Word: uris
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...change. His inexperienced administration has been hapless at times, and his maverick efforts to root out corruption among politicians and businessmen have gained him plenty of enemies in the Establishment. The impeachment "is nothing less than a coup d'?tat," seethes Im Jong Seok, a member of the Uri Party, a group of reformist lawmakers loyal to Roh. "It's a wrecking of democracy." Many others share those sentiments. The day before the impeachment, a protester doused himself with gasoline and set himself on fire in Seoul. The next morning, a man drove his SUV onto the stairs...
...anger stemmed in part from the fact that Roh was dismissed as punishment for the most innocuous of transgressions. On Feb. 24, in an answer to a reporter's question, the President said he hoped voters would support Uri Party candidates in legislative elections next month. That was a technical violation of South Korea's election code?and pretext enough for his enemies to wage constitutional war. The country's Presidents are supposed to remain impartial, and Roh received a light rebuke from South Korea's election commission for the comment. When Roh refused to apologize, lawmakers moved to impeach...
...isolated himself politically last fall when he bolted the ruling Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) after a period of strained relations with party leaders. Last week, MDP lawmakers teamed up with legislators from the conservative GNP to oust him. Knowing they would lose a vote, members of the pro-Roh Uri Party?which holds only 47 of the Assembly's 273 seats?tried to block the March 12 balloting by forming a human shield around the Speaker's podium, hoping to prevent him from taking his seat and calling the vote. It didn't work. Security guards physically carried...
...would be easy to conclude that Roh's impeachment will kill off his presidency. But his reformist agenda and his direct approach to voters still carry wide popular appeal. Some observers say opposition lawmakers felt they had to impeach Roh to prevent Uri Party candidates from sweeping the upcoming election. "This was their final gamble," explains Cho Ki Suk, an expert on Korean politics at Ewha Womans University in Seoul. "What else could [opposition politicians] do?" Says Hahm Sung Deuk, professor of political economy at Korea University in Seoul: "The impeachment was a political game of chicken...
...Korea University's Hahm says if Uri Party politicians win big in the general election, the Constitutional Court judges might take that into account and reinstate Roh. "Then he can keep the presidency," adds Hahm. Or, rather, return to it. Roh Moo Hyun promised to make waves if he was allowed to lead South Korea. He's done that, but now he must avoid being swamped by the murky backwash...