Shaking the System; South Korean politics can make for rough sport. But there's no reason the rules should make it even worse.

Byline: William Dobson and B. J. Lee

No one ever said being the president of South Korea was easy. Syngman Rhee, the country's first president, died in exile. Strongman Park Chung Hee's rule ended with his assassination. Of the country's four most recent leaders, two landed in jail and the others had family members imprisoned after lengthy public investigations. "In South Korea the presidency can be a dangerous position," says Choong Nam Kim, a Korea expert at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, who has served as an adviser to three Korean presidents. "You struggle to survive."

President Roh Moo Hyun learned this firsthand last week. On March 12, only 13 months into his five-year term, the opposition-controlled National Assembly voted to strip Roh of his presidential powers in an unprecedented impeachment vote. Even by South Korea's bare-knuckled standards, the scene was incredible: opposition-party legislators stormed the main hall of the Parliament and forcibly brought an end to a sit-in being held by pro-Roh legislators. As these delegates were dragged away kicking and screaming, the opposition lawmakers voted 193-to-2 in favor of ousting Roh, easily clearing the two-thirds requirement for impeachment. It was no less chaotic outside the Parliament, as one supporter of the president set himself on fire and another drove his SUV onto the building's steps and set it aflame. What precipitated the crisis? Roh's stumping for the candidates of the new Uri Party--which he hoped to join after the April legislative elections--despite the ban against all civil servants from electioneering. "Had Roh apologized sincerely on Thursday, he would have avoided the impeachment vote on Friday," says Yoon Jong Bin of Seoul's Myongji University. "Roh invited his own tragedy."

There is no question that Roh must shoulder much of the blame. From day one the Blue House has been criticized for appointing political rookies and dithering on important policy ...