Justices quash impeachment to end two-month suspension (South Korea)

President Roh Moo-hyun regained control of the nation yesterday as the Constitutional Court overrode his opposition-driven impeachment, clearing the way for him to push forward with his shelved reform agenda.

The president can now re-start his liberal administration after being in limbo for two months following a turbulent first year in office blighted by constant squabbling with the outgoing opposition-controlled parliament. ---snip---

While admitting the president violated the Constitution by voicing support for the pro-government Uri Party ahead of last month's general elections, he said the charge was not serious enough to warrant his removal from office.---snip---

The court's nine justices dismissed the other two charges against Roh, his alleged corruption and economic mismanagement, saying both were groundless and could not be considered law violations.

More at the link: Korea Herald

I have to say I'm very pleased with this, combine this with the Uri party having a majority in parliament and things might start to look a little bit brighter here. Now if we could only stop Korean CEOs listening to American investors when it comes to labour relations....

One would hope not. Since there are about 1001 good reasons to impeach Bush.

There were no good reasons to impeach President Roh.

However, with the SCOTUS you guys are stuck with....:shrug: :crazy:

Hey chenGOD - I take it you live in South Korea, and also that you are liberal. I heard about Roh's impeachment, and it sparked some interest in South Korean politics. What's the scene like down there - - i.e major parties + their place on the left-right spectrum? What are the major social issues of the day? What are your feelings towards North Korea?

Well, I just caught wind of this, and I've got to head out for a few hours, but I'll just post quickly and come back later for an in-depth post (oh joy I hear all the DUers cry, some random person's indepth thoughts on South Korea's political scene).

Major parties in South Korea-Uri, Hannara, Minjunodong, and Minju. Out of 299 seats, Uri has 152, Hannara has 121, Minjunodong 12 and Minju 10. These numbers are just off the top of my head, so I'm not 100% on those. Uri is left-center, Hannara is right, Minjunodong is left and Minju is centrist.

Major social issues-the impeachment was one obviously, and will continue to be one for the next month or so I would guess. Troop dispatch to Iraq, labour rights, economy and US military presence in South Korea would be some of the other major issues of the day.

I'll just clear up any chance of confusion here and state that I'm more socialist than liberal, which I blame squarely on me being a Canadian ;-) Yes I live in South Korea I've been here since 1996 for about 5-6 years (because I went back to Canada/England to introduce my wife to my family).