This really shows how fed up the Korean people are with President Park that the Korean left was able to get far more people to this weekend’s rally than what they were able to get to attend the anti-US beef protests in 2008:
Protesters stage a candlelight rally on a thoroughfare in downtown Seoul on Nov. 12, 2016, as they take part in an anti-government rally to demand President Park Geun-hye resign over an influence-peddling scandal implicating her longtime close friend Choi Soon-sil. In the background is Mount Bukak, at the foot of which the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae is located. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in Seoul on Saturday and into the early hours of Sunday, in numbers not seen in decades, for the latest massive rally to demand President Park Geun-hye’s resignation over the growing scandal involving her confidante.
Over 1 million people joined the candlelight rally at Gwanghwamun Plaza in downtown Seoul as of 7:30 p.m., according to organizers. Police said 260,000 people gathered, which surpasses the 170,000 they had originally expected.
It is the largest rally to be held in South Korea this century to date, comparable to one that took place in 1987. Over 1 million Koreans took the streets at that time, leading the then Chun Doo-hwan military regime to accept their calls to adopt a direct presidential election system.
The previous record was set in June 2008 when 80,000 people, based on police calculations, turned out for a rally in Seoul against the government decision to resume U.S. beef imports. Organizers then put the number at 700,000.
Police said they deployed some 25,000 officers in riot gear on Saturday to prevent potential violence.
Major streets near Gwanghwamun were packed with citizens — men and women, young and old — holding banners that said “Step down Park Geun-hye!” and chanting slogans against the current administration.
Three opposition parties joined the rally, along with some potential presidential hopefuls, including Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon of the Democratic Party. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but it appears that Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon is the one on the Korean left trying to best position himself as their standard bearer if Park does in fact resign.
