[Newsmaker] Anti-Park Saenuri MPs key to impeachment

President Park Geun-hye‘s allies and foes in the parliament have made their respective stances clear: The former wishes to deter the impeachment of the embattled state head and the latter wants to oust her as soon as possible.

The middle ground amid this widening political divide is a group within the ruling Saenuri Party who stand at odds with the president and the party’s pro-president leadership.

These 30-40 lawmakers are considered indispensable in the opposition’s impeachment drive, as their participation is necessary to create the two-thirds majority required to pass the impeachment bill. As the three opposition parties and liberal independents currently constitute 172 out of the 300 parliamentary seats, support from at least 28 ruling party members is needed to get the vote to pass.

They can either provide the final push needed to force the president out of her seat, or dampen the initiative altogether -- the latter scenario involving them leaning toward the idea of Park’s gradual, voluntary resignation.

On Wednesday, the day after President Park’s offer to leave the fate of her presidency to the National Assembly, the Saenuri’s reformative group, often referred to by local media as the “non-Park faction,” reconfirmed its earlier plan to join the opposition in seeking impeachment.

But it also left some room for the embattled president to step down voluntarily, kindling concerns from opposition parties that the impeachment bill could falter at the last minute.

“Yesterday, the media seemed to think that the emergency committee (consisting of non-Park figures) took a step backward (on impeachment) but this is not true,” said Rep. Hwang Young-cheul, speaking for the non-Park group.

“Despite the speculated impact on the impeachment quorum, our stance (to support impeachment) has become even stronger today.”

On the previous day, Park had said that she would let the National Assembly decide the fate of her presidency.

“I shall lay my course of action, including a curtailment of my presidential term, to the decision of the National Assembly,” she had said in an unheralded address to the nation.

“Should the political circles suggest a way in which I may hand over power so as to minimize chaos and a vacuum in state affairs, I shall step down from the presidency according to the given time line and legal procedure.”

This was her third official statement since the allegations broke out in late October that her confidante Choi Soon-sil had extensively meddled in key state affairs and taken undue profits.

While confirming its ongoing drive for impeachment, the non-Park group also suggested a scenario for the president’s voluntary renunciation of power.

“The president should set a clear time limit of her resignation in order to prove the sincerity (of her offer),” Rep. Hwang said.

“We consider late April (next year) to be the most suitable time (for Park to step down from presidency), as several of the party’s senior advisers suggested recently.”

Before Park makes her official exit, she should also hand over all practical power to a legislature-selected prime minister, so as to minimize the vacuum in state affairs, Hwang added.

The non-Park figures’ statement was thus seen as indicating two key stances -- that they did not accept the president’s buck-passing and that they still wished to prioritize a peaceful resignation, if possible, over a forceful impeachment.

Put on edge by the changeability of this group, opposition leaders poured out remarks on Wednesday, urging them to uphold their support for impeachment.

“It is the non-Park figures who hold the key for impeachment,” said Rep. Park Jie-won, interim chief of the runner-up People’s Party.

He also used a stronger tone, warning that the non-Park lawmakers “may not survive,” unless the president is impeached and driven out of office.

The Saenuri leadership, on the other hand, pushed the non-mainstreamers to call off their plan for impeachment.

“The (pro-Park) leadership will step down, if the (non-Park) emergency committee deactivates itself and withdraws (its plan to participate in) impeachment,” said Supreme Council member Rep. Cho Won-jin.

“But should they move onto impeachment, the leadership may no longer resign.”

Rep. Lee Jung-hyun, party chairman and ranking aide to President Park, had earlier said that he will step down early next year and give way to a new leadership, in a reluctant response to growing pressure for resignation.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)