South Korea's two main opposition parties submitted the country's first ever presidential impeachment motion yesterday, targeting embattled leader Roh Moo-hyun after he was found to have violated election laws with comments aimed at influencing parliamentary polls.

　　The proposal was submitted to the National Assembly with the support of both the Millennium Democratic Party and the main opposition Grand National Party, an MDP spokesman, Kim Young-chang, said.

　　It marked the first time since the country's foundation in 1948 that South Korean lawmakers have tried to unseat a president through impeachment, National Assembly official Oh Se-il said.

　　The motion needs a simple majority of the 273-member assembly to make it to debate and a two-thirds majority to pass. It was submitted with the support of 159 lawmakers, more than half, Kim said.

　　"We believe we won't have big difficulties in passing it," Kim said.

　　GNP floor leader Hong Sa-duk cautioned, however, that the motion's fate was far from certain because there was opposition to impeachment within the parties, especially among the country's young lawmakers.

　　"Even if we cannot achieve the two-third majority, we hope our action would serve as a stern warning to the president not to violate laws," Hong said.

　　The motion was reported to the plenary session of the National Assembly late yesterday. Unless the motion is sent to the Legislation and Judiciary Committee for further deliberation, lawmakers must vote within 72 hours.

　　Roh's office had no immediate comment.

　　Last week, the country's election watchdog ruled that Roh violated election rules with comments that could unfairly influence next month's parliamentary poll, although it found Roh's infraction not serious enough for criminal charges and simply urged him to refrain from repeating such remarks.

　　Roh had responded to a journalist's question last month by calling for "overwhelming support" for the minor Uri Party, which backs the president.

　　The MDP said last week it would try to impeach the president if he did not apologize by Sunday for violating election laws.

　　Roh failed to do so, and opposition officials accused the president of failing to properly respond to the ruling and ignoring "the will of the people and opposition parties."

　　On Monday, Roh's office dismissed the impeachment plans as unfounded political posturing.

　　Roh, who took office in February 2003, has no party affiliation, but has said he plans to join the liberal Uri Party, which has 47 seats in the 273-member National Assembly. The MDP has 62 and the GNP 146, giving the two parties 208 seats, or three-quarters the assembly's total.

　　Roh is grappling with an opposition-controlled Assembly critical of the president, and hopes the Uri Party can expand its ranks in nationwide polls slated for April 15.

　　If the National Assembly approves Roh's impeachment, his presidential powers are frozen and Prime Minister Goh Kun would take over his duties. The matter would then be passed to the country's Constitutional Court, where six of nine judges must rule against Roh to unseat the leader.

　　On Monday, prosecutors said the campaign organizers of Roh and GNP contender Lee Hoi-chang had collected 11.3 billion won (US$9.7 million) and 82.3 billion won, respectively, in illegal funds from big businesses.

　　(The Associated Press)