Tens of thousands rally In Seoul to demand S. Korea president's ouster

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Tens of thousands rally In Seoul to demand S. Korea president's ouster

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SEOUL: Up to 1.3 million protesters braved sleet and freezing temperatures in Seoul on Saturday (Nov 26) to demand President Park Geun-Hye resign over a corruption scandal or face impeachment, organisers said.

Participants raised candles, sung and danced while chanting "Arrest Park Geun-Hye" and "Throw Park into jail", with cries from the main rally site reportedly reaching the presidential Blue House some 1.5 kilometres (0.9 miles) away.

The figure offered by organisers would make this the largest of a series of huge weekly protests that began a month ago in the South Korean capital, after an influence-peddling scandal engulfed the president.

Police put the turnout at 260,000.

Parents and their children, university students and Buddhist monks were among those protesting for the fifth straight weekend as Park comes under intensifying pressure to step down.

"I don't think Park would step down voluntarily, but we need to raise our voice as much as possible to encourage parliament to push through with its move to impeach her," Lee Seung-cheol, a 23-year-old student, told AFP.

There was a festive mood among protesters, who were wearing raincoats and clutching umbrellas to protect themselves against the cold and wet weather.

Food, placards and leaflets were being handed out, street vendors were selling candles and chairs, and some protestors were dancing to music being blared from loudspeakers.

"I came here because I wanted to show my children that people are the owner of this country, not the power holders," Shim Kyu-il, a 47-year-old company employee, said.

Yang Duk-Joon, 53, said he and other farmers had taken a bus from the southern provincial city of Muan to join the protest.

"We're here to oust Park, who ruined this country," he said, adding the rice price had fallen 40 per cent this year compared with a year earlier.

The weekend rallies have been growing in size over the past month, attracting an estimated one million people two weeks ago, and are among the largest seen in South Korea since the pro-democracy protests of the 1980s.

So far they have been largely peaceful, with families, high school students, workers and farmers participating, chanting slogans and carrying candles.

Park has apologised over the influence-peddling scandal involving her long-time confidante Choi Soon-sil, who has been arrested for fraud and abuse of power, but has defied calls to step down.

Choi is also accused of interfering in government affairs, despite holding no official position.

Park has seen her approval ratings plunge to a record low for a sitting president as top advisers and some of the most powerful companies in the country are caught up in the snowballing scandal.

Choi, 60, allegedly leveraged her relationship with Park to coerce donations from large conglomerates, including SK, Lotte and Samsung, to non-profit foundations which she set up and used for personal gain.

A parliamentary vote to impeach Park could take place as early as next week as a growing number of ruling party politicians back the opposition-led campaign to oust the president.

If parliament passes the impeachment motion, Park would be suspended from official duties and replaced by the prime minister. The Constitutional Court would need to approve the impeachment.

"Even though the Constitutional Court is deemed conservative, they would be unable to defy the people's wish to oust Park", Kang Won-Taek, a political science professor of the Seoul National University, told AFP.