SKoreans protest against president on New Year’s Eve

SEOUL

Hundreds of thousands of people gathered across South Korea on New Year’s Eve to demand that President Park Geun-hye be removed from office over a massive scandal that led to her impeachment earlier this month.

Around 800,000 people gathered at Seoul's Gwanghwamun Square as of 8 p.m. (1100GMT) for the tenth weekend of protests, according to organizers cited by Yonhap news agency.

Rallies were also held in other major cities including Gwangju, Busan and Ulsan.

Around 18,400 police officers were deployed to prevent possible scuffles between anti-Park protesters and Park supporters who joined a rival rally only a few blocks away near Seoul City Hall.

Millions of citizens have been gathering for rallies since media revelations began to intensify in October about alleged power abuse and influence-peddling at the highest levels of state affairs.

After Park’s parliamentary impeachment Dec. 9, the Constitutional Court has up to six months to either support the move or reinstate her.

A decades-long friend and apparent advisor to Park, Choi Soon-sil, has been a figure of major public scrutiny since she was interrogated by state prosecutors at the end of October.

Along with several presidential aides, the pair are accused of influence-peddling through corporate donations, and Choi is additionally suspected of secretly steering state affairs despite not having a public position.

On Saturday, special prosecutors questioned pension chief Moon Hyung-pyo over suspicions surrounding the National Pension Service’s (NPS) backing for a contentious merger of Samsung Group affiliates last year -- a stakeholder in both companies, the NPS did not follow the expected path of seeking advice from an independent panel.

Local media reported late Tuesday that a former head of the NPS asset management division admitted during questioning by investigators that the welfare ministry -- then led by Moon -- pressured the fund to back the 2015 Samsung merger, helping to ease the group’s family power transition despite opposition from shareholders such as American hedge fund Elliott Associates.

The iconic Korean conglomerate was, moreover, the biggest donor to a pair of nonprofit foundations linked to Choi, whose equestrian athlete daughter was supported by Samsung.

The special investigation officially took over from regular prosecutors last week, and is running alongside separate legal proceedings -- including the Constitutional Court case deciding whether to confirm or overturn the president’s parliamentary impeachment.