SEOUL • Jubilant South Koreans celebrated with cheers, hugs and selfies after lawmakers voted to impeach embattled President Park Geun Hye over an influence- peddling scandal that had drawn huge crowds to weekly protests demanding her resignation.
A large crowd of demonstrators that had gathered outside Parliament yesterday in anticipation of the outcome greeted the news with cheers.
"I feel great!" said 54-year-old rice farmer Im Chae Jum. "I thought it was going to pass but, either way, whatever happens in Parliament, we will take Park Geun Hye down with people power. The people won!"
Ms Park's approval rating stood at just 5 per cent in an opinion poll released earlier yesterday.
Protesters waved banners and flags as they climbed on a tractor that some farmers had used to block a road outside Parliament.
Others took selfies before a large banner reading: "Congratulations on the impeachment of Park Geun Hye. Now, let's lock her up."
Ms Choi Ji Young, the mother of a child who died in the 2014 Sewol ferry tragedy, watched the vote from a gallery in Parliament. She was among a group of victims' relatives who danced and chanted as they left the building.
"I screamed, 'Hooray!' " she said. "This will be a chance to get to the bottom of the disaster and hold Park and her close aides accountable." The events surrounding the ferry sinking, which killed more than 300 mostly school- children, have loomed over Ms Park's presidency.
Protesters have staged massive demonstrations in central Seoul every Saturday for the past six weeks of the political crisis that rocked Ms Park's presidency.
The protests have remained festive and peaceful, centred on large, candle-lit rallies that have drawn up to a million people, by some estimates. Another was planned for today.
Ms Park, 64, is accused of colluding with a friend and a former aide, both of whom have been indicted by prosecutors, to pressure big businesses to donate to two foundations set up to back her policy initiatives.
"It is a victory of the people's will and Korea's democracy," said Professor Kang Won Taek, who teaches political science at Seoul National University.
"It is Korea's glorious revolution, achieved without blood and without any serious violence."
REUTERS, NYTIMES
