‘Candle citizens’ to reshape S. Korea

Long fight ahead: The citizens’ fight to remove Park from office is not yet finished, with tensions expected to ride high until the Constitutional Court decides on whether to uphold or overturn the impeachment. — AFP

SOUTH Koreans rewrote the nation’s history of democracy in 2016 by relentlessly taking to the streets for more than two months against scandal-ridden President Park Geun-hye, with the New Years Eve protest bringing the cumulative number of protesters to 10 million.

There is little doubt the candle citizens pushed lawmakers to cast ballots on Dec 9 to impeach Park, accused of allowing her longtime friend to meddle in state affairs and colluding with her to extort money and favours from local conglomerates.

The power of candles will not remain a legacy of the year 2016, however.

The citizens’ fight to remove Park from office is not yet finished, with tensions expected to ride high until the Constitutional Court decides on whether to uphold or overturn the impeachment. The court has up to June to give its ruling.

Growing weary of the corruption scandal engulfing the nation’s political, business, legal, culture and sports circles, many Koreans seem determined to continue their fight to reform the flawed systems and make a fairer society even after Park’s ouster from office.

The first anti-Park candlelight vigil in late October was relatively small, with about 20,000 participants, but grew week after week in turnout amid emerging allegations implicating President Park in the scandal and her refusal to step down. The sixth rally on Dec 3 drew as many as 2.32 million people, making it the largest in the nation’s history.

The past rallies have been led and dominated by specific groups, but this time, the majority of protesters were unaffiliated citizens who voluntarily chose to participate out of anger toward the president, sociology professor Lee Byung-hoon at Chung-Ang University said.

South Koreans have taken to the streets in a peaceful and mature manner, with the festive rallies becoming a platform to express various opinions, he said.

Despite the large number of participants, the rallies were devoid of violent clashes or arrests for unlawful activities. The ways of delivering messages also diversified, with many ridiculing the president and her friends with satirical signs and performances.

But what the majority of South Koreans desperately want is not only the impeachment of the embattled president, but also a society governed by democratic values of fairness, law and order.

That’s why people will likely continue to take to the streets this year, experts said.

Social media made it possible for citizens to take to the streets in an unprecedented large scale, said Kim Seo-joong, professor for journalism and broadcasting at SungKongHoe University. Citizens will continue to criticise politicians through the platform and mobilise themselves.

“To complement the representative democracy, however, there should be further talks on how to keep the political system and political elites, often attempting to maximise their self-interests, in check,” he said.

“That’s what I think the candlelight movement will bring this year.

Lee, however, said the scale of the candlelight vigils will depend on how the political and economic situation unfold this year.

Lee Nae-young, politics professor at Korea University, pointed out the limitations of street rallies.

The long-lasting candlelight vigils have been possible due to a broad agreement to demand Park’s resignation, said Lee. As the candlelight vigils successfully pushed the parliament to impeach the president now, the rally participants demands will begin to further diversify.

Despite the protesters’ continued calls for Park’s ouster, there were growing policy-related calls for scrapping state-authored history books, labour market reform plans and the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defence anti-missile system, among others.

Some citizens frowned upon labour unionists’ demand for the release of Han Sang-kyun, chief of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, who is standing trial on charges of leading illegal rallies.

The demand for cancellation of a court ruling, which led to dissolution of the minor opposition Unified Progressive Party for the alleged pursuit of North Korean ideology, also drew criticism.

With the growing movement against the impeachment of Park, conflicts in civil society will reach a peak in the run-up to the upcoming presidential election, he said.

It is time for the parliament to take a lead in framing political agendas and reflect the people’s voices in the policy-making process.

“I don’t think my protest will change things immediately. But it is a way of pressuring lawmakers to represent us and teaching them we are angry,” said Park Se-jin, a 30-year-old artist who has joined the Saturdays rallies for the past two months.

“I’ve had enough with lawmakers who do not care about citizens. The scandal made me take more interest in politics and carefully cast my ballot in the upcoming presidential election.”

Such sentiments are reflected in the emerging grassroots movement, an attempt to make their voices heard in the long term in the political realm.

The rally organisers formed a Citizens’ Council in a bid to carry forward the momentum in the candlelight vigils and turn it into a long-term discussion to map out plans to fix the nation.

“It is a forum to collect a variety of ideas in their neighbourhoods, understand clashing viewpoints and draw solutions for problems facing the society,” said Choi Hyun-mo, one of the organisers.