|
China sees South Korea staying stable
(China Daily)
Updated: 2004-03-13 01:04 China hopes the political
situation in the Republic of Korea remains stable, said Foreign Ministry
spokesman Liu Jianchao in Beijing on Friday.
The South Korean National Assembly stripped President Roh Moo-hyun of power
yesterday by passing the first ever impeachment bill against a president.
In response to a related question, Liu said this is an internal matter for
the ROK.
Amid loud shouting by opposition and heavy clashes between lawmakers,
National Assembly Speaker Park Kwan-yong announced the result at around 03:00
GMT. He said 195 lawmakers of the total 271-member parliament attended the
ballot, 193 voted for, while the other two voted against.
According to rules, the bill was affirmed when two thirds of the 271
lawmakers voted for it.
With the passage of the bill, Roh has been suspended as the head of state,
supreme commander of the Army, president of Cabinet meetings and co-ordinator of
state affairs.
However, Roh will be allowed to reside in the presidential residence under
the protection of the presidential secret service until the Constitutional Court
issues a final ruling.
When hearing the news the impeachment bill approved in the parliament, Roh
was in a provincial city to conduct an inspection of a factory.
"I hope the outcome will be different at the Constitutional Court because it
will make a legal judgment, which is different from a political judgment," Roh
said while meeting workers at the factory in Changwon, South Gyeongsang
Province, some 400 kilometres southeast to Seoul.
A former human rights lawyer, Roh was elected in December 2002 to a five-year
term on a pledge of clean politics but several of his key aides have been
arrested on charges of receiving illegal funds to finance his campaign.
With parliamentary elections less than five weeks away, the confrontation
burst into the open with the impeachment motion.
| |
 |
|
|
|
|
Today's
Top News |
|
|
|
Top China
News |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
