SHE blocked investigators from entering the Blue House, the presidential residence where she had holed up after the National Assembly asked the constitutional court to remove her from office in December. She refused to be questioned, and attended none of the 20 hearings at which the court heard evidence against her. Three weeks ago she demanded the ejection of one of the justices hearing the case.
It all did Park Geun-hye more harm than good. On March 10th she became the first president of South Korea to be removed from office by the court, which upheld the assembly’s impeachment motion. It determined that she had not only conspired with a confidante to extort money from big firms, but had also attempted to conceal her wrongdoing. Ms Park was permanently removed from office, cutting short her five-year term by 11 months.
For the time being Hwang Kyo-ahn, the prime minister at the time of Ms Park’s impeachment, will stay on as acting president. But the court’s decision means that an election for a replacement must be held within 60 days; it was set this week for May 9th. Moon Jae-in, a former head of the opposition Minju party, who ran...Continue reading
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