Roundup: Demand grows in S.Korea for embattled president's impeachment: poll

Demand grew in South Korea for the impeachment of embattled President Park Geun-hye ahead of vote on it in parliament, a local poll showed on Thursday.

The main opposition Minjoo Party's approval rating rose in tandem as they took the lead in proposing the bill to impeach President Park who is facing the biggest political crisis since she took office in early 2013.

According to a Realmeter survey between Monday and Tuesday, 78.2 percent said the scandal-hit president should be impeached, up 2.9 percentage points from the previous week.

Those who go against the impeachment was down 0.4 percentage points to 16.8 percent this week a day before the impeachment motion is put to vote in the National Assembly's plenary session.

Last Saturday, the 300-seat assembly put forward the motion as Park's third address to the nation over her scandal enraged South Koreans further for the absence of her sincere apology to wrongdoings.

Park was branded by prosecutors as a criminal accomplice to her longtime friend Choi Soon-sil, who has been indicted on multiple charges including abuse of power and extortion. Park became the first sitting South Korean leader to be investigated as a suspect.

To be passed through the unicameral assembly, the impeachment bill requires at least 28 ruling party lawmakers to vote in favor as there are 172 opposition and independent legislators.

Almost seven out of 10 South Koreans held President Park responsible for the initial bungling of government responses to one of the country's worst maritime disasters on April 16, 2014 when the sinking of ferry Sewol claimed more than 300 lives, mostly teenagers on a school trip to the southern resort island of Jeju.

According to the survey, 67.4 percent said Park's responsibility for the catastrophe should be included in the impeachment motion. Some of ruling Saenuri Party lawmakers had opposed it.

Support for the biggest opposition Minjoo Party marked the highest, since it changed the party name late last year, at 35.8 percent this week as it led the impeachment campaign. It was up 3.3 percentage points from a week earlier.

Approval for the ruling Saenuri Party was under half the Minjoo Party's support scores at 16.8 percent, down 1 percentage point from the previous week.

The governing party decided to allow its legislators to freely vote on the impeachment, but the party leadership still adheres to its initial proposal of letting the president resign by next April to hold an early presidential election two months later.

It was followed by minor oppositions People's Party and the Justice Party with approval scores at 12.1 percent and 4.8 percent respectively.

Among presidential hopefuls, Minjoo Party candidates distinguished themselves. Support for former Minjoo Party chairman Moon Jae-in gained 2.7 percentage points to 23.5 percent this week.

Moon ranked the first for six straight weeks since the presidential scandal emerged in October. He was the runner-up to President Park in the 2012 presidential election.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon maintained the second place with an approval rating of 18.2 percent, but it was down 0.7 percentage points from a week earlier as he is known to be close to President Park and the Saenuri Party.

Ban, former South Korean diplomat, hasn't clearly expressed his will to run for presidency, but he has regarded here as one of presidential hopefuls.

Lee Jae-myung, mayor of Seongnam city near capital Seoul, kept an upward momentum in approval rating for the fourth consecutive week at his highest of 16.6 percent, up 1.9 percentage points from a week ago.

Lee's popularity surged recently as he catered to public sentiment by demanding an immediate resignation and impeachment of President Park in an early stage of the presidential scandal.

The mayor of Seongnam having a population of about a million is famous for his social welfare policies, including postnatal care to new mothers, subsidies to 24-year-old youths and free uniforms to secondary school students. Endit