Hours before second impeachment vote, Seoul streets fill with rival protests

Protesters rally in front of the National Assembly calling for the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol in Yeouido, Seoul, on Saturday. (Yonhap)

Hours before a critical impeachment vote against President Yoon Suk Yeol, tens of thousands of protesters poured into Seoul's streets Saturday, transforming the capital into a vivid display of a nation divided.

By early afternoon, an estimated 85,000 people had converged on Yeouido, home to the National Assembly, according to police estimates. The crowd, demanding Yoon's removal from office, filled main thoroughfares and narrow alleyways, moving in a slow human tide toward the parliament building.

"We should make sure this kind of barbarism never happens again," said a man, 75, who had traveled from Cheonan in North Chungcheong Province. "Who's going to mend this embarrassment and trauma?" he asked, referring to Yoon's martial law last Tuesday.

The 4 p.m. vote marks the opposition's second attempt to impeach Yoon after last Saturday's motion collapsed when ruling party lawmakers walked out en masse, save for three, and the quorum for the vote could not be reached. The opposition vowed to call impeachment votes every Saturday until the president is removed from office.

Protest groups demonstrate in support of President Yoon Suk Yeol at Seoul's Gwanghwamun Square on Saturday. (Yonhap)

Meanwhile, in central Seoul, about 38,000 of Yoon's supporters, many older adults, formed a 1.5 kilometer-long line from the statue of Adm. Yi Sun-sin to Sungnyemun as they waved Korean and American flags and called for opposition leader Lee Jae-myung’s arrest.

"It's sad that the president we voted for is facing this situation," said a man in his 60s who had traveled from Uijeongbu, north of Seoul. "How troubled must he have been to make such a move? He is still much better than Lee Jae-myung," he added, referring to the opposition leader.

Near Yoon's official residence in Hannam-dong, just north of Hangang, the mood was tense but quiet. The Presidential Mobile Police Force blocked access to the area, conducting spot checks even on reporters and cordoning off sidewalks along Hannam-daero, the main thoroughfare in front of the president's home.

Tension has mounted since Yoon's fiery televised speech Thursday, in which he defended his martial law order as a legitimate exercise of executive privilege and rejected charges of insurrection.