Seoul: Tens of thousands of supporters and protesters gathered in central Seoul on Saturday, either opposing or demanding the ouster of impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol ahead of the Constitutional Court's impeachment ruling.
According to Yonhap News Agency, Candle Move, an anti-Yoon civic group, hosted rallies near the Constitutional Court in central Seoul, possibly for the last weekend before the court's impeachment ruling on Yoon. The court is currently deliberating whether to reinstate or remove Yoon from office after he was impeached over his short-lived martial law declaration on Dec. 3. It has yet to announce the date of the ruling, though many expect it to take place next week.
Kim Min-woong, a leader of the civic group, stated during the rally that some argue if Yoon is lucky, he could be reinstated and act recklessly, but it would be futile. The rally was followed by another mass protest in the nearby Gwanghwamun area, joined by opposition lawmakers, including more than 100 from the Democratic Party (DP), marching from the National Assembly.
DP floor leader Park Chan-dae claimed the Constitutional Court may oust Yoon with a unanimous decision, saying that reinstating Yoon would be a "shortcut" to dictatorship and a path toward a "boiling hell." The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), the country's biggest umbrella labor union, also held a protest rally in central Seoul, with police estimating that nearly 20,000 people participated in the rallies against Yoon.
In Gwanghwamun, an estimated 35,000 people gathered, waving the Taegeukgi and the Stars and Stripes, and chanting for Yoon's "immediate reinstatement" and the dissolution of the National Assembly. A rally host read aloud a letter from former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, who was indicted over the martial law turmoil, quoting him as demanding to "thoroughly reveal the crimes of the evil forces and punish them in the name of the people."
Some of Yoon's supporters staged a protest in front of the Constitutional Court, briefly clashing with opponents. Save Korea, a conservative Christian civic group, held a separate prayer rally near the National Assembly in western Seoul, attended by around 3,500 people, who sang hymns and called for the cancellation of Yoon's impeachment.
Around 3,600 police personnel were mobilized across central Seoul, with walls of police buses lining the streets to prevent violence. A notice at Anguk subway station, the nearest station to the Constitutional Court, said it will be closed from the day of the impeachment ruling until the situation stabilizes.