Saturday’s mass street demonstrations against President Park Geun-hye showed that what she has done and said she would do will not be able to appease public wrath and resolve the leadership crisis caused by the Choi Soon-sil scandal.

The massive rallies and candlelight vigils, held in downtown Seoul and other major cities, gathered tens of thousands of citizens -- including middle and high school students -- who demanded Park resign immediately.

The anti-Park protests came one day after Park made her second apology in a nationally televised address, during which she said she would accept all responsibility and allow herself to be investigated by state prosecutors and an independent counsel.

The scale of the protests and the level of anger demonstrated by the participants vividly showed that Park’s address had amplified public resentment against her. The address -- the second of its kind in 10 days -- was another misstep by Park.

Indeed, the scandal itself is shocking, in that a woman who had maintained a private friendship with the president for about 40 years meddled in state affairs and exploited her ties with the chief executive of the country for personal gain.

But if Park had dealt with the scandal in a more frank and sensible way, she would not be where she is now. A series of lies and missteps have accelerated the public’s distrust in her.

Park had dismissed all the allegations as groundless accusations in the initial stages of the scandal, admitting to only one of them – that she had sought the views of Choi in preparing speeches and publicity materials. A media outlet had already presented evidence indicating that she had done so.

It was revealed to be a lie the following day, as follow-up news reports disclosed more evidence that Cheong Wa Dae fed Choi information about things like national security and real estate development. Park’s surprise proposal to revise the Constitution was also condemned as a tactic to divert public attention away from the Choi scandal.

Her next misstep -- a more critical one -- was appointing Kim Byong-joon, a former aide of the late liberal President Roh Moo-hyun, as prime minister.

The surprise move stunned the nation, as consensus had been building in the direction that the only way for Park to serve out the rest of her term of office is to form a neutral Cabinet and delegate much of her presidential power to the new prime minister, who should have been named by the National Assembly, or at least with the consent of the opposition.

To make matters worse, during Friday’s national address, Park did not talk about why she had tapped Prime Minister nominee Kim Byong-joon or his role in the government. Instead, she indicated that she would not yield any authority, which only added to the public outcry, as shown by Saturday’s street protests.

Now the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea has set an ultimatum: Park should retract her nomination of Kim, accept a nominee chosen by the National Assembly and leave power in the hands of the new prime minister. If she does not, Democratic Party leader Choo Mi-ae warned her party would launch a full-scale campaign for Park’s resignation.

As the president with the lowest ever approval rating in Korean history -- 5 percent -- Park should accept all or part of the opposition’s demands if she wants to avert a worse situation.

The angry shouting of anti-Park protesters that filled the streets leading to Cheong Wa Dae Saturday should be a reminder to Park that she does not have much time.

She should meet opposition leaders as soon as possible to discuss how to prevent a power vacuum and overcome the current crisis. Before calling the meeting, it is needless to say that Park should make up her mind on what she will do.