South Korea’s embattled President has put her fate in the hands of the country’s parliament.
President Park Geun-hye said Tuesday she will allow the National Assembly to decide the duration of her remaining term in office, and will resign if that is what they decide.
“I will relegate the decision to the National Assembly, including the shortening of my presidential term and resignation,” she said.
“If the National Assembly sets a path for the stable transition of power, I will resign from the presidency and lessen the confusion as much as possible. I hope that the nation will find stability.”
Park made her statements in a televised address to the nation, after several weeks of protests by hundreds of thousands of people calling for her resignation.
The country’s Confederation of Trade Unions said it will go forward with plans for a national strike on Wednesday, accusing Park of “relegating responsibility to the National Assembly.”
The Emergency People’s Movement (EPM), which has organized several of the protests against Park, also said it would continue with demonstrations.
“Park can’t even decide on her own to resign from the Presidency, she is letting the National Assembly decide,” EPM told CNN.
“She’s trying to buy some time,” Ingyu Oh, professor of sociology at Korea University, told CNN.
He predicted that it could take months for the National Assembly to hammer out a solution, giving Park an opportunity to “start thinking about her own way out, (such as) finding a next president who will pardon her.”
__________
Follow us on Twitter at @thesignalng
Copyright 2015 SIGNAL. Permission to use portions of this article is granted provided appropriate credits are given to www.signalng.com and other relevant sources.
