South Korea's parliament overrode a presidential veto yesterday -- the first such vote in nearly half a century -- to open an independent investigation into corruption allegations against former aides of embattled President Roh Moo-hyun.
The move deepens a showdown between the opposition-dominated parliament and a Roh government increasingly besieged by scandal.
Roh outraged lawmakers last week when he vetoed legislation to appoint an independent counsel to look into corruption charges against three former staffers.
Opposition parties boycotted the National Assembly, freezing deliberation on next year's government budget and the country's plan to send up to 3,000 troops to Iraq to help US forces there.
Yesterday's override, the first since 1954, was carried live on national television. It not only clears the way for the probe, but puts parliament back on track to handle those issues and 1,100 other bills pending.
Wheeled in the chambers for the vote was a gaunt Choe Byung-ryol, head of the main opposition Grand National Party. On Day Nine of a hunger strike against Roh's veto, he appeared in a wheelchair yesterday apparently to underline his weakened condition and dedication to the cause.
The nation's three opposition parties hold a combined 219 seats in the 272-member National Assembly, more than the two-thirds majority needed to override a presidential veto. The parliament initially had passed the bill with more than two-thirds support, and it passed again yesterday with a vote of 209 to 54.
"It is regretful to set a negative precedent of interfering with the prosecution's right to investigate for political purposes," Roh's spokesman Yoon Tae-young said.
Roh said he vetoed the legislation because it was premature to appoint an independent counsel while an investigation by state prosecutors continued.
The opposition says it cannot trust state prosecutors. It believes an independent counsel's probe would highlight shady dealings of Roh's government and boost opposition chances in April's parliamentary elections.
Choi Do-sool, Roh's aide for 20 years, was arrested last month and accused of receiving 1.1 billion won (US$956,000) in bribes from SK Group, a scandal-plagued South Korean conglomerate.
Two other former presidential aides, Lee Kwang-jae and Yang Gil-seung, are also accused of accepting bribes and illegal donations for Roh's election campaign last year. They deny any wrongdoing.
On the eve of the vote, Roh suffered another embarrassment when prosecutors arrested a key campaign backer.
Kang Keum-won, a businessman who owns a textile company in South Korea and is a major financial supporter of Roh, was arrested late Wednesday night on charges of tax evasion and misappropriating 5 billion won (US$4.1 million) in company money between 1999 and last year, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said they are also investigating 950 million won (US$792,000) the businessman lent to Seon Bong-sul, a childhood friend of Roh's, during last year's presidential campaign, a move local media say may have violated political funding laws.
Roh has been grappling with scandals involving his aides and a hostile parliament since he took office in February. Hoping for a fresh popular mandate to rejuvenate his political reform programs, Roh proposed a referendum on his tenure and promised to resign if he fares poorly.
But it is uncertain whether such a referendum can take place, amid disputes over its legality. Opposition leaders have said they would support the vote only after a full investigation into Roh's aides is complete.
Roh's approval ratings are weak, but polls still indicate South Koreans would support him in a referendum for the sake of political stability.
The last time the parliament overrode a veto was in 1954 when then-president Syngman Rhee dismissed a criminal procedure bill allowing the legislature to demand the release of a lawmaker in custody. Lawmakers said it was needed to prevent the government from exploiting judicial power to suppress the opposition.
The navy has installed 13 Phalanx Block 1B close-in weapons systems on its warships, increasing their defensive firepower, a defense official said on Saturday. The systems cost the navy NT$10.16 billion (US$314.67 million), while eight additional Block 1A systems are being upgraded in the US and are expected to be delivered next year, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The Phalanx system used by Taiwan to defend its warships and key radar installations is a radar-cued gun system capable of firing 4,500 rounds a minute at targets as far away as 1.5km, the official said. With their superior range of
RACE FOR CHIPS: The Dresden site would help Europe reduce its reliance on Asia for semiconductors, while Germany aims to produce one-fifth of the world’s chips by 2030 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday broke ground in Dresden, Germany, on its first European plant as the continent seeks to safeguard its chip supplies amid growing US-China tensions. TSMC chief executive C.C. Wei (魏哲家) attended the event, together with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and the heads of Infineon Technologies AG, NXP Semiconductors NV and Robert Bosch GmbH, which each hold a 10 percent stake in the venture. TSMC owns a 70 percent stake in the plant. “Together with our partners, Bosch, Infineon and NXP, we are building our Dresden facility to meet the
‘CLOSE TIES’: Former Japanese PM Yoshihiko Noda also attended the annual Ketagalan Forum on Indo-Pacific security and spoke of Taiwan’s importance globally China’s authoritarian expansionism would not stop with Taiwan, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, calling for solidarity among the world’s democracies to check Beijing’s territorial ambitions. Taiwan is determined to become a decisive force for democracy, peace and prosperity, standing side-by-side with its democratic partners to confront authoritarian expansionism and protect shared values, he told the annual Ketagalan Forum on Indo-Pacific security in Taipei. Authoritarianism is now a global challenge, Lai said, using as examples Chinese military expansionism, economic coercion and the use of hybrid warfare tactics such as cyberattacks and cognitive warfare. “We are all fully aware that China’s growing authoritarianism will
RECOVERY: Overall, average income across all age groups increased, climbing to a record NT$709,000 last year, on the back of an improved economy, the DGBAS said Taiwanese workers under the age of 30 last year, on average, earned an annual income of NT$545,931 (US$17,044), a new high, as the economy continued to improve, data released by the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) showed. That equated to monthly earnings of NT$45,494 per person, and marked an increase from NT$535,667 in 2022, the data showed. In addition to an improved economy, average incomes rose as the unemployment rate declined and the minimum wage rose, the statistics agency said. Overall, average income in Taiwan also hit a new record of NT$709,000 last year, up from NT$704,000 in 2022, the data