Protesters call for president to step down

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA >> Thousands of South Koreans took to the streets of the capital on Saturday calling for increasingly unpopular President Park Geunhye to step down over allegations that she let an old friend, the daughter of a religious cult leader, interfere in important state affairs.

The evening protest came after Park ordered 10 of her senior secretaries to resign over a scandal that is likely to deepen the president’s lame duck status ahead of next year’s election.

Holding signs reading “Who’s the real president?” and “Park Geun-hye step down,” the protesters marched through downtown Seoul after holding a candlelight vigil. Police estimated that about 12,000 people turned out for the biggest anti-government demonstration in Seoul in months.

“Park has lost her authority as president and showed she doesn’t have the basic qualities to govern a country,” Jae-myung Lee, from the opposition Minjoo Party, told the protesters from a stage.