Get together! Get angry! #Resign_ParkGeun-hye candlelight vigil (Korean: 모이자! 분노하자! #내려와라_박근혜 시민 촛불) was the first candlelight vigil held on October 29, 2016, to demand resignation of President Park Geun-hye. This was a vigil that opened the prelude to a total of 20 candlelight vigils, with 30,000 citizens estimated by organizers (12,000 by police estimates) calling for the resignation of President Park.
On October 24, 2016, JTBC reported that they had obtained a tablet PC that seemed to belong to Choi Soon-sil and that it contained the circumstances in which she exchanged presidential speeches that correspond to state secrets. The aftermath of Park Geun-hye–Choi Soon-sil Gate began in earnest the next day when the president Park Geun-hye admitted to her private relationship with Choi Soon-sil through a public apology. The huge shock of the civil society over the state-run manipulation of state affairs began to be expressed soon by the university declaration of the state of affairs and rallies, and on October 29, the first weekend since JTBC's report, a massive candlelight vigil was held in downtown Seoul.
The first rally began with a pre-candlelight rally at Cheonggye Plaza in Jongno-gu, Seoul, with people from all walks of life making critical remarks and declaring the situation. The plan was to leave Cheonggye Plaza and march in procession to Insa-dong. However, during the march, in Jongno 1-ga, citizens broke through the police cordon and headed for Gwanghwamun Plaza to try to go straight to Cheong Wa Dae. Blocked by police barriers in the square, citizens continued their final confrontation with the police, and the official rally ended at 10 p.m. with organizers announcing the end of the rally.
Unlike previous rallies, such as a Minjungchonggwolgi, the demonstration was relatively peaceful. Citizens urged some protesters to refrain from clashes to prevent the protests from turning violent. In order not to provoke the protesters, the police also did broadcast with polite tone and did not send any tools to suppress citizens like the sprinkler truck. The next day, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency issued an unusual press release expressing gratitude to citizens for their rational cooperation. Meanwhile, the struggle headquarters announced that candlelight vigils will be held every day at Cheonggye Plaza starting with the rally, and announced next week's rally and a large-scale rally on November 12.
Background
Since the suspicion of establishing the Mi-r Foundation was first raised by TV Chosun in August 2016, 《The Hankyoreh》 reported on September 20, 2016 that Choi Soon-sil was involved in the process of establishing the Mir Foundation and the K-SPORTS Foundation, sparking media suspicion surrounding Choi Soon-sil. From late September to early October, social scandals such as the 2016 Ewha Womans University scandal, the death of farmer Baek Nam-ki and the request for an autopsy warrant continued, and opposition parties criticized it through regular parliamentary audits. From mid-October, although 'Park Geun-hye–Choi Soon-sil gate' emerged as a key topic as the media such as JTBC, TV Chosun, The Hankyoreh reported the suspicions of corruption in the foundation, Chung Yoo-ra's admission scandal, and the blacklist of cultural and artistic circles in earnest, Park Geun-hye's government flatly denied the basic facts about Park Geun-hye–Choi Soon-sil gate, including suspicions of establishing a foundation or revising speeches.
However, on October 24, 2016, JTBC Newsroom reported that it had obtained a tablet PC containing circumstantial evidence that Choi Soon-sil had received 44 presidential speeches equivalent to state secrets in advance. JTBC's first report, despite only a small fraction of what was on the tablet PC, was "sound enough" to shock Korean society as it turned out to be true that Choi Soon-sil, a civilian, shared presidential documents.