[dropcap]I[/dropcap]n the heart of Seoul, South Korea, a candlelight victory vigil was held on the 11th of March to “celebrate” the impeachment of South Korea’s recently-made former president Park Geun Hye. Her removal from office was made official a few days ago when a unanimous parliamentary vote founded her guilty of a corruption scandal that swept waves of anger and unrest across the country. She will now forever be known as the first president in South Korean history to be evicted from office for one of the most offensive acts a president could commit against her people.
In summary, Park Geun Hye was removed under the strongly believed (and likely) accusation that she had leaked official government documents that were way past excusable conditions in court (should they have been excusable at all) to Ms Choi Soon-sil as well as allowed the same partner-in-crime to intervene in state affairs (e.g economic policy and North Korean relations).
The act of corruption involved the two main perpetrators and a few various associators, with the other main party being Ms Choi Soon-sil. Ms Choi runs multiple non-profit foundations and claimed to have pressured companies into donating to them due to her personal relationship with the president. Companies involved include Samsung, who have come under fire by the media for the corruption scandal. In their case, donating millions to Ms Choi’s foundations in exchange for government favours. It doesn’t help that they are also South Korea’s biggest conglomerate.
It can be said the root of the scandal lay in the long-time friendship between Ms Choi Soon-sil and Ms Park Geun Hye. Both their families have a long history in politics and big conglomerates. Ms Park had already been faced with skepticism for her privileged background and connections to those running conglomerates that controlled South Korea’s economy, though she had overcome that only to end up proving her opposition’s worst fears. Her own father was South Korea’s president himself in 1963 up until his assassination by his own chief of security. Her mother was assassinated just five years before. It was then when her relationship with the Chois’ deepened as Choi Soon-sil’s father, Choi Tae-min began to mentor her.
The reaction of the people have been an emotionally-fuelled mix of anger and joyous celebration, with majority of the country celebrating the removal of the President. “The impeachment of the president is a day that will go down in history. My heart is full of emotion and I am very happy,” said student Lim Na-kryung in regards to the affair. However, a good number of the public remain staunchly in support of Ms Park, participating in opposing protests as well.
Once word of the scandal spread through the public protests were held almost every weekend for the impeachment of Park Geun Hye, though it has now been made official. Reactions have risen to violence, with now three people having died in protests. One fell from a police bus during a protest, one a 74-year old man in the hospital after gaining injuries in scuttles with the police and one more bleeding from his head though the details are not specific.
The long-running history between “chaebols” (family businesses that control large conglomerates in the country’s economy) and politicians has allowed for corrupt acts and dirty trades to go unpunished and unnoticed from years before.
This impeachment, above all else, once again shed light and criticism on the corrupt relationship that influenced what should have been a democracy, provoking the public to cry out for measures to protect state affairs from being influenced by those with economic and social, but not governmental, power.
Liberal politician Moon Jae-In, who had lost the elections to Park in 2012, is the most favoured to succeed but whether his governance will do much to reform this system remains unclear.
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