Saturday\u2019s event marked the first time that organizers promoted a weekly event as a \u201cnational\u201d protest that drew participants from not only Seoul but from around the country. Candlelit Action claimed that around 300,000<\/a> attended Saturday\u2019s demonstration, while police put the number of participants at a maximum of 18,000<\/a>.<\/p>\n South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol at his inauguration reception on May 11, 2022 | Image: Jeon Han via Republic of Korea Flickr<\/p><\/div>\n Despite the discrepancy, the protests served as an emerging sign that what polls refer to as Yoon\u2019s general \u201cincompetence<\/a>\u201d and blunders in statecraft are starting to galvanize progressive South Koreans to mobilize in opposition and that the Democratic Party is finding success leveraging Yoon\u2019s mistakes and low approval ratings to its advantage.<\/p>\n But so far there are few signs that the protests against Yoon are likely to snowball with the support of political moderates into a movement similar to the one that forced Park to step down five years ago.<\/p>\n Instead, the ROK political landscape appears increasingly divided between the right and left, with less and less space in the middle. This reality is underlined by the regular right-wing protests in Gwanghwamun denouncing communists that attract as many if not more participants than Saturday\u2019s progressive demonstration, including one over the weekend.<\/p>\n And in such an environment, it\u2019s hard to imagine a repeat of 2016-17 happening any time soon.<\/p>\n A Sept. 2022<\/a> protest urging Yoon Suk-yeol to step down | Image: Candlelit Action (\ucd1b\ubd88\ud589\ub3d9) Facebook <\/a><\/p><\/div>\n SLOGANEERING<\/strong><\/p>\n While Saturday\u2019s \u201ccandlelight\u201d protest may have been bigger than in previous weeks, the main narrative that participants put forward was consistent with what progressives have promoted for much of Yoon\u2019s presidency.<\/p>\n Many of the protesters carried signs urging Yoon to \u201cstep down (\ud1f4\uc9c4)\u201d and calling for a \u201cspecial prosecution (\ud2b9\uac80)\u201d to investigate first lady Kim Keon-hee, a rallying cry<\/a> of the left since the presidential election due to her alleged involvement<\/a> in Deutsche Motors stock price manipulation<\/a>.<\/p>\n One notable change was that some Democratic Party lawmakers participated in the march and even spoke on stage, publicly promoting their participation on social media and possibly driving increased turnout.<\/p>\n Their participation comes amid increasing political strife between the opposition and ruling parties, as the Yoon administration pushes forward probes into top officials of the previous administration \u2014 including former President Moon Jae-in himself. Prosecutors even raided the Democratic Party building a day before the protest, a move that sparked outcry from opposition lawmakers who alleged political suppression.<\/p>\n The investigations of the Moon administration have only fed into a central argument<\/a> of the progressive protestors from the start, namely that the former prosecutor Yoon has sicced the prosecution on his political enemies to promote his and his party\u2019s political interests.<\/p>\n Slogans at the protest did not focus on national security or North Korea, although some hand signs in past weeks accused the ruling party of committing pro-Japanese<\/a> acts, \u201cdiplomatic disaster<\/a>\u201d and \u201cdisrupting peace.\u201d<\/p>\n Instead, the progressive demonstration centered around domestic politics, with most of the hand signs and chants focusing on Yoon\u2019s actions that have been \u201cdisrupting people\u2019s lives<\/a>\u201d economically, made South Korea into a \u201cprosecutor republic<\/a>,\u201d pursuing \u201cpolitical revenge\u201d<\/a> against adversaries, as well as signs noting \u201cincompetence, ignorance and lies<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n The protester\u2019s general dissatisfaction with Yoon\u2019s statecraft is also reflected in recent polls. His approval rate was 31% in a poll by the National Barometer Survey<\/a> (NBS) conducted from Oct. 17-19, and those who disapproved cited Yoon\u2019s incompetence (34%) and his \u201cdogmatic and unilateral\u201d way of statecraft (31%).<\/p>\n A Gallup poll<\/a> the same week showed that Yoon\u2019s diplomacy (14%) was the top reason why South Koreans disapproved of his job performance.<\/p>\n Democratic Party lawmakers holding hand signs and electric candles march in a protest at Gwanghwamun on Oct. 22, 2022 | Image: DP lawmaker Kim Yong-min Facebook<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n COUNTERPROTEST<\/strong><\/p>\n A few hours before the candlelight protest, conservative groups also gathered in Gwanghwamun for a massive rally in support of Yoon and opposing \u201ccommunism,\u201d led by the famous right-wing pastor Jun Kwang-hoon<\/a> who organized demonstrations against the Moon administration in violation<\/a> of COVID-19 rules.<\/p>\n Jun and other right-wing groups have held large-scale protests on several national holidays this year, including the Aug. 15 Liberation Day and Oct. 3 ROK Foundation Day. Around 15,000<\/a> attended the former and around 33,000<\/a> attended the latter, according to police.<\/p>\n Saturday\u2019s right-wing protest was similar in scale, reportedly attracting around 32,000<\/a> participants per police estimates.<\/p>\n The conservative slogans centered around \u201ceradicating the Jusa Faction,\u201d using a term that refers to North Korea sympathizers or those who studied Pyongyang\u2019s ruling ideology of juche, or self-reliance. The term made its way into headlines<\/a> this week after the president said it is \u201cimpossible to\u201d cooperate with these alleged DPRK supporters during a meeting with ruling party lawmakers, sparking a controversy over red-baiting.<\/p>\n The right-wing protestors focused on increasing North Korean threats, criticized the previous pro-engagement Moon administration and urged the Yoon administration to arrest and penalize former government officials.<\/p>\n The slogans and focus demonstrate that ideological and national security issues related to North Korea continue to galvanize right-wing voters to mobilize. This is also reflected in Yoon\u2019s approval ratings: Among the 27% that approved of the president\u2019s job performance in the Gallup poll last week, the top reason they gave was\u00a0 \u201cnational defense and security\u201d (13%).<\/p>\n By comparison, polls show that North Korea and other geopolitical issues are less likely to serve as significant mobilization factors for progressive constituents: Only 2% of those who disapprove of Yoon\u2019s performances in the same Gallup poll cited national security as the reason.<\/p>\n Yoon and his top aides during a rainstorm in June 2022 | Image: Jeon Han via Republic of Korea Flickr<\/p><\/div>\n GOING FORWARD<\/strong><\/p>\n Protests by both conservatives and progressives are likely to continue in Gwanghwamun for the foreseeable future. The political right demonstrated almost every week, while the organizers on the left have plans to hold rallies on a weekly basis.<\/p>\n The narratives and slogans may change slightly in the coming weeks, but the general patterns are likely to stay the same: The conservatives will push decades-old anti-communist rhetoric to call for the punishment of Moon-era politicians, while progressives will protest against Yoon\u2019s general approach to statecraft and respond to the latest domestic political strife.<\/p>\n Democratic Party lawmaker An Min-suk at the Oct. 22, 2022 protest in Gwanghwamun | Image: An Min-suk Facebook<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n But unlike during the 2016-17 Gwanghwamun protests against Park Geun-hye \u2014 which emerged as a response to one of the biggest political scandals since South Korea became a democracy \u2014 there has been no major trigger event for the rallies both for or against Yoon. And while the left and center-right formed a coalition to oust the disgraced Park, the current protests have not revealed any such cross-partisan alliances.<\/p>\n Rather, they are reflective of the mainstream political voices at the National Assembly, with the line between the two groups of protests following the rift between the two parties.<\/p>\n So far, the Yoon administration has avoided commenting on the protests against it, stating that citizens have a right to political expression but that it should not \u201cdisturb constitutional order<\/a>,\u201d language that appears to betray fear of the widespread opposition that Park faced in 2017.<\/p>\n The 18,000 that occupied Gwanghwamun on Saturday remains a far cry from the hundreds of thousands who mobilized against Park, but the demonstrations don\u2019t appear to be going anywhere and could prove kindling for something if a\u00a0bigger political scandal<\/a>\u00a0ever provides the spark.<\/p>\n Edited by Bryan Betts<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nknews.org\/koreapro\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2022\/05\/52066052059_849e90d7c5_k-1-1-1870x1000.jpg\")
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