South Korea is a country of many contrasts and Gwanghwamun, the widest street at the very heart of its capital Seoul, is where they all collide.

History mingles with a bustling metropolis here. Society’s top elites share the space with protests of all kinds and tourists.

It is also here that South Koreans witnessed the massive grassroots movement that unseated former President Park Geun-hye and brought in a new leader, President Moon Jae-in, this week. 

Millions of South Koreans relentlessly took to the streets of Gwanghwamun, calling for former President Park’s ouster over a corruption scandal, just a few kilometers away from the presidential palace.

“The square has been where pain and joy coexist. For me, it is a symbol of defiance and victory,” said Cho Mi-ran, who joined the anti-Park rallies almost every weekend for months.

Professor Choi Chang-ryul of Yong In University sees Gwanghwamun as a symbol of the country’s vibrant democracy.

“The square is a crucial part of direct democracy and a reminder that the owner of this country is the people,” he said.

The area’s name Gwanghwamun derives from the namesake gate of Gyeongbok Palace, built in 1395 during the Joseon Dynasty and reconstructed several times. Stretching from the gate, the 557-meter-long Gwanghwamun Square in the middle of the 10-lane thoroughfare opened to the public in 2009, after yearslong restoration. Before then, it was mostly a busy office district for elite workers in the central government and finance industry.

Now, the square is bustling with tourists as it features statues of Admiral Yi Sun-sin and King Sejong the Great -- two of the county’s most respected ancestors -- with an exhibition hall and a museum underground. The area also has the nation’s biggest bookstore, the US embassy and a concert hall.

And almost every day, someone is protesting against something here.

A unionized worker accuses his employer for the abuse of basic labor rights; a minority group demands an end to social discrimination against them; a disabled person calls for better access to public transport. Last summer, even two Britons held protests here to urge South Koreans to stop slaughtering dogs for meat.

Various groups also put up performances and flash mobs -- sometimes drawing hundreds of participants, in order to make their voices heard.

In summer of 2014, when Pope Francis held an open-air mass here, the area had virtually turned into a giant outdoor cathedral.

Earlier that year, the square witnessed an outpouring of sorrow as the nation mourned the victims of the Sewol ferry disaster. A joint alter was erected for the 304 people who lost their lives in the tragic sinking -- mostly students on a field trip.

The openness of Gwanghwamun is a microcosm of the history of the relationship between the ruler and the ruled that traces back to Joseon Dynasty (1392-1897), says Kim Baek-young, one of co-authors of a book “Seoul Sociology.”

When the kings and queens came out of Gyeongbok Palace, at the northern end of the area, ordinary people played musical instruments to capture attention and let their hardships known, he explained.

During the Japanese colonial rule of Korea, the area witnessed a mass civilian uprising for independence in 1919. The April Revolution of 1960 and the June Democratic Uprising of 1987 also occurred here.

“The events triggered by a burst of fierce public energy embody Korean society’s tradition of strong political awareness and engagement,” the author said.

However, the significance of Gwanghwamun as a center for democracy has somewhat weakened with the arrival of a modern representative democracy in South Korea in 1987.

That changed with the anti-Park protests of the last winter.

Candlelight rallies against the former leader began at Gwanghwamun in October and soon spread to major cities nationwide in what some later described as the “candle revolution.”

A cumulative 1.7 million people had joined 23 rallies at Gwanghwamun, and more in elsewhere, according to the rally organizers. The massive peaceful movement eventually led to Park’s parliamentary impeachment, which the Constitutional Court upheld in March this year.

“The rallies were for the citizens to get back their square from those abusing power bestowed by the public,” Nam Jeong-su, a spokesperson for an association of 1,500 civic groups that organized the anti-Park rallies.

Professor Lee Na-young of Chung-Ang University said the experience has taught many South Koreans how to do democracy.

“While protesting for the same cause to condemn the government’s wrongdoings, minorities raised their voices and people stood in solidarity. Koreans learned how to do democracy in everyday lives,” the sociology professor said.

Under the new Moon Jae-in administration, Gwanghwamun is likely to gain more significance as a social and political center stage.

Moon, who began and ended his election campaign at the square, has vowed to usher in the “era of Gwanghwamun presidency.” He wants to move his work office from Cheong Wa Dae to the area.

The president earlier announced the launch of two committees to handle the project to relocate the presidential office and overhaul the center of Seoul to be more citizen-friendly.

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon also unveiled his plan to restructure the square to downsize the current 10-lane road, expand the square’s size and re-enact Yukjo street, the main street of old Seoul, to restore a historic meaning to the area.

Meanwhile, Nam, the organizer of the candlelight rallies against Park, vows to keep a close watch on how the government is run and voice their opinions at the square.

“We will gather again at the square as we always have if we think the government goes the wrong way,” he said.

By Ock Hyun-ju (laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)