DHAKA: Thousands of South Koreans have taken to the streets of the capital Seoul calling for President Park Geun-hye to step down over a leaked documents scandal.
The Saturday evening protest came after Park ordered 10 of her senior secretaries to resign over the scandal, which is likely to deepen the president’s lame duck status ahead of next year’s election.
The increasingly unpopular president has been accused of letting her old friend, the daughter of a religious cult leader, interfere in important state affairs.
Holding candles and signs reading “Who is the real president?” and “Park Geun-hye step down,” the protesters marched through downtown Seoul after holding a candlelight vigil near City Hall.
Police estimated about 9,000 people turned out for the biggest anti-government demonstration in Seoul in months.
“Park has lost her authority as president and showed she does not have the basic qualities to govern a country,” Jae-myung Lee, from the opposition Minjoo Party and the mayor of the city of Seongnam, told the protesters from a stage.
Park has been facing calls to reshuffle her office and cabinet after acknowledging on Tuesday she provided long-time friend Choi Soon-sil drafts of her speeches for editing.
Her televised apology sparked intense criticism about her mismanagement of national information and a heavy-handed leadership style that many see as lacking in transparency.
There is also media speculation that Choi, who holds no government job, meddled in government decisions on personnel and policy and exploited her ties with Park to misappropriate funds from nonprofit organizations.
Prosecutors on Saturday widened their investigation by searching the homes of presidential officials suspected of interacting with Choi and receiving their office files from the Blue House - the presidential office and residence.
The saga, triggered by weeks of media reports, has sent Park’s approval ratings to record lows, and the minority opposition Justice Party has called for her to resign.
Al Jazeera’s Harry Fawcett, reporting from Seoul, said the scandal has taken South Koreans by complete surprise.
BDST: 1152 HRS, OCT 30, 2016
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