Thousands rally in Seoul to call for Yoon's resignation

Protesters calling for President Yoon Suk Yeol's resignation march along a street near Seoul Station Saturday. (Yonhap)

Thousands of people gathered in the capital city of Seoul to call for Yoon Suk Yeol's resignation on Saturday, as a coalition of left-wing groups blamed the president for tensions on the Korean Peninsula and economic strains.

According to police, about 5,000 people are estimated to have flocked to Sejongdaero at 3 p.m. near Namdaemun in central Seoul to protest Yoon's leadership, as the conservative president's five-year term is now about halfway through. The coalition estimated the participation in Seoul at 10,000.

Under Yoon's leadership, South Korea "has been failing to protect its people's lives despite the state's duty to do so," said the Rev. Kim Sang-geun before the crowd. Kim was chief of state-owned broadcaster KBS during the term of the previous liberal President Moon Jae-in's term. He invoked the Itaewon crowd crush that killed 159 mostly young people nearly two years ago as well as the death of a Marine during a rescue operation in a flooded area in July 2023.

Kim also criticized "antistate forces" he likened to pro-Japanese traitors during Japan's colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula from 1910-45 as still rampant within the Yoon administration as it works to rebuild ties with Tokyo. Yoon just last month invoked the same term ahead of the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield military exercise to urge readiness in defending the country against covert actors.

"We might see Japan's Rising Sun flags fluttering in our territory," he said, referring to the flag used during World War II and Japan's colonization of Korea.

Kim added it is peculiar to hear allegations that first lady Kim Keon Hee had exerted influence such as on military promotions and the ruling People Power Party's candidate nomination process for the April parliamentary election.

Protesters calling for President Yoon Suk Yeol's resignation march along a street near Seoul Station Saturday. (Yonhap)

Meanwhile, Yoon's flagship "value diplomacy" has added fuel to the crisis on the Korean Peninsula, added the Rev. Lee Hong-jung, who formerly led the South Korean Committee on the June 15 Joint Declaration.

"The Yoon administration has been bringing up value diplomacy on the international stage to be subservient to the United States and hostile toward China and North Korea," said Lee, who had led a now-defunct group to deliver on promises during the first summit of the two Koreas in 2000. The North's counterpart dissolved early this year.

"This has set the stage for South Korea to spearhead the move to strengthen US hegemony, turn South Korea into a military post for a war between superpowers and eventually introduce nuclear war (to the Korean Peninsula) via proxy warfare," Lee added.

Moreover, the Yoon administration's favoritism toward the wealthy has pushed ordinary people's lives toward the brink of poverty, according to Park Seok-woon, a left-wing activist who leads the Korea Alliance for Progressive Movement.

"We are losing quality jobs. Some 1 million small business operators shut down their business, and we are still seeing Yoon favor the rich through tax relief and shrink the budget for social welfare programs," Park said.

"The price of rice keeps on falling, but the government does not stop rice imports. ... Real wages (adjusted for inflation) have kept on dropping for three years in a row, but Yoon appointed antilabor figure Kim Moon-soo as his new labor minister. It is a declaration of war against workers."

Participants in the rally attempted to march along the street from Namdaemun in Jung-gu southward to the presidential office in Yongsan-gu, starting at around 3:50 p.m. But the protesters were blocked by police from advancing near Sookmyung Women's University Station after someone apparently within the group deployed a smoke shell.

A participant holds placards calling for President Yoon Suk Yeol's resignation in a rally in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, on Saturday. (Yonhap)

The rally was part of a nationwide movement held across 14 locations on Friday and Saturday. On Saturday alone, a coalition of left-wing activist groups organized protests in Seoul, Busan, Gwangju, Ulsan and Sejong, as well as in North Chungcheong Province, Gangwon Province, the North and South Jeolla provinces, South Gyeongsang Province and Jeju Island.

Some 100,000 people combined were expected to have taken part in rallies across the country over the two days, according to Park Sang-mi, a spokesperson for the coalition.

By Son Ji-hyoung(consnow@heraldcorp.com)