SEOUL (Reuters) – Protesters supporting and opposing South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol held rival protests several hundred meters apart in Seoul on Saturday, a week after he was charged over his brief declaration of martial law.
Yoon’s presidential powers are suspended but he remains in office. He has failed to comply with several subpoenas from authorities investigating whether martial law, which he declared late on Dec. 3 and rescinded hours later, constituted an insurrection.
He has also not responded to attempts to contact him by the Constitutional Court, which decides whether to remove him from office or restore his presidential powers. The court is scheduled to hold its first preparatory hearing on Friday.
Saturday’s pro- and anti-Yoon protests took place in Gwanghwamun, in the heart of the capital. Until 4:00 p.m. (07:00 GMT) there had been no clashes.
Tens of thousands of anti-Yoon protesters, dominated by people in their 20s and 30s, gathered around 3 p.m., waving K-Pop glow sticks and signs with sayings such as “Arrest! Imprisonment! Boss of the insurrection, Yoon Suk Yeol” for catchy K-pop tunes.
“I wanted to ask Yoon how he could do this to a democracy in the 21st century, and I think if he really has a conscience, he should resign,” said Cho Sung-hyo, 27.
Several thousand pro-Yoon protesters, mainly older and more conservative people who oppose Yoon’s ouster and support restoring his powers, had gathered since around noon.
“These rigged (parliamentary) elections are devouring this country, and at the center are the communist socialist powers, so about 10 of us got together and said the same thing: we are absolutely opposed to impeachment,” said Lee Young-su, 62 years old. one year old businessman.
Yoon had cited accusations of election hacking and “anti-state” pro-North Korean sympathizers as justification for imposing martial law, which the National Election Commission has denied.