How rising tide of populism toppled South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye
Park and the wealthy families that dominate the economy have come under fire from opposition lawmakers as income inequality widens, youth unemployment soars and the nation’s once-mighty steel mills and shipyards languish
Hundreds of thousands of students and workers, young and old, have filled thoroughfares in Seoul and South Korea’s major cities with candlelit protests since an influence-peddling scandal involving the president erupted in October. Slogans and banners demand not only her resignation, but also the break-up of the ruling party and the family-run chaebol conglomerates that they call “accomplices”.
Watch: Park Geun-hye impeached in parliamentary vote
It is our fury against the establishment that burns in those candles
With revelations linking the executive office to the chaebol, South Korean voters have decried the ties that once underpinned the nation’s rapid growth.