‘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.