Anti-impeachment/Save Korea Rallies Overwhelm Pro-impeachment Rallies in Seoul

2024-12-23, Tara O

The mass media has focused on reporting the pro-impeachment protests in South Korea, leading readers to believe that the majority of Koreans support impeaching President Yoon Suk-yeol.  However, this is far from the truth.  The main stream media has been ignoring rallies that oppose the impeachment and support Yoon’s martial law declaration.  This media blackout also happened during the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye starting in the fall of 2016.  Both the Save Korea (anti-impeachment) rally and the pro-impeachment rally this past Saturday, 21 December 2024, were reported by some legacy media, but its bias remained; it drastically downplayed the Save Korea/anti-impeachment rally and inflated the pro-impeachment rally.

Save Korea, Anti-impeachment rally, 2024-12-21

Save Korea, anti-impeachment rally, 2024-12-21

Save Korea, anti-impeachment rally 2024-12-21

Save Korea, anti-impeachment rally, 2024-12-21

On 21 December 2024, the area from Gwanghwamun to City Hall to the South Gate (Namdaemun or Sungryemun) was packed with an estimated 2 million people opposing the impeachment.  Although the majority of the Korean major media did not cover the newsworthy rally, Japanese media did, and showed a drone view (3:43), which shows the massiveness of this rally.  It gives a sense of how huge this rally really is.

Here is another drone video posted on social media X.

These people came out not only to oppose the impeachment of President Yoon, but they also rallied to address several other concerns:

• Tyrannical behavior of the leftist Democratic Party of Korea (DPK)-dominated National Assembly, which has weaponized the legislative branch’s lawmaking power
• Investigating and revealing the truth about election fraud
• Holding various politicians, including Lee Jae-myung and Moon Jae-in, accountable for their crimes
• Stopping deep-rooted Chinese influence
• Stopping deep-rooted North Korean influence

The pro-impeachment protest, on the other hand, was rather small.

2024-12-21. Pro-impeachment rally

The organizers of the pro-impeachment protest claimed 300,000, but the police estimated only 25,000 people showed up, a much smaller figure. (0:16)  Meanwhile, some media reported less than 1/10 of the figure for the anti-impeachment, Save Korea rally.  Readers can see for themselves in the figure below:

A Comparison, 2022-12-21:  Left side: Save Korea, anti-impeach rally; Right side: pro-impeach rally.

News Daily Best’s capture of online messages of the pro-impeachment participant after seeing the massive anti-impeachment rally, 2024-12-21

A pro-impeachment protester live streamed the crowd at Gwanghwamun, Seoul, and saw the massive anti-impeachment/save Korea rally.  After marking the map (Red:  anti-impeachment; Blue:  pro-impeachment), he posted “the red (area) is packed with Taegugki Army” (Taegugki means Korean flag) and pleaded, “please let more of us come [to the impeachment rally].  Today, the fire power is really lacking!!” (2:01)

In another left-wing online community, several postings state:  “Wow, what’s going on at the Gwanghwamun rally today…it’s really depressing…..the voices opposing impeachment are f…ing loud…..I want to go home”  and “I’m currently at Gwanghwamun.  There is much more Taegugki Army here too (tears emoji).  Last week, we were separated geographically, so I didn’t realize, but as I hear voices supporting Yoon Suk-yeol…I feel f….ing nervous…Their…amp is f…ing loud…voice are…f…ing loud……….hurry up and come out, it’s not that cold.” (2:43)

The Save Korea rallies are much larger than the pro-impeachment rallies.  The Save Korea/anti-impeachment rally attendants wave the flags of the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the U.S.  Many of them want the National Election Commission investigated and election integrity restored.  They believe strongly in the ROK-U.S. alliance, and close relations with the U.S., Japan, and like-minded countries.  They do not want South Korea to be dominated by China, North Korea, and socialism.

The save Korea rallies are held daily, some by the Constitutional Court (to oppose impeachment) and the Supreme Court (to demand Lee Jae-myung’s hearings do not continuously get delayed and he be imprisoned for his crimes).  The rallies at Gwanghwamun (aka Syngman Rhee Plaza) are held daily as well, with a lot more people participating on Saturdays.

The below meme with country flags represents what these rallies, against impeachment and for impeachment, are really about.