Thousands of South Korean people gathered nationwide including the capital city of Seoul to call for President Yoon Suk Yeol's resignation on Saturday, as the coalition of the country's left-wing groups blamed the national leader for tensions on the Korean Peninsula and economic strains, among others.

About 5,000 people were estimated to have flocked to Sejongdaero at 3 p.m. near Namdaemun in central Seoul to protest Yoon's leadership, as the conservative President's five-year term is now less than halfway through, according to the police. The coalition estimated that there were 10,000 participants in Seoul.

Under Yoon's leadership, South Korea "has been failing to protect its people's lives despite the state's duty to do so," said pastor Kim Sang-geun before the crowd. Kim was the former chief of state-owned broadcaster KBS during liberal former president Moon Jae-in's term. He brought up the Itaewon crowd crush that killed 159 in 2022 and the death of a Marine soldier during a rescue operation in a flooded area in July 2023.

Kim also criticized "antistate forces" who acted like pro-Japanese traitors during Japan's colonial rule of the peninsula from 1910-55 and are still rampant with the Yoon administration trying to rebuild ties with Tokyo. Yoon earlier in August used the same term to express his bid to fight against those in covert operations in the society, during the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise this year.

"We might see Japan's Rising Sun Flags fluttering in our territory," he said, referring to the flags used during the period of Japan's colonization of Korea.

Kim added it is peculiar to see allegations that first lady Kim Keon Hee had exerted her influence on agendas such as military promotions and the ruling People Power Party's candidate nomination process for the April parliamentary election.

Meanwhile, Yoon's flagship "value diplomacy" has added fuel to the military crisis on the Korean Peninsula, said pastor Lee Hong-jung who formerly led the South Korean Committee on the June 15 Joint Declaration.

"The Yoon administration has been bringing up the value diplomacy on the international stage to be subservient to the United States and be hostile towards China and North Korea," said Lee, who formerly led the now-defunct group that delivered on the promises during the first summit of the two Koreas in 2000. Its North counterpart dissolved early this year.

"These set the stage for South Korea to spearhead the move to strengthen US hegemony, turn South Korea into a military post for a war between superpowers, and eventually introduce a nuclear war (to the Korean Peninsula) in a proxy warfare," Lee also said.

Moreover, the Yoon administration's favoritism towards the rich people has pushed ordinary people's lives on the brink of poverty. said Park Seok-woon, a left-wing activist who leads the Korea Alliance For Progressive Movement.

"We are losing quality jobs. Some 1 million small business operators shut down their business, and we are still seeing Yoon favor the rich through tax relief and shrink the budget for social welfare programs," Park said. "The price of rice keeps on falling but the government does not stop rice imports. ... The real wages (adjusted for inflation) have kept on dropping for three years in a row, but Yoon appointed antilabor figure Kim Moon-soo as his new Labor Minister. It is a declaration of a war against workers."

Participants in the rally attempted to march along the street from Namdaemun in Jung-gu southward to the presidential office in Yongsan-gu, starting at around 3:50 p.m. But the protesters were blocked near Sookmyung Women's University station as a protester used a smoke shell.

The rally was part of a nationwide movement in 14 locations from Friday until Saturday. Solely on Saturday, a coalition of left-wing activist groups organized protests in Seoul, Busan, Gwangju, Ulsan and Sejong City, as well as North Chungcheong Province, Gangwon Province, North and South Jeolla Province, South Gyeongsang Province and Jeju Island.

Some 100,000 people were expected to have taken part in the rallies across the country in the past two days, according to Park Sang-mi of the coalition.