South Koreans go to the polls on Thursday (April 15) to elect a new National Assembly but much, much more than that now appears at stake since last month’s impeachment of President Roh Moo-hyun, ostensibly because of his statement of support for one of the contesting parties. The president’s support for the upstart Uri Party (UP) over the opposition Grand National Party (GNP) and the Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) – nominally his own party, since he ran on the MDP ticket – caused the opposition to unite and present Roh with an ultimatum in early March: either apologize for his comments – which were judged to be illegal but only a minor infraction of ROK election laws – or face impeachment.