More Inside Dope from Seoul

Seoul is in turmoil as President Roh is removed from power
for what to us Westerners seems an insignificant verbal transgression;
in a television interview last month he said he "would do everything
legally permissable" to help elect legislators from the party which supports
him in upcoming congressional elections.  Unfortunately, the Korean
Constitution requires the President to stay neutral on all other elections.
And for this he is being impeached?

Tom Coyner, publisher of the free subscription newsletter Korea Economic
Reader (Email: coyner@gol.com) has an interesting take on why the impeachment
went forward on such a seemingly flimsy charge. After first noting these
statistics from the International Herald Tribune:

In a recent poll by the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper, 61 percent of the
737 South Korean respondents said they thought Roh should apologize
for the comments
that triggered the dispute.

Seventy-six percent said that if he did apologize, they would oppose
his impeachment.

Coyner’s Comment: A considered, if not printed, opinion of some journalists
here is that this whole affair is a trap set by Roh to discredit his
opposition since most people doubt the Constitution Court will uphold
the impeachment given the overall case by the conservatives comes across
as weak and cynical.)

He also has a dynamite web log Coyner
@ Home in Seoul Korea, but you gotta subscribe to the news service to get the latest articles and analysis. No RSS feed visible.