Most of South Korean political parties, business circles and civic groups made positive responsesover the final verdict of Constitutional Court on the impeachment against South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun earlier Friday.

They welcomed the ruling favored Roh, saying it is helpful for the country to return normality.

Two months ago, when the opposition controlled National Assembly abruptly passed the unprecedented impeachment motion and referred it to the court, local people were astonished.

Financial and security markets jittered over the impeachment, foreign investors adopted wait-and-see stance, local people divided into pro-and-con camps over the impeachment.

Friday's ruling eventually put a full stop to the abnormality.

Roh Moo-hyun restored immediately his once suspended executive powers following the court's rejection of the impeachment.

The pro-government Uri Party, that experienced great success inrecent parliamentary election by taking majority seats in the assembly, hailed the ruling.

"Today's ruling by the Constitutional Court was a confirmation of the people's true will," Chung Dong-young, chairman of the Uri Party, said in a statement.

The party, formed by lawmakers loyal to Roh, grew rapidly from a small party to the country's largest one on rides of "impeachment effect." It claimed the April 15 parliamentary generalelection was a referendum for Roh, and the result has made clear the will of people.

Meanwhile, the Grand National Party (GNP), that cooperated withformer ruling Millennium Democratic Party (MDP) to pass the impeachment bill, acknowledged on Friday the impeachment was against the public will.

"We respect the Constitutional Court's decision and humbly accept it," the GNP's spokesman Han Sun-kyo said.

The GNP and the MDP, that hold 145 and 62 seats respectively inthe outgoing 16th National Assembly, suffered great loss in the parliamentary polls by winning 121 seats and only 9 seats respectively.

Foreign business community and domestic economic circle viewed positively of the ruling, calling on the government to quickly take measures to stabilize the economy.

"This is a great day for South Korea," William Oberlin, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in (South) Korea, said. "We hope this will be the closure that South Korea needed inorder to move forward in its phase of political and economic transformation and address the more pressing economic issues at hand."

The European Union Chamber of Commerce in (South) Korea (EUCCK)also welcomed Roh's reinstatement to presidency. "We hope President Roh Moo-hyun will swiftly act to stabilize the economy, overcoming the past two months of leadership vacuum."

South Korean local economic associations expressed similar views, but they were also worried with the reinstatement of Roh could speed up his administration's reform of the country's family-controlled conglomerates.

"The president's reinstatement will pave the way for the endingof confusion in economic policies," said Kim Young-bae, an executive at the (South) Korea Employers Federation (KEF).

But Kim also said under the current difficult economic conditions, the government should place its top priority on reviving the economy rather than pushing for reform.

The country's business community and the government have been locked in a row over the pace and scope of corporate reform.

Ordinary South Korean people expected the ruling will make government and political parties to transfer their focus on political conflicts to promote livelihood of citizens.

Choi Yul, co-chairman of the Pan-national People's Action Against Impeachment, said the decision reflected the people's willwhich was already shown in the April 15 parliamentary election.

"On the occasion of the decision, we hope President Roh will dohis best to resolve problems with public livelihood such as socialunity and unemployment," Choi said.

Many economists also said the top priority facing Roh is overcoming the slump in consumption, the impact of hiking oil price and distrust of foreign investor on South Korean economy.

Source: Xinhua