A conservative rally participant films a progressive group’s rally on a road around Gwanghwamun in Seoul on Aug. 15. Reporter Chae Min-seok
Rival progressive and conservative groups held large rallies across central Seoul on the 15th, Liberation Day, snarling traffic through the district. As participants from each camp streamed toward their gathering points, minor scuffles broke out at spots where their routes overlapped.
At 1 p.m., the Liberty Unification Party, led by Pastor Jun Kwang-hoon of Sarang Jeil Church, held its “Aug. 15 National Revolution Rally” along Sejong-daero near the Dongwha Duty Free store in the Gwanghwamun area. The organizers reported the crowd at 50,000. Dressed in red and carrying U.S. and Korean flags, the conservative participants held signs reading “Martial Law Was Justified,” “Yoon Again” and “Free Yoon Suk-yeol,” repeatedly chanting slogans in support of the former president. Some raised placards such as “Hand-Count Ballots on Election Day” and “Rigged and Fraudulent Election,” denouncing the ballot shortage during the June 3 nationwide local elections. Large speakers and electronic display boards, which had disappeared after Yoon’s impeachment, reappeared as well.
Participants at the conservative rally ranged widely in age, from teenagers to older adults, with some attending as families. A woman in her 20s surnamed Kim, an office worker draped in Korean and U.S. flags, said she had come up from Daejeon with a friend that morning to attend. “I never had strong political leanings, but after seeing the National Election Commission’s ballot shortage in June, I decided to join because I felt that the right to vote, the foundation of democracy, had been violated,” she said. A man in his 70s surnamed Park, who said he attends conservative rallies regularly every weekend, said: “In the past, mostly older people came, but young people have noticeably increased since the ballot shortage, which is good to see. I came here again today to mark Liberation Day, a meaningful occasion.”
At the same time, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) held its “Aug. 15 National Workers’ Rally” on the road in front of Songhyeon Park, near Gyeongbokgung Station. It reported its crowd at 10,000. The KCTU criticized U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff policy and pressure for investment in the United States, and said that “the abolition of the National Security Act and the return of wartime operational control must come first” in connection with the inter-Korean dialogue and peaceful coexistence that President Lee Jae-myung mentioned in his Liberation Day address that day.
The Aug. 15 Organizing Committee, also progressive-leaning, held a rally in the Yulgok-ro and Sajik-ro area. From 2:30 p.m., it marched from the Anguk intersection to Seoul Plaza. Progressive participants, including members of the Progressive Party dressed in sky-blue, held signs bearing messages such as “Independence and Peace” and called for the return of wartime operational control and stern punishment of Yoon. A participant in his 30s wearing Progressive Party attire said: “We expected conservative groups to gather for Liberation Day, but we don’t pay much attention to that. We came here to keep raising our voices against U.S. abuses and to demand stern punishment of the former president.”
A conservative group rally taking place around Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul’s Jongno district on Aug. 15. Reporter Chae Min-seok
Although the groups held their rallies at separate locations across Gwanghwamun Square, participants ran into one another at points where their routes overlapped, such as around the statue of Admiral Yi Sun-sin, leading to minor clashes. In the afternoon, an older conservative participant holding an umbrella printed with U.S. and Korean flag designs and shouting slogans was seen yelling “commie” at Progressive Party members who were heading to their rally site carrying signs criticizing Yoon. In front of Songhyeon Park, a disturbance broke out when KCTU union members, demanding that police open an additional traffic lane, lifted barricades that police had set up for traffic control over their heads before being stopped.
As of 4 p.m., the Gwanghwamun Square area was crowded with rally participants, foreign tourists and ordinary citizens. According to Seoul’s real-time city data, some 58,000 people had gathered in the Gwanghwamun and Deoksugung area as of 4 p.m. The largest age group was people 60 and over, at 33.1% of the total. In addition, some 22,000 people gathered near the Seoul Metropolitan Council, about 12,000 near Gwanghwamun Square and roughly 6,500 in the Songhyeon Park area.
Police deployed about 200 traffic officers to the scene to manage the congestion. Traffic was especially heavy because rally participants occupied the roadway from the Dongwha Duty Free store to the front of the Seoul Metropolitan Council, leaving only three lanes open in the opposite direction. Police designated two of those three lanes for traffic heading from Gwanghwamun to Sungnyemun and kept the remaining lane open toward Gwanghwamun. Right after the rally ended at 4 p.m., a march began, with traffic controlled in both directions from the Seoul Police Agency intersection to the Salvation Army intersection.
Conservative supporters also gathered around the handball stadium at Olympic Park in Seoul’s Songpa district, where ballot boxes tied to the ballot shortage are stored. Carrying Korean and U.S. flags and signs with messages such as “Trampled Right to Vote,” they alternated between marching and demonstrating. Conservative groups that formally registered rallies, including the Free Korea Defense Corps, reported a combined crowd of 1,500, but because they had positioned the event as an “organizer-less protest,” the actual turnout is estimated to have been higher, boosted by citizens who came on their own. As of 4 p.m., some 16,000 people had gathered in the Olympic Park area.
The Liberty Unification Party holds the Aug. 15 Gwanghwamun National Rally near Dongwha Duty Free in Seoul’s Jongno district on Aug. 15, Liberation Day. News1