Hundreds of thousands rally in Seoul for ouster of 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 flfloor 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 affffairs.
The scandal has sparked mass protests each Saturday in downtown Seoul. In the latest demonstration, the protesters advanced to a narrow alley about 100 yards away 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 the crowd appeared to be much larger. Protest organizers estimated the crowd at 1.7 million.
Some of the demonstrators, led by the relatives of victims of a 2014 ferry disaster that killed more than 300 people, mostly teenagers on a school trip, jammed the alley near the presidential offiffice, shouting for hours to demand Park’s arrest, not just her resignation.
Some protesters angrily threw flflowers at police who formed a tight cordon around the street, demanding that the offifficers get out of the way.
“We not once were allowed on this street ... I have long dreamed of the day I stand here with citizens,” said Jeon Myeon- seon, one of the parents of the teens who died in the ferry disaster, which was partially blamed on government incompetence and corruption. “We will continue to join this fifight with our fellow citizens until the full truth is out on how this government defrauded its people.”
Thousands also rallied near the National Assembly to pressure political parties, including Park’s conservative ruling part y, to vote for her impeachment next week.
Opposition parties controlling South Korea’s parliament had earlier planned to call for a vote this past week, but were thrown offff after Park made a conditional offffffffffffer Tuesday to leave offiffice, which left them squabbling over timing.
Park’s overture has also caused cracks among dissenters in her conservative ruling party who had earlier backed her impeachment, an alarming development for opposition parties, which don’t have enough votes to push through the impeachment motion themselves.