effort she can if the impeachment bill is approved.

Opposition and independent lawmakers handed in the bill to impeach the first South Korean female leader last Saturday. As there are 172 legislators from the opposition bloc, at least 28 Saenuri lawmakers must endorse the bill to overcome the two-thirds threshold of the 300-seat parliament.

President Park also agreed to allow the governing party lawmakers to freely vote on the impeachment motion. Tens of lawmakers of the party's faction, who are not loyal to Park, have agreed to vote for the impeachment, raising possibility for the passage of the bill, according to local media speculations.

Saenuri Party chief Lee Jung-hyun estimated that President Park seemed to prefer the April resignation to the impeachment, but the president is expected to be stripped of all powers if the bill is passed through the parliament.

For the final approval, the impeachment motion is required to be upheld by the constitutional court though Park will be suspended immediate after the parliamentary passage.

The constitutional court will have as long as 180 days to rule on it, and the two-thirds of the nine-judge court must endorse it to formally impeach the scandal-hit president. Endit