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By Park Si-soo, Choi Ha-young
It seems to have become a weekly street ritual in which hundreds of thousands of people all across the country are making their collective wish: the termination of President Park Geun-hye's presidency.
The winter chilling didn't wind down their fiery aspiration. Rather, the determination got stronger in the face of Park's tenacious resistance, bringing staggering 2.3 million people into the sixth mass anti-President rally on Saturday demanding the resignation of scandal-tainted head of state. It marked the highest turnout so far of the six rallies and far exceeded the previous record of 1.9 million set last Saturday.
This reflects that Park's third speech of apology on Tuesday didn't work at all to defuse public anger. Rather, the President only added fuel to the people's anger by making it clear that she has no intention of stepping down voluntarily.
"I wouldn't come here if I was not angry," said a housewife surnamed Ko, 48. "Park's third speech shows she has no remorse for what she did. Park should resign with dishonor. I don't need to listen to her fourth apology."
Another protester standing next to Ko said, "The most embarrassing thing I found in the third speech was when she said ‘I've never pursued my own interest (in office),'" referring to a line of Park's latest speech that provoked many people. "Everybody knows the truth," said a protester, surnamed Jung, 48. "I was watching the speech with my friends and we were so upset with the speech."
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Organizers said an estimated 1.7 million people were marching through Seoul's downtown streets as of 10 p.m. Similar protests were staged in dozens of other cities, including Busan, Gwangju, Daegu, Daejeon and Jeju, with nearly 600,000 people combined.
The crowds chanted slogans such as "President Park OUT" and "Disband the ruling Saenuri Party," carrying lighted candles in one hand and fliers containing an anti-President message in the other. In Seoul, an army of protesters holding flaming torches joined the march toward the presidential office.
Protesters were able to march to within the shouting distance of 100 meters of the presidential office, the closest ever, under the Seoul Administrative Court's ruling on Friday. Last week, the court drew a 200 meter limit line from the presidential office.
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This week's rally comes following Park's third speech of apology on Tuesday, in which she made it clear she has no intention of stepping down voluntarily. Park said she would leave her fate up to the National Assembly, causing cracks in the hard-won alliance of opposition parties for Park's impeachment.
Following fierce tugs of war, the opposition bloc has agreed to put the impeachment motion up for a vote on Dec. 9. Estranged lawmakers of Park's Saenuri Party warned the President that they would vote for impeachment unless she unveils a detailed timetable for her voluntary resignation by Dec. 7.
Meanwhile, a rally was staged in front of the National Assembly and the headquarters of the Saenuri Party on Saturday afternoon. Participants chanted slogans calling on lawmakers to vote for the impeachment motion.
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