Park impeached

Undone by an influence-peddling scandal, South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye was impeached by parliament on Friday amid a wave of anger that could overturn the nation’s politics and increase pressure on some of Asia’s biggest companies to reform.

The result means Park is suspended from power and the interim leadership passes to Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn. The Constitutional Court now needs to ratify parliament’s decision, a process that may take as long as six months. If the judges concur, a national election would be held about two months later.

The fall of South Korea’s first female leader -- and daughter of former dictator Park Chung-hee -- marks another sign of the anti-establishment anger that fueled Brexit, brought Donald Trump to power and toppled Italian leader Matteo Renzi. Protesters have likened Park’s allies to collaborators under dictators and called conglomerate heads “accomplices,” while a mayor who compares himself to Bernie Sanders has surged in opinion polls for the next president.


(culled from Bloomberg)