PHOTOS Anti-Abe protest in Seoul

By Jung Min-ho

Thousands of Koreans gathered in central Seoul Saturday evening to criticize Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for imposing export restrictions on their country.

About 5,000 people, including members of 596 civic groups, held candles at Gwanghwamun Square.

Abe took that action in an apparent retaliation after Korean Supreme Court rulings that ordered Japanese companies to pay damages to Korean victims of forced labor during World War II when Korea was a Japanese colony.

Protesters march toward the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, Saturday, denouncing Japan's export restrictions and demanding that its leader Shinzo Abe apologize for taking the apparent retaliatory measures. Yonhap

Yonhap

Yonhap

Yonhap

Yonhap