Fresh Protest Pushes Defiant S. Korea President To Resign

SEOUL, , (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Nov, 2016 ) - Tens of thousands of protestors gathered in Seoul on Saturday for the fourth in a weekly series of mass protests aimed at forcing President Park Geun-Hye to resign over a corruption scandal.

The demonstrations -- among the largest seen in South Korea since the pro-democracy protests of the 1980s -- have provided a stark challenge to Park's authority, but the president has defied calls to step down.

After claiming a turnout of around one million for last week's protest, organisers said they expected some 500,000 people on Saturday, while police predicted one-tenth that number. So far the candlelight protests have been largely peaceful, with many families participating, but there was still a heavy police presence, with buses and trucks blocking access roads to the presidential Blue House.

"We want to have a peaceful protest," Nam Jeong-Su, spokesman for the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, told AFP. Nam said he expected the ranks of protestors to be swelled by thousands of students who sat the national college entrance exam earlier in the week.

And this being South Korea -- with the world's highest smartphone penetration rate -- many had downloaded a special app showing a burning candle to hold aloft during the rally. Hours before Saturday's protest was scheduled to start, a crowd of around 50,000 had already gathered along Seoul's ceremonial Gwanghwamun boulevard, south of the presidential Blue House.