South Korea Impeachment a Familiar Olympic Story

(ATR) South Korea is the second straight Olympic host to have an unscheduled leadership transition ahead of the Games.

The South Korean parliament voted today 234-56 to impeach President Park Geun Hye for her role in an ongoing corruption and influence scandal. President Park will be removed from office for 180 days as the Korean Constitutional Court reviews the charges.

Park could survive the impeachment through a court ruling. Her presidential term ends weeks after the 2018 Olympics in PyeongChang. Current Prime Minister Hwang Kyo Ahn will step into the Presidency on an interim basis until the ruling.

After the impeachment vote, Park apologized on Korean state television for the "big national chaos" caused from the scandal. Park said that she would accept the ruling of the constitutional court when a decision is reached.

"I solemnly accept the voices of the National Assembly and the people and sincerely hope that the current confusion will come to an end in an orderly manner," Park added.

South Korea is entering the final 14 months of preparations for the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics. The President’s office has helped facilitate deals such as the construction of the high speed rail line linking Seoul to PyeongChang for the Games.

It remains to be seen if sponsorship deals for the PyeongChang Olympics negotiated between former organizing committee President Yang Ho Cho and President Park will be investigated. Numerous state-run corporations such as Korean Airlines signed deals during this period before Cho resigned his position to return to his private-sector roles.

Both major political parties in South Korea support hosting the Games, meaning it is unlikely a transfer of power will disrupt preparations. A new sports minister will likely emerge if Park does not see out the end of her term.

Transfers of leadership are not uncommon in the years or even months before an Olympic Games. Great Britain saw a replacement Sports Minister step in two years before the Games. The political situation in Brazil was less secure before Rio 2016, with three different sports ministers in the last six months before the Games.

Like South Korea, Brazil saw its president reach a single digit approval rating less than 18 months before the Olympics. Citizens in both countries took to the streets in mass demonstrations calling for each leader's removal. Both leaders were entangled in corruption scandals, although Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff herself was never actually linked to corrupt practices.

Rousseff was removed from office after a lengthy impeachment process. Throughout the process Brazil’s Supreme Court repeatedly affirmed the decisions by the lower and upper house to seek Rousseff’s removal.

In the end, the 2016 Olympics went off without a serious hitch because most of the responsibility was transferred away from the federal government. By the time the political crisis struck Brazil, most positions related to the day to day operations had been filled.

Test events for PyeongChang are already underway. Events will run through April 2017, the final chance for organizers to test venue preparations.

Written by Aaron Bauer

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