ROK President Roh Moo-hyun's news conference on Thursday and opposition parties' endeavor to pass the impeachment bill have sharpened the confrontation between the two sides.  

Although the National Assembly put off the plenary session on the bill to Friday, the crisis from fierce conflict between Roh and the opposition-controlled parliament did not get better.

During his 80-minute long press conference earlier Thursday, the president refused to apologize to the opposition in exchange for the opposition parties' retraction of the impeachment motion from the parliament.

But he said sorry to his people over the fact that his election camp received slush fund during the campaign of presidential election in December 2002.

The prosecution announced an interim result of a four-month probe on Monday that Roh's campaign team took 11.3 billion won (US$9.62 million) illegal fund-raising in the presidential election.

The country's biggest opposition Grand National Party was also found to have accepted 82.3 billion won (US$70.1 million) illegal donations in the election.

On the impeachment issue, Roh said he did not think what he had said was wrong. Roh referred to his previous remarks that he would do his best within the legal bound to help the Uri Party to win the parliament general election.

The Uri Party was formed by pro-Roh law-makers who quit from the Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) late last year. After that, the MDP adopted anti-Roh stance in the parliament and cooperated several times with the biggest opposition party the Grand National Party (GNP) to baffle Roh's policy.

This time, 159 lawmakers from the GNP and the MDP submitted the impeachment motion to the parliament on Tuesday, accusing Roh of violating election law by publicly voicing support for the Uri Party.

Roh's speech aroused negative responses from the two opposition parties, who vowed later in the day to try to pass the impeachment bill to oust Roh.

The GNP holds 145 seats and the MDP has 62 seats in the National Assembly. And according to rules, the bill can be effective when two-thirds of the total 271 law-makers in the parliament vote for it.

The GNP alleged the it had already gained some 190 supporter from the two opposition parties, more than the 181 requisite number for approval of the bill.

The pro-government Uri Party pledged to block the ballot over the bill by any means, even physical one, but it only holds 47 seats in the parliament.

It was also because of the Uri Party's strong protest that National Assembly Speaker Park Kwan-yong decided to delay the plenary session. Scores of lawmakers from the Uri Party occupied the rostrum to prevent Park from presiding meeting.

But opposition's resolve to oust Roh is also strong. After hearing Roh's speech, both the GNP and MDP said that Roh was not qualified as the leader of the Republic of Korea (ROK). GNP's Chairman Choe Byung-yul said the impeachment was of the national interests.

Local business circle and people paid highly attention to the political crisis. Six out ten people in opinion polls did not agree with opposition's action to oust Roh.

And local experts also pointed out the two main opposition parties abused their dominating power in the parliament to blow Roh Moo-hyun and the Uri Party to assure their winning in the April 15 parliament general election.

A pro-Roh activist even burnt himself Thursday evening to protest the impeachment move.

Foreigners here said whether the impeachment bill would be passed or not, the ROK's international fame would be shadowed due to the political instability.

According to rules, the parliament must deal with the impeachment bill from 6:30 pm (0930 GMT) Wednesday afternoon to 6:30 pm (0930 GMT) Friday afternoon, otherwise the motion will be null automatically.

Roh Moo-hyun, former human rights lawyer, now is facing his most serious conjuncture since he took office last February.

"It will be another fierce fight tomorrow," predicted local media.

(Xinhua News Agency March 12, 2004)