# South Korean Pesident Impeached **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 10, 2017, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-korean-pesident-impeached/781861 "2017-03-10T14:00:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2017, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-korean-pesident-impeached/781861/1 "2017-03-10T14:00:15Z")
> **[South Korean president removed from office over corruption scandal](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/south-korean-president-impeached-from-office-over-corruption-scandal/2017/03/09/23666a46-0488-11e7-a391-651727e77fc0_story.html?utm_term=.c740cad7c63e)** > > Elections for a new president must now be held within 60 days. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2017, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-korean-pesident-impeached/781861/2 "2017-03-10T14:18:36Z")
And would you care to comment on this? ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2017, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-korean-pesident-impeached/781861/3 "2017-03-10T14:55:41Z")
My relatives and friends in Korea are ecstatic. The long ordeal is over. Americans should take heart from it, although I doubt the story will get much coverage. The president was extorting money from corporations, granting favors to those who complied and punishing those who didn’t. She strong-armed the media to ignore or downplay the corruption and then the protests against her. Social media was used to organize and mobilize the opposition. And it was kept non-violent. Democracy can work. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2017, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-korean-pesident-impeached/781861/4 "2017-03-10T16:11:42Z")
I’ve heard theories that the US’ [rush to field](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/06/world/asia/north-korea-thaad-missile-defense-us-china.html?_r=0) [THAAD](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminal_High_Altitude_Area_Defense) was at least partly driven by the idea that an impeachment and removal of the current RoK administration might bring a new president that might be less willing to accept the deployment. Darn that democracy. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2017, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-korean-pesident-impeached/781861/5 "2017-03-10T18:38:25Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > And would you care to comment on this? Well, I have some friends that think this is shameful for some reason (the corruption in government has been an open secret for my entire life, the fact that it is exposed doesn’t make that corruption any more shameful). I think its fucking fantastic that a country that was a military dictatorship a generation ago is now able to oust a president because a judge said so. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2017, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-korean-pesident-impeached/781861/6 "2017-03-10T18:39:25Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > I’ve heard theories that the US’ [rush to field](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/06/world/asia/north-korea-thaad-missile-defense-us-china.html?_r=0) [THAAD](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terminal_High_Altitude_Area_Defense) was at least partly driven by the idea that an impeachment and removal of the current RoK administration might bring a new president that might be less willing to accept the deployment. > > Darn that democracy. There is a good chance that the next Korean president will pivot away from Trump and America and pivot towards China (as will several other Asian countries). ---
**Author:** ![Weisshund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2017, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-korean-pesident-impeached/781861/7 "2017-03-10T18:45:37Z")
> [@Damuri\_Ajashi](#): > > Well, I have some friends that think this is shameful for some reason (the corruption in government has been an open secret for my entire life, the fact that it is exposed doesn’t make that corruption any more shameful). I think its fucking fantastic that a country that was a military dictatorship a generation ago is now able to oust a president because a judge said so. Why is it shameful to bring proper charges against an elected office who holds an office in trust, for the people, when said official is violating the office and violating the trust of the people? Do they think the president is some emperor, ordained by the god of the sun to rule as he/she sees fit? ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-korean-pesident-impeached/781861/8 "2017-03-11T02:28:21Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > My relatives and friends in Korea are ecstatic. The long ordeal is over. > > Americans should take heart from it, … > Democracy can work. Elected leaders in unstable democracies get forced out by public demonstrations all the time. There’s nothing to be ashamed in ROK’s case if the ousting was justified, but nothing for Americans to ‘take heart’ in either, just that somebody was ousted. Depends why. To the extent the insinuation is just because people don’t like Trump they should ‘take heart’ some pretext will be found to oust him outside the electoral process, that lends credence to the view a lot of people just didn’t like Park and wanted and found a reason to push her out non-electorally. Which is what it is with some Koreans I know. They hate the Park family starting with her dad’s dictatorship, and the Seoul establishment and the right generally. Fine, but to the extent that finds its way into finding reasons to push out elected leaders between elections, I don’t ‘take heart’ in that as something I want to see in the US. And three dead so far in demonstrations since the ouster, not 100% non-violent. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2017, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/south-korean-pesident-impeached/781861/9 "2017-03-11T13:36:39Z")
I noticed the word “impeached” in the thread title and checked the link. They use it as well to mean “removed from office”. Oh, well.