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An image from the Facebook page of Jo Ban-jang

The eyes of protesters in the candlelight rallies are now on the National Assembly. With a vote on the motion of impeachment that the three opposition parties have brought against President Park Geun-hye scheduled for Dec. 9, protesters are coming up with various ideas for how to put pressure on the National Assembly.

“Let’s surround the National Assembly with a thousand funeral banners from the evening of Dec. 8 until the motion of impeachment is passed,” suggested Jo Ban-jang, president of Seoul Walk, on his Facebook page on Dec. 5.

“I think that bringing peace to the victims of the Sewol Ferry, Baek Nam-ki, hurting people who have ended their lives, struggling workers and farmers who have chosen death, and people who have worked themselves to death only to die in an industrial accident goes beyond impeachment and means the true rebirth of the Republic of Korea,” Jo said.

In fact, the Citizen Mourners’ Group are currently organizing a large-scale funeral banner event in which they will call on lawmakers in the National Assembly to vote in favor of the motion for impeachment. “I’m concerned that the National Assembly will ignore the people’s demands for the president‘s immediate resignation. We’re currently exploring the idea of surrounding the National Assembly with dozens of funeral banners calling for lawmakers to support the motion for impeachment,” said Ji Jeong-nam, a member of the Citizen Mourners‘ Group.

A civic group in Gwangju has decided to ride to Seoul in “impeachment buses.” The Gwangju Sewol Ferry Citizen Mourners’ Group announced on Dec. 5 that it would charter two large buses to head to the National Assembly in Seoul on Dec. 9 to urge lawmakers to support the impeachment motion. Any residents of Gwangju can ride the “impeachment buses,” which will be departing from the square in front of Gwangju City Hall at 5 am on Dec. 9. The trip will cost 20,000 won (US$17).

“Bring farming vehicles, forklifts and buses from around the country to hold a demonstration that encircles the National Assembly and all of Yeouido. Bring the loudest thing you have at your home - a drum, bugle, vuvuzela, whistle, trumpet, or pot - on Dec. 9 and get close and start making some noise until the whole place shakes and comes crashing down,” wrote Han In-seop, a professor at Seoul National University, on his Facebook page.

“Lawmakers don’t impeach the president. All they do is vote on the impeachment. The president is impeached not by lawmakers but by the people,” Han added.

“When the sun rises on Dec. 9, let’s surround the National Assembly with a human chain; when the sun sets, let‘s surround it with candles,” suggested Jo Guk, a law professor at Seoul National University.

Kim Jong-hun and Yun Jong-oh, two independent lawmakers, even asked National Assembly Speaker Chung Sye-kyun to open the National Assembly to the public so that they can watch the vote on the impeachment motion.

The Emergency Public Campaign for the Resignation of President Park Geun-hye has already been putting pressure on the Blue House by organizing the candlelight rallies, and now the campaign is exploring ways to put pressure on the National Assembly before Dec. 9, when the vote on the motion of impeachment will be held. “We’re hearing proposals to head to the National Assembly. We‘re current discussing exactly how to do this, and how much pressure we should put on the National Assembly,” said a source in the campaign.

In fact, direct action by protesters has already been proven to be effective. When the anti-Park wing of the Saenuri Party withdrew its support for impeachment on Dec. 1, angry constituents made phone calls and sent text messages and emails to their Saenuri Party representatives and demanded that they support the motion for impeachment. It was after this that the anti-Park wing changed its position toward supporting impeachment. A website called parkgeunhack.com (a pun on Park’s name and the Korean word for “impeachment”), which was set up by four anonymous people to make it easier for South Koreans to contact their representative and get a response by email, has processed more than 800,000 petitions (as of Dec. 5). The website states that six Saenuri Party lawmakers have announced that they will vote in favor of impeachment.

There was also one funny case of mistaken identity involving People’s Party lawmaker Rep. Choi Gyeong-hwan, who has the same name as a lawmaker in the Saenuri Party. “I’m not that Choi Gyeong-hwan; I‘m Choi Gyeong-hwan with the People’s Party. I’m getting text messages from around the country that ought to be going to Saenuri Party lawmaker Choi Gyeong-hwan asking me to vote for the impeachment motion. You don’t need to worry about me,” Choi said in a text message and on Twitter.

By Heo Seung, staff reporter and Jung Dae-ha, Gwangju correspondent

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