Huge rally seeks ouster of S. Korean president
SEOUL, South Korea — Rallying for the sixth straight weekend in what has become perhaps South Korea’s biggest protest movement ever, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators in Seoul got the closest yet Saturday to the president they desperately want removed.
The demonstration came hours after lawmakers formally launched an attempt to impeach President Park Geun-hye and set up a floor vote for as early as next Friday. State prosecutors accuse Park of helping a close confidante extort money and favors from large companies, and manipulate state affairs.
The scandal has sparked mass protests each Saturday in downtown Seoul. In the latest demonstration, protesters advanced to a narrow alley about 100 yards from the presidential palace grounds, an area police didn’t previously permit them to enter.
Police estimated the turnout at 320,000, making it the biggest anti-Park rally so far, though protest organizers estimated the crowd at 1.7 million.
Some of the demonstrators, led by the relatives of a 2014 ferry disaster that killed more than 300 people, mostly teenagers on a school trip, jammed the alley near the presidential office, shouting to demand Park’s arrest, not just her resignation.
Some protesters angrily threw flowers at police who had created tight perimeters around the street and demanded that the officers get out of the way.
Park said Tuesday that she would leave office if parliament comes up with a stable power transfer plan, but she didn’t provide a timeline. Opposition lawmakers said it was a stalling ploy aimed at luring back members of her party who supported impeachment.