Massive rallies planned in Seoul one day after Yoon’s release

This compilation image shows file photos of rallies for and against President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment held in Seoul on March 1. (Yonhap via The Korea Herald/Asia News Network)

SEOUL — Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to gather in Seoul on Sunday to rally for or against impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol a day after his surprise release from detention.

According to police, Sarang Jeil Church, led by conservative activist pastor Jeon Kwang-hoon, is scheduled to hold a Sunday service outdoors near the presidential residence in central Seoul at 11 a.m.

Conservative civic group Angry Blue is scheduled to hold a separate rally opposing Yoon’s impeachment at Bosingak Pavilion at 1 p.m. before marching along Jongno 3-ga street.

READ: South Korea’s impeached President Yoon released from prison

An opposing rally by a group of activists calling for Yoon’s immediate ouster was held overnight just outside of Seoul’s Gyeongbok Palace, and the group plans to hold a press conference outside the nearby government complex at 11 a.m. to declare a week of “emergency action” urging Yoon’s removal from office.

At 2 p.m., the group will begin a march from the National Palace Museum, with the reported attendance of 100,000 people, leading to partial road closures in the area.

READ: Yoon becomes S. Korea’s first sitting president to go on criminal trial

At 7 p.m. it will hold another rally in Gwanghwamun.

Large-scale rallies have been held for months since Yoon’s short-lived imposition of martial law in December.

On Saturday, he was released from the detention center where he had been held since mid-January on charges of leading an insurrection, after a court ruled that his detention was invalid. (Yonhap)