Posted on 03/15/2004 7:42:41 AM PST by Loyalist
Seoul — North Korea condemned South Korea's presidential impeachment as a U.S.-masterminded coup, while 35,000 frustrated protesters gathered Sunday night in downtown Seoul rallying against the push to remove their leader.
"Nullify Impeachment!" chanted the crowd, which was down in size from the 50,000 people who sang songs the previous day.
Organizers pledged to hold candlelight vigils every night.
North Korea shuddered at Friday's vote in the National Assembly to impeach President Roh Moo-hyun on charges of illegal campaigning and incompetence. It was the first such move in South Korean history.
Inter-Korean economic talks scheduled for Monday were scuttled by North Korean concerns about political instability in the South.
Both sides had agreed to hold the talks in the southern city Paju. But North Korea urged Sunday they be moved to the northern city Kaesong because of the "very unstable" political situation in the South.
South Korea's Unification Ministry, which handles relations with the North, said it disagreed. But in the face of the North Korean demands, it said Monday it had indefinitely postponed the meetings.
"We expressed regret because our situation is very stable and we don't want to change location," Ministry spokeswoman Yang Jung-hwa said.
"This is not merely an internal affair of South Korea. It is a political rebellion staged by a handful of political quacks quelling the mind-set of tens of millions of South Korean people," the North's official KCNA news agency said, citing an unidentified spokesman from the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland.
The dispatch accused Washington of masterminding Mr. Roh's impeachment, saying: "It was none other than the United States that sparked such disturbing development."
Mr. Roh rattled some U.S. officials when he took office 13 months ago espousing greater independence from the United States and more openness with North Korea. Yet he gradually warmed to Washington amid the North Korean nuclear crisis, eventually sending South Korean troops to Iraq.
Mr. Roh's fate will be determined by the Constitutional Court, which must decide within 180 days whether to oust him from office or reinstate his powers. The court will meet Thursday to review the case.
For now, Prime Minister Goh Kun is the acting president.
Mr. Roh's supporters rallied Sunday, singing songs and holding banners as they sat cross-legged on the streets that were closed for the rally.
"We urge the Constitutional Court to deal with the issue swiftly and restore the South Korean President!" a female demonstration leader shouted from a makeshift podium.
Koo Chul-hoi, a 34-year-old artist demonstrating among the throngs, said: "It is clear that the opposition pushed the impeachment for political reasons."
Mr. Roh, preparing for the country's first impeachment trial, tapped a former adviser on civil affairs, Moon Jae-in, to assemble a legal defence team, Roh spokesman Yoon Tae-young said.
Opinion polls show about seven in 10 South Koreans oppose the impeachment and support for the minority Uri party backing Mr. Roh has increased.
Trying to quell concerns of a national division over the impeachment, the Uri party promised not to organize or lead any street protests that could fuel political unrest.
"This incident is clearly unconstitutional and illegal but we will not stage any street demonstrations," Chung Dong-young told business leaders Sunday, urging the court to make a swift ruling.
The People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, a civic group that sponsored Saturday's protest, called for nightly rallies in downtown Seoul to oppose what it calls the "oppression by the majority under the pretext of law."
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