Serious stuff. For a change.

Parliament voted for the first presidential impeachment ever on Friday.

The opposition-controlled body voted overwhelmingly to impeach President Roh, who has been in office for one year. According to my friend Trudysoo, the whip-smartest person I know here, President Roh's crimes are mainly that: 1. he accepted bribes from various big corporations during his campaign in 2002; and 2. that he spoke in favor of his own party in regard to the Parliamentary elections to be held next month. That pissed off the other two parties, who voted for impeachment.

Now. This doesn't make sense for two reasons:

1. Every single goddamn Korean president since the birth of the Republic (of Korea) has taken bribes from corporations. I'm so serious. It's like, a prerequisite for candidacy. In addition, not only presidents, but every goddamn Korean politician takes bribes. This is such an accepted form of politicking that according to BBC News: "opposition aides are accused of having taken even more money, and Mr Roh said earlier this year that he would resign if his camp was found to have taken more than a tenth of the illegal funds raised by the opposition." Right.

And 2. uh, wouldn't it be only natural for the president to stump for his party during elections? I understand that this is a rule under Korean law, but ... wha--? It don't make sense. S'all I'm sayin'.

The scene on Friday in Parliament was something to see. Members slapped each other, threw papers, threw furniture even. Some, presumably members of the president's party, sat on the floor and cried. Impeachment, Korean style.

I have to admit, I found it sort of funny. And very representative of Korean nature: no holds barred, full-out expressions of fury, frustration, and despair. There are a lot of people in the world who still think that Korea and Japan are fairly similar, and I thought of that sort of randomly yesterday, because when I see displays of passion like the ones being played on TV over and over again on Friday, I think of how different it is from the U.S. Congress, or the verbally raucous but (as far as I know!) nonviolent British Parliament, or the Japanese Diet, whose members wouldn't be caught dead in such undignified shenanigans. And I gotta say, I'm sorta amused, and sort of perversely admiring of the Korean style.

But. A lot of Koreans wouldn't agree with me. I mean, like most Koreans, I think impeachment is too serious of a punishment for President Roh, but I don't feel their sorrow and anger. I went to a Catholic service this morning (just for kicks -- don't get any ideas), and the priest spoke about how he wept the day before because of the impeachment. He suggested that we all take the opportunity to think about the bad things we've done in our lives, at which a number of the parishoners dabbed their eyes.

According to the polls, the majority (about 70 percent) of Koreans think the impeachment is a bad move. Thousands of people came out to wave candles and sing on Saturday night and tonight to protest the Parliament's actions. I'm watching the news right now, and there are really huge crowds at Gwanghwamun.

The Constitutional Court has yet to rule on the impeachment, so all bet's are off til then. In the meanwhile, the president will hang out and do nothing, while the Prime Minister runs the country. In the car, riding to Pizza Hut today (my grandmother is probably one of five Korean women past the age of 70 who really likes pizza), my grandmother opined, "Well, it probably wouldn't be so bad if the Prime Minister kept running the country. He's got a good face."