After months of protests, Koreans throng Seoul in celebration of Yoon’s ouster

By Lim Jae-hee, Park Go-eun & Lee Ji-hye | April 7, 2025 | Originally published in Hankyoreh

Amid the joyous mood, many still underscored the tasks that lie ahead to realize true reform and democracy for all

Participants in a mass march of victory on April 5, 2025, fill the streets outside Gyeongbok Palace in Seoul, where they celebrate the Constitutional Court’s ruling to remove Yoon Suk-yeol from office as president. (Kim Gyoung-ho/Hankyoreh)

“We have brought down the insurrectionist ringleader Yoon Suk-yeol 123 days after his declaration of martial law,” a voice boomed over a crowd of thousands gathered in downtown Seoul on Saturday. Those gathered turned to each other with glee while the emcee addressed them.

“Our lives may not change dramatically. But I assure you that those of us who learned how to win through the power of love and solidarity out here in these streets will go on to create a new world, different from the one we lived in before Dec. 3,” the speaker went on.

Cries of “Out with Yoon” which had rung throughout the heart of Seoul every weekend for the past four months were replaced with cheers celebrating the triumph of democracy and ones looking forward to the “new world” on the horizon.  

In the wake of the president’s ouster preparations are being made for this journey “into the new world,” based on the diverse voices who made the pro-impeachment rallies what they were these last few months. 

Bisang Action for Yoon Out and Social Reform, the umbrella group behind the mass pro-impeachment rallies, actively encouraged ordinary people to speak up and make their voices and demands heard throughout the months long fight to depose the president. Since December, laborers, farmers, adolescents, women and others have taken the stage at the rallies to recount the discrimination and hardships they have faced and to call for social and institutional solutions. Now, the group’s 127 affiliated organizations and 189 experts and activists analyzed the demands Koreans made at these protests and organized them into an agenda for reform. 

In doing so, the group is laying the groundwork for demanding “democracy for all” from the political sphere and the soon-to-be-elected new government.  

The demands compiled by Bisang Action reflected how the public square had brought out people from all walks of life. Broken down, demands spanned 12 categories in total, including restoring the constitutional order, political and judicial reform, bettering the economy and the livelihood of the people, gender equality, climate change, caregiving, labor, freedom of the press, education and youth-related social issues, and food sovereignty. The group extracted 118 tasks to be addressed, including enacting or changing laws, reform and policy shifts, which it categorized into 424 sub-projects. 

Tasks associated with gender equality and climate change issues dominated.

“As a society, sensitivity on gender issues and climate change has heightened compared to when former President Park Geun-hye was impeached,” said Kim Joo-ho, the policy planning head of Bisang Action. “As areas that were rolled back considerably under the Yoon administration, people spoke that much more passionately on them.” 

Bisang Action intends to work with opposition parties to put these issues on the agenda heading into the presidential election. Last month, six opposition parties, including the Democratic Party, issued a joint statement saying they would “encourage and ensure the active participation of the public as we work together to achieve major social reforms.” 

As if to make up for the agonizing past four months, Saturday’s mass rally was an ebullient festival in which participants basked in the joy of finally seeing Yoon ousted from office. Still, people raised their voices to underscore that Yoon’s removal did not signify closure, but instead a new beginning. 

Cho Hyeon, 45, who came to Seoul from Asan, South Chungcheong Province, said, “While the thought that we were being compensated for lost time made me well up a little, my heart did sink when I remembered that this is merely the beginning. I hope we can become a society that truly protects the values of the Constitution.” 

Jin Eun-seon, a wheelchair user, took to the stage to say, “Everyone here at the square could not be more different. Despite our differences, we sought to find common ground and brought our diverse experiences of discrimination and oppression together.” 

She added, “I hope we ride on the momentum of this solidarity and take it with us as we return to normalcy after Yoon’s removal from office.” 

The chant, “Out, out, Yoon Suk-yeol out!” which had been sung to the melody of Aespa’s “Whiplash” and Infinite Track’s “To You,” was replaced with the chant, “Change, change, change the world!”

Lim Jae-hee, Park Go-eun and Lee Ji-hye are staff reporters for Hankyoreh.