S. Korean citizens stage candle-lit rallies in festive mood

By Park Sae-jin Posted : December 10, 2016, 20:49 Updated : December 11, 2016, 15:36

[Joint Press Corps.]


Hundreds of thousands of South Koreans staged candle-lit rallies in a festive mood Saturday in Seoul and elsewhere, a day after parliament impeached President Park Geun-hye for her role in a corruption scandal that has 

Braving freezing temperatures, citizens calling for Park's immediate resignation and arrest marched near the presidential Blue House after a rally in a park in central Seoul. Similar protests were held in provincial cities.

Some protesters sang and danced to celebrate Park's impeachment, urging the constitutional court to take quick action and expel the disgraced leader from the presidential residence.

Rally organizers vowed to continue protests until Park lands in prison regardless of the outcome of ruling by the constitutional court. Organizers claimed that some 600,000 citizens gathered only in Seoul. 

"Our people will be recorded in history for achieving a great civil revolution to topple a dictatorship," Seoul City Mayor Park Won-soon said in a speech.
 

[Aju News DB]


The constitutional court will review the legitimacy of Park's impeachment in a time-consuming process which may take up to six months. A presidential election, originally set for December next year, should be held within two months after the court approved impeachment.

The parliamentary vote followed a series of anti-government protests that have seen millions of citizens taking to the streets in an unprecedented demonstration of people power.

Since late October, the scandal has put South Korea into a political quagmire, paralyzing state affairs and aggravating economic woes. But Park, who took office in early 2013 as South Korea's first female president, has refused to step down by herself.

Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
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