美国国家公共电台 NPR South Korea Impeaches President, But Political Drama Isn't Finished

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South Korean lawmakers have voted overwhelmingly to impeach 1 their president, who is at the heart of a corruption 2 scandal. As NPR's Elise Hu reports, the Korean political drama is far from over.

ELISE HU, BYLINE 3: Outside the National Assembly, crowds saying the lines of the Korean Constitution - we are a democratic republic.

UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Singing in foreign language).

HU: A reminder 4 that people can power change in democracies, and they just did.

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CHUNG SYE-KYUN: (Through interpreter) Here are the results of the votes.

HU: Inside the legislature, speaker Chung Sye-kyun announced the tally 5 of a vote to impeach President Park Geun-Hye. She's at the center of public fury over corruption claims that have gripped the nation for months. The vote wasn't close. Lawmakers went 234 to 56 in favor of impeachment 6.

MICHAEL KIM: This is one of the most historic events I think we've had in the past 50, 60 years.

HU: Michael Kim is a professor of Korean history at Seoul's Yonsei University.

KIM: There's almost, like, overwhelming consensus 7 that the impeachment was warranted.

HU: President Park is under criminal investigation 8 in the messy scandal that led to the vote. She's accused by prosecutors 9 of conspiring 10 in a multimillion-dollar extortion scheme led by her friend and spiritual adviser 11 Choi Soon-sil. Prosecutors say Choi enjoyed extraordinary power to make decisions in state affairs despite no official position. Kim says she's symbolic 12 of a political system that can easily be gamed.

KIM: The system itself generates these kinds of issues. And so the very famous Choi Soon-sil, who is currently in jail, in some ways she's simply figured out how to work the system far better than anyone else had done previously 13.

HU: Choi is in jail, but the president is immune from any criminal charges while she's still in office. She has refused to take investigators 14' questions and for weeks ignored calls to immediately resign. James Kim of the Seoul-based think tank Asan Institute says the unchanging situation forced Friday's impeachment vote.

JAMES KIM: I think the people are very happy with the decision. Now the next phase has to kick in.

HU: Either way, the legislature's vote marks a dramatic moment in the political career of Park, the daughter of Korea's former military dictator. And for the country, which came out in droves against her. Michael Kim.

KIM: A lot of people have become politically activated 15. And so maybe in a - few years ago, this would not have been so many people out there. But the events recently has really, like, activated politically a lot of people who previously probably wouldn't have shown up into the streets.

UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Singing in foreign language).

HU: There is celebration for now, especially among the estimated 80 percent of Koreans who supported impeachment. But the good cheer could be temporary. Two-thirds of the panel of judges have to agree on the president's ultimate fate, whether to uphold or dismiss the impeachment motion. James Kim.

KIM: A lot of attention and focus of the national media and the public will be on the constitutional court.

HU: In the meantime, the president's power was transferred temporarily to the prime minister, Hwang Kyo-ahn. In a nationwide address, he said...

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HWANG KYO-AHN: (Foreign language spoken).

HU: "The world is watching South Korea right now. Please, let's come together to overcome this crisis." Elise Hu, NPR News, Seoul.