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S.Korean ruling political party begins to splinter after presidential impeachment

Xinhua, December 12, 2016 Adjust font size:

South Korea's ruling political party began to splinter after President Park Geun-hye was impeached last week in an overwhelming support from her own party.

Spokesman of a faction in the ruling Saenuri Party, which is not loyal to President Park, told a press briefing on Monday that the party leadership should immediately step down and the pro-Park faction should be dismantled.

The party leadership is composed of loyalists to President Park, whom the spokesman portrayed as "the men of Choi Soon-sil," a longtime confidante of the impeached president who has been charged with using her sway with Park to extort donations from conglomerates and access secret government documents.

The impeachment motion was passed by 234 to 56 through the 300-seat National Assembly last Friday, indicating at least 62 votes in favor from the ruling party as there are 172 opposition and independent lawmakers.

The division of the governing party, which has 128 parliamentary seats, became clear as internal fight between the anti- and the pro-Park clans called on each other to leave their party after the impeachment vote.

The party leadership called on former party chairman Kim Moo-sung and former whip Yoo Seung-min, who are leading the anti-Park faction, to defect from the party, issuing searing criticism of them as betrayers, according to local media reports.

Scores of pro-Park faction members held a meeting on Sunday night, agreeing to launch their formal council comprising about 50 legislators on Tuesday.

The ruling party's split seems a matter of time, making it harder for President Park's party to regain power in the next presidential election, which is expected to be brought forward.

The election is originally scheduled to be held in December 2017 as Park's single, five-year term ends in February 2018.

Park has been suspended from office, and her tenure would be stopped if the two-thirds of the constitutional court's nine judges justify it within 180 days.

Calls rise for the court to rule on it as early as possible to stabilize state affairs and minimize power vacuum. Endit