Roh in Stronger Position to Push Ahead With Reform Agenda


By Park Song-wu
Staff Reporter

Despite the impending ruling next week by the Constitutional Court on the impeachment of President Roh Moo-hyun, pundits are not expecting the nation to be thrown into political chaos.


The court continued its deliberations on Thursday, gathering the opinions of each of the nine justices on whether to uphold or dismiss the impeachment motion against the head of state.

However, it is widely forecast that Roh will be reinstated, particularly as the public has shown its opposition to the impeachment by giving the pro-Roh Uri Party a majority in the April 15 general elections.

The court has three options to choose from next week. The first is to dismiss the case by ruling that the National Assembly failed to establish grounds for the impeachment or follow necessary legal processes. The second option is to override the impeachment, ruling that Roh did break the law but that the breach was not sufficient grounds for discharge.

Finally, it could uphold the impeachment. If six of the nine justices vote in favor of impeachment, Roh will be immediately unseated and a special election will be called within two months.

Yoon Eun-key, vice president of Seoul School of Integrated Science and Technology, said it is highly likely that Roh will be cleared, but he believed interest will focus on how many justices endorse the impeachment.

``Roh is largely expected to return to office with a decision win,’’ Yoon said. ``But the character of the win will be totally different, depending on the number of justices who will vote to impeach.’’

He thought a 5-4 decision with a majority in favor of ousting Roh would save face for both sides.

``If the court reaches a 5-4 decision, the ruling camp will make a deep-bow in apology to the people and Roh will continue with his job,’’ Yoon said. ``The opposition parties will also be able to move on after overcoming criticism of their politically motivated attempt to unseat Roh.’’

Yoon predicted that neither side would seek to cling to the impeachment issue or take exception to the court’s ruling. ``Everybody should accept the result modestly,’’ he said. ``This trial has given the people only trouble. I think there will be no winner in this trial. Even a 0-9 win will not make Roh happy.’’

Kim Seung-chae, research division director of the Seoul Peace Prize Cultural Foundation, agreed with Yoon’s assessment. He said that considering the opposition parties have already suffered a crushing defeat in the Assembly polls, the rejection of their impeachment motion would not prove to be a major setback.

``They have already been punished by the voters throughout the election campaign period,’’ Kim said. ``If the Court overrides the case, Roh’s political stock will rise and he will take back the initiative to push ahead with his reform plans.’’

Roh was impeached on March 12 charged with election-law violation, corruption and incompetence.

Opinion polls showed most of the public believe the impeachment was wrong and politically motivated. This belief turned into action last month when voters punished the two opposition parties at the polls.

The main opposition Grand National Party saw its number of lawmakers slip from 137 to 121, while the Millennium Democratic Party suffered a reduction from 61 to only nine. The Uri Party enjoyed a big rise, transforming from a 49-member splinter party to a 152-seat majority.

im@koreatimes.co.kr