Protesters clash over Park's impeachment

Police buses kept pro-President Park and anti-Park protesters apart in central Seoul on Saturday, with people at Gwanghwamun Square (top) demanding the Constitutional Court back Park’s impeachment and those at bottom opposing it. / Yonhap

By Ko Dong-hwan

On the fourth anniversary of Korean President Park Geun-hye’s administration, there were two large rallies in Seoul, one calling for Park’s impeachment over a corruption scandal and the other against it.

Park’s supporters waved the Korean national flags, demanding that Park must not be impeached. They demanded that the Constitutional Court, which is deciding whether to impeach Park, reject Park's impeachment, saying the court is trying to deliver the ruling before acting Chief Justice Lee Jung-mi leaves.

A rally participant was cited by Yonhap News Agency saying, “I am worried about the court's plan to end the hearings on Feb. 27 and deliver the ruling before Lee's departure.”

Park’s supporters said 3 million participated in the rally as of 2:45 p.m.

Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of anti-Park protesters held their 17th weekly candlelit vigil in central Seoul. The rally organizer said the number was estimated 800,000.

These protesters called for the Constitutional Court to hurry its decision on Park’s impeachment.

Lee Ho-joon, a law professor at Sogang University, was cited by Yonhap News Agency as saying during the rally, “The president's lawyers tried to slow down the trials with various tactics, but the candlelight vigils stopped it.”

Saturday’s demonstrations came amid growing calls for extending the February deadline for a probe led by Independent Counsel Park Young-soo into the scandal involving Park and her longtime friend Choi Soon-sil.

The investigation can be extended once by a month with consent from the acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, who, however, remained lukewarm toward the extension, despite calls from opposition parties.

The court has until early June to decide whether to impeach or reinstate Park following parliament's vote in December to impeach her.

The court earlier indicated its resolve to finalize the proceedings before Mar. 13, Lee’s retirement date, because her departure will create another vacancy on the nine-member bench.

Chief Justice Park Han-chul retired last month, reducing the bench to eight members.