[Photo by Namgung Jin-woong = timeid@ajunews.com]
Hundreds of thousands of citizens staged peaceful candle-lit rallies in Seoul and elsewhere Saturday, calling for the immediate resignation of South Korea's scandal-stricken President Park Geun-hye.
The main rally took place at a park in central Seoul with citizens holding up candles and placards demanding Park step down voluntarily or face a shameful impeachment.
Organizers said the Seoul rally drew about 500,000 people, including high-school students who finished their college entrance exams this week, while police put the number of participants at 150,000. Similar rallies were held in others cities.
Thousands of protesters marched and shouted slogans in the streets near Park's residence, which has been guarded by riot police armed with water cannons and tear gas. Scores of police buses formed tight barricades around the residence.
"Nobody wants to live in a country ruled by President Park any longer. We must abandon an old system to open a new era," said Seoul city mayor Park Won-soon, a potential candidate in next year's presidential election.
Choo Mi-ae, head of the main opposition Democratic Party, slammed Park for resisting widespread public pressure to resign, saying she is the main culprit behind a massive corruption scandal involving her longtime friend, Choi Soon-sil.
The scandal has seriously tarnished Park's image and authority, triggering the worst crisis of her political career. Last week, a candle-lit rally in Seoul was attended by the biggest number of protesters in South Korea's modern history.
On Thursday, the National Assembly voted for a special counsel who will lead an independent investigation, as Park showed a lukewarm attitude over an early face-to-face interrogation by prosecutors.
Park's attorney insisted prosecutors should send a written questionnaire and expressed concerns that an investigation or trial of an incumbent president could paralyze state affairs.
Park will be questioned to determine if she had pressured conglomerate chiefs into donating cash to two nonprofit foundations controlled by Choi. The president is also suspected of allowing Choi to gain access to advance drafts of presidential speeches and documents.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
