Hundreds of thousands rally for S. Korean leader’s ouster
SEOUL, South Korea — Hundreds of thousands of people flooded Seoul’s streets on Saturday demanding the resignation of President Park Geun-hye amid an explosive political scandal, in what may be South Korea’s largest protest since it shook off dictatorship three decades ago.
Police said about 260,000 people turned out for the latest mass rally against Park, whose presidency has been shaken by suspicion that she let a longtime confidante manipulate power from behind the scenes. Protest organizers estimated the crowd at 1 million.
Waving banners and signs, a sea of demonstrators jammed streets stretching about half a mile from City Hall to a large square in front of an old palace gate for several hours. Protesters also marched on a road in front of the palace gate and near the Blue House, the mountainside presidential office and residence.
Bae Dong-san, 45, said Park’s government has “worsened the living conditions of workers, completely messed up state governance and monopolized state affairs with her secret inner circle.”
Despite rising public anger, opposition parties have yet to seriously push for Park’s resignation or impeachment over fears of triggering a backlash from conservative voters and negatively affecting next year’s presidential election. However, they have threatened to campaign for Park to resign if she doesn’t distance herself from state affairs.
The protest Saturday was the largest in the capital since June 10, 2008, when police said 80,000 people took part in a candlelight vigil denouncing the government’s decision to resume U.S. beef imports amid mad cow fears. Organizers estimated that crowd at 700,000.
The protest reportedly drew tens of thousands of people from other cities.
Lee Ryeo-hwa, a Seoul resident who brought her three children to the rally, said Park had to go because she “created this mess with her undemocratic leadership style and refusal to communicate.”
In addition to allegedly manipulating power, the president’s confidante, Choi Soon-sil, the daughter of a late cult leader who emerged as Park’s mentor in the 1970s, is also suspected of exploiting her presidential ties to bully companies into donating tens of millions of dollars to foundations she controlled.
Park said Tuesday she would let the oppositioncontrolled parliament choose her prime minister. But opposition parties say her words are meaningless without specific promises about transferring much of her presidential power.
The opposition is also demanding a separate investigation into the scandal by a special prosecutor.
Prosecutors have arrested Choi, one of her key associates and two former presidential aides who allegedly helped Choi interfere with government decisions and amass an illicit fortune at the expense of businesses. Prosecutors have until Nov. 20 to formally charge Choi.
On Saturday, prosecutors summoned an executive of Samsung Electronics, South Korea’s largest company, which is under suspicion of spending millions of dollars illicitly financing the equestrian training of Choi’s daughter.
Park has 15 months left in her term. If she steps down before the end of it, an election must be held within 60 days.