South Korean President Roh Is Reinstated

South Korea’s maverick President Roh Moo Hyun won back his job today when the nation’s constitutional court ruled that his impeachment by a conservative-dominated parliament on minor electioneering charges was unjustified.

The ruling by the nine-member court closes a bizarre episode in which the world’s 13th-largest economy was left, in effect, without a head of state for 63 days. It also will set the stage for Roh, a 57-year-old former labor leader, to pursue more freely his agenda that includes major reforms for business and politics and a foreign policy more independent of the United States.

In its ruling, the court held that the first impeachment of a South Korean leader should be overturned because Roh’s offenses were minor.

“What [Roh] did was not of such critical importance to ... threaten our freedoms or the democratic system,” the court said in a ruling read by Justice Yun Young Chul on national television. “It cannot be said that he lost the people’s trust to a degree that we should take his office away.”

The ruling was widely expected after National Assembly elections last month in which Roh’s supporters swept to power. Roh is to resume presidential activities immediately, taking back the reins of power from Prime Minister Goh Kun, who served as acting president but had virtually no authority to shape policy. A new National Assembly, which for the first time in South Korean history is dominated by left-of-center parties, is set to take office June 1.

One coming test will be whether South Korea follows through with a pledge to send 3,000 combat troops to Iraq. Incoming members of the National Assembly are pushing Roh, once a vocal opponent of the Iraq war, to renege on the promise because of the deteriorating security situation in Iraq and the U.S. prison abuse scandal.

Roh is coming back from his forced vacation to find the economy stalling and North Korea continuing its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

“Now we will see whether Roh is an ideologue or a pragmatist,” said Hahm Sung Deuk, a political scientist at Korea University. “He will be under a lot of pressure from his own people not to send troops to Iraq. But at the same time, he has a terrible economy and in order to improve it, he needs a good business climate and closer relations with the United States.”

Roh is expected to make a televised statement Saturday, an official with the presidential office said.

After barely one year in office, Roh was impeached March 12 by the National Assembly in the throes of what was generally deemed a trivial political spat.

His conservative opponents accused him of violating election laws requiring strict presidential neutrality, as a result of a comment he made in a television interview. They demanded an apology. Roh refused, and the tit-for-tat snowballed into the first impeachment of a South Korean president.

But the move backfired on Roh’s opponents, who lost big in National Assembly elections April 15. Polls showed that the South Korean public opposed impeachment by 3 to 1.

“The whole thing was really embarrassing for South Korea. We know that Roh made some mistakes, but it was totally unreasonable to impeach him,” said Kim Young Lan, a 33-year-old teacher.

Contrary to some predictions, the impeachment did not throw South Korea into turmoil or cause political anarchy. Many pundits suggest that the episode, in which a political squabble was resolved in the legislature and courts, is proof that South Korea has come of age as a democracy. The nation was famous for street battles in the 1980s that ultimately rid the country of its military dictatorship.

“Despite a presidential impeachment, Korea was unshaken economically and held a clean election,” Prime Minister Goh, reflecting on his stint as acting president, said Wednesday at an Asia Society conference in Seoul. “This is progress in politics that will bring additional transparency and reform.”

During his time out of office, Roh read political biographies and went mountain climbing to pass the time. He hardly left the presidential compound and participated in no official meetings. But after the stunning victory of his supporters in last month’s elections, when it became increasingly likely that he would be reinstated, Roh resumed discreet meetings with his staff.

He is thought to be planning several changes in his Cabinet during what will be in effect a second term.

Not all were thrilled about Roh’s comeback. He has rankled many South Koreans, particularly older conservatives, with his blunt style of speaking and occasionally erratic behavior.

Political scientist Hahm said the question was whether the impeachment would transform Roh from scrappy political street fighter to a mature leader. “He has to become more mellow and polite and respect the role of the opposition in order to govern. But I’m pessimistic as to whether that will happen,” Hahm said.