Sep 12 2016 1,300 (Estimated by the organiser) 700 (Police estimate)[2] Dec 3 2016 1,500 (Police estimate) 15,000 (Estimated by the organiser)[3] Jan 7 2017 1,020,000 (Estimated by the organiser) 37,000 (Police estimate)[4] Feb 4 2017 1,300,000 (Estimated by the organiser)[5] Undisclosed (Police estimate)[6] Mar 1 2017 5,000,000[7] Undisclosed (Police estimate)[6] Apr 1 2017 700,000 (Estimated by the organiser) Undisclosed (Police estimate) Apr 8 2017 5,000,000 (Estimated by the organiser) Undisclosed(Police estimate)
Cumulative number of attendees Police estimate : 159,600
Estimated by the organiser : 43,551,300
Nov 12 2016 25,000 police officers Dec 3 2016 30,000 Police[8] Jan 7 2017 14,720[9] Feb 4 2017 14,600[10] Mar 1 2017 16,000[11] Mar 4 2017 15,900[12] Mar 18 2017 11,000[13] Mar 25 2017 12,300
The Taegeukgi rallies (Korean: 태극기 집회; Hanja: 太極旗集會; lit. Taegukgi rally), also known as the Pro-Park rallies (Korean: 친박집회), are ongoing rallies that initially started as a series of counter-candlelight rallies supporting the former president of South KoreaPark Geun-hye in 2016 but now continuing with the aim of releasing Park.[14] The Taegeukgi protestors or the Taegeukgi crowds (태극기 부대) got their names because they vehemently swung or wore South Korean flags (the Taegeukgi) during rallies.[15]
On October 26, 2016, the first candlelight protest was held, demanding Park to step down from office.[15] Since then, an estimated 18 million protesters over the course of 6 months gathered in Gwanghwamun Plaza to demand the resignation and impeachment of former president Park.[15] The demonstrations continued until Park was dismissed from presidency in March 2017, even after the Constitutional Court confirmed the National Assembly's call for impeachment. Public anger centered on Park's role in political corruption regarding her personal acquaintance, Choi Soon-sil, and her role in unlawfully intervening with state affairs and coercing conglomerates to contribute large sums of money to Choi's own foundation.[15]
Pro-Park advocates, also known as 'silver patriots' representing an older generation, believed anti-Park forces were the pro-North Korean sympathizers and manipulated by biased media.[16] To them, what they were doing was for the protection of Jayuminjujuui (자유민주주의; 自由民主主義; lit. "liberal democracy" or "free and democracy") that they think they had contributed to rescue from direct communist threats in the past.[16] The Financial Times compared them to the 2021 United States Capitol attack.[17]
^ abcdLee, Joonseong; Brown, Katherine E (1 March 2018). ""Make Korea with America Great Again": An Articulation and Assemblage of South Korean Extreme Right Practices". Communication, Culture and Critique. 11 (1): 53–66. doi:10.1093/ccc/tcx004. ISSN1753-9129.
