[Newsmaker] Public petitions for Park’s impeachment online

A website allowing citizens to submit online petitions to lawmakers for President Park Geun-hye’s impeachment has gone viral, with over 800,000 petitions submitted in less than four days since it was created.

As of 5:30 p.m. Monday, 804,823 people have called for Park’s dismissal at “Park Geun-hack.com” (https://parkgeunhack.com). Park is being investigated as a suspect in a corruption and influence-peddling scandal involving her civilian friend Choi Soon-sil and former aides.

The civilian-run website’s name is a combination of the embattled South Korean leader’s name and “tan-haek,” the Korean word for impeachment. It was created last Friday to provide a platform for submitting petitions and messages to lawmakers, ahead of the historic impeachment vote on Friday.

A person can submit a petition via the lawmaker’s official email address along with a personal message. Rep. Kim Moo-sung, one of leaders of the ruling Saenuri Party’s nonmainstream faction, has received most petitions out of 300 lawmakers with 46,838 as of Monday morning.

Rep. Park and his fellow nonmainstreamers of Saenuri -- numbered over 40 --- are considered to hold the deciding vote in the impeachment, which requires at least 200 votes. Opposition and independent lawmakers account for only 172.

This group had flipped back and forth on their decision to support the extreme but public-backed measure. Their known current stance, judging from what they said Sunday evening after a record-breaking anti-Park protest Saturday, is that they will go on to vote for Park’s impeachment, unless rival parties agree on an alternative plan.

“The nationwide consensus is calling for a stronger punishment (impeachment) for the president. Her begging for mercy would not be enough, but she effectively said in (Thursday‘s) address that she has no fault. This aggravated the situation,” said Saenuri’s Rep. Ha Tae-keung in a radio interview Monday.

If the motion for impeachment is passed at the National Assembly, it will be subject to deliberation by the Constitutional Court. The court will decide whether or not Park will be the first president in the country’s history to be sacked by the parliament.

The messages submitted at Park Geun-hack.com was a reminder that an overwhelming majority of the public demand that Park should be removed from office immediately 

“We don’t need (Park to) resign. She should be impeached, no question! Please be a lawmaker who puts people over the benefit of you or your party,” said Hong Yu-jin of Ulsan in his petition.

“(Park) brought the biggest shame in history to the people of Korea. Make sure that she is kicked out in a most shameful way,” said Jang Hyo-cheol of Gyeonggi Province.

Lawmakers who receive petitions can notify the website on whether or not they support the impeachment. Nearly all opposition lawmakers have done this, declaring their support of the motion, but only a few from Saenuri.

As of Monday, 176 said they support the motion while four -- all Saenuri lawmakers -- were against it.

Six from Saenuri have declared their support for the motion; at least 28 Saenuri votes are needed to pass the bill at the National Assembly.

By Yoon Min-sik (minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)