The US embassy in Seoul was seen as possibly joining the protest against South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Saturday evening, turning a light off for one minute in tandem with protesters.

The embassy’s one-minute blackout was captured on live TV and spotted by many protesters at the scene. The embassy is located in Gwanghwamun, where the rally took place. It had only one light on before the event.

The embassy did not clarify whether it was a simple coincidence or a show of support for anti-Park protesters. 

Saturday’s rally was the largest in South Korean history, with an estimated 2.32 million participants across the country.

Rally organizers had asked all protesters as well as those at home or offices anywhere in the country to observe the one-minute of darkness at 7 p.m.

The lights-out event was symbolic of the protesters’ message that darkness, or lies, cannot blanket light, or truth. The time refers to the suspicious seven hours on the day the Sewol ferry sank in 2014, during which President Park was unaccounted for in coordinating the country’s response to the disaster that killed nearly 300 people.

President Park is under pressure to resign for a scandal involving her confidante Choi Soon-sil. The scandal, which broke out in late October, reignited controversies over the “seven missing hours.” 

By Yoon Min-sik (minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)