S. Korea to vote for new leader on May 9
Print Edition
SOUTH Korea said yesterday it will hold an election on May 9 to choose a successor for former president Park Geun-hye, who was removed from office in a historic court ruling last week over a widening corruption scandal.
Prosecutors said yesterday Park — the first democratically elected president to be removed from office in South Korea — would be summoned for questioning over the influence-peddling scandal.
The Constitutional Court dismissed Park from office on Friday when it upheld a December parliamentary impeachment vote. Park has denied any wrongdoing.
The Samsung Group, South Korea’s largest conglomerate, is already embroiled in the scandal and the Yonhap news agency said prosecutors had started investigating two other conglomerates — the Lotte Group and SK Group.
Samsung denies any wrongdoing. Spokesmen for both the SK Group and Lotte said they would cooperate with the investigation.
The turmoil comes at a time of rising tension with North Korea over its nuclear and missile programs, and with China over the deployment of a US anti-missile system in South Korea that China sees as a threat to its security.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will visit South Korea, Japan and China, this week.
Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, who has been acting president since the impeachment vote, said he would not run in the election.
Minister of the Interior Hong Yun-sik promised the vote would be the cleanest and most transparent ever.
“This election is unprecedented in our history,” Hong told a briefing, referring to the short campaign period.
Hwang had emerged in opinion polls as a top conservative candidate even though he had not declared an intention to run.
The scandal has undermined support for the ruling conservatives, and Hwang’s decision would appear to bolster the chances of a prominent liberal, Moon Jae-in, who is leading in opinion polls.
Park was summoned to appear for questioning next Tuesday morning, the prosecutors’ office said.
Her lawyers said in a statement they would cooperate.
“The lawyers will cooperate with the investigation to find substantive truth swiftly by actively helping with various procedures,” they said.
Park declined to be questioned by prosecutors or testify at the Constitutional Court when she was in office. After she left the Blue House, she said the truth would come out.
A special prosecution team had accused Park of colluding with a friend, Choi Soon-sil, to pressure big businesses into contributing to foundations set up to support her policies and allowing Choi to influence state affairs.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
