A longtime symbol of South Korea’s pro-democracy movement, Geumnam-ro Street in Gwangju became the staging ground for intensifying political divisions on Saturday, with protesters supporting and opposing President Yoon Suk Yeol gathering at the same time.
The two rallies, held separately along a 680-meter course from May 18 Democracy Square -- commemorating the 1980 Gwangju Democratic Uprising -- to Geumnam-ro, saw the biggest crowd in Gwangju since Yoon's declaration of martial law on Dec. 3, 2024, and, in particular, the largest anti-impeachment rally.
The conservative Christian organization Save Korea organized a rally opposing Yoon's impeachment along Geumnam-ro, specifically on sections 3 and 4 of the road from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m.
While this was happening, a rally in favor of impeaching Yoon was held on the other side of Geumnam-ro, led by the civic group Gwangju Emergency Action for Immediate Resignation of the Yoon Administration and Social Reform.
To maintain order and prevent physical clashes, police formed barriers between the opposing groups using riot buses.
Local media reported that the police unofficially put the number of people who participated in the anti-Yoon impeachment protest at 30,000, while 10,000 to 20,000 participated in the pro-Yoon impeachment protest.
Geumnam-ro was the rallying site during the May 18, 1980, Gwangju Democratic Uprising against the military dictatorship of President Chun Doo-hwan, an Army general who had seized power through a coup in December 1979.
Since then, large-scale political rallies, many against conservative governments, have centered on Geumnam-ro.
Past demonstrations include the 2008 candlelight protests against then-President Lee Myung-bak and the 2016-2017 rallies calling for the impeachment of then-President Park Geun-hye, both of whom were affiliated with the Grand National Party and its successor, the Saenuri Party -- predecessors of the current ruling People Power Party.
How the rallies unfolded
The demonstration by Save Korea is believed to be the largest conservative rally of the two held in Gwangju since Yoon’s failed martial law declaration. The first rally earlier this month had just over 50 attendees.
Although it was structured as a Christian prayer service, the rally denounced Yoon’s impeachment and criticized opposition parties.
Protesters filled the five-lane road and sidewalks, chanting slogans such as “Release the president!” and “Verify the election fraud!” -- a key argument used by Yoon’s supporters to justify his martial law declaration. They claim that the majority held in the National Assembly by the Democratic Party of Korea -- 170 of 300 seats -- was achieved under fraudulent circumstances.
Following the prayer session, Jeon Han-gil, a Korean history lecturer who has gained attention for his outspoken opposition to Yoon’s impeachment, took the stage.
Jeon defended Yoon’s martial law decree, calling it an act of enlightenment, and criticized the opposition party, stating, “The impeachment of 29 government officials by the opposition is an antidemocratic act, and President Yoon is unjustly imprisoned.”
On the other side of Geumnam-ro, demonstrators waved banners and chanted slogans calling for Yoon’s immediate removal from office, denouncing his administration as a threat to democracy.
Many carried placards reading “No to dictatorship!” and “Impeach Yoon for democracy,” accusing Yoon of attempting to consolidate power through unconstitutional means.
The pro-impeachment camp included high-profile figures from the opposition bloc, such as Gwangju Mayor Kang Gi-jung, South Jeolla Province Gov. Kim Yung-rok and Rep. Jung Chung-rae of the Democratic Party.
Among them, Hwang Hyun-pil, a Korean history lecturer and YouTube commentator with over 1 million subscribers, condemned the conservative rally, comparing it to “Nazi supporters holding a gathering at a Holocaust site.”
“Gwangju is the symbolic city of democracy, a place where free speech must be protected. However, holding a rally here in support of a leader who declared martial law is an insult to history,” he said. “Yoon declared martial law in a peaceful, democratic country, not in a wartime state. His actions were purely for his own dictatorship.”
Politicians respond
The main opposition Democratic Party, which supports Yoon’s impeachment, condemned the pro-Yoon demonstrations, calling them "an outrage by far-right forces” that insult democracy.
"Far-right forces are holding a massive rally in Gwangju, the sacred ground of democracy, mocking democratic values and constitutional order," Rep. Park Chan-dae, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, stated on Facebook on Saturday afternoon, urging the rallies to stop. “Any act that insults the May 18 Democratization Movement is no different from denying South Korea’s democracy and admitting to being a dictator," he added.
Rep. Park Ji-won of the Democratic Party echoed a similar sentiment, dismissing claims that Gwangju was divided in half by the protests. “The idea that the city was split into two is absurd. It was never Jesus’ intention to mobilize some Christian believers for such a protest,” he said.
Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo of the ruling People Power Party, on the other hand, described the conservative gathering on Geumnam-ro as a shift in public sentiment regarding Yoon’s impeachment.
"Since the 1980s, this is the first time a conservative rally of this scale has taken place on Geumnam-ro," Hong wrote Sunday in a Facebook post.
"Geumnam-ro is a symbolic street of Gwangju’s democratization movement. The fact that a large conservative rally opposing impeachment was held there suggests that Gwangju is changing," Hong added.
Meanwhile, the presidential office issued a statement on Sunday to "express strong regrets" regarding those at the rally who aired deepfake footage that falsely showed Yoon and his spouse Kim Keon Hee calling for Yoon's impeachment as well as those at the site who took no action in response.
Yoon's office added it would take "every step," including "firm legal action," against the individuals who created and distributed the deepfake footage.
flylikekite@heraldcorp.com
