President impeached

Seoul

In a violent session marked by fistfights and thrown furniture, South Korea’s opposition-controlled National Assembly voted last week to impeach the president. Roh Moo-hyun, the first sitting Korean president to be impeached, stands accused of campaigning on behalf of one particular party for the upcoming parliamentary elections. It’s a relatively minor infraction, but the political establishment has had it in for the populist outsider since his election last year. Roh still commands plenty of voter support, though: Tens of thousands of people poured into the streets of Seoul this week to protest the impeachment. Roh will be suspended from his duties while the Constitutional Court hears his case.