South Korea gripped by large-scale anti-government protest in Seoul

The police set up roadblocks across the main thoroughfare, blocking protesters from marching towards the Blue House and sprayed water canons into the crowd.

Police officers detained a minimum of 12 people for allegedly violent conduct, in accordance to an official at the Seoul Metropolitan Police officers Agency, who did not want to be named, citing workplace guidelines. “It’s hard to figure out exactly how many people participated as multiple rallies happened at once”.

South Korean President Park Geun-Hye said on Friday she would be willing to hold a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, but only if there was a “breakthrough” on Pyongyang’s nuclear programme.

Protesters tried to move a few of the buses by pulling ropes they had tied to the vehicles, and police, wearing helmets and body armour, responded by firing tear gas and water cannons.

More than 60 slaves, majority disabled, were rescued from the islands previous year after they were found by police officers from Seoul who were searching for a missing person. Others attacked the buses with sticks and rocks, or spray-painted anti-government slogans on them.

Conservative critics argue that now the authors are too left-wing, but liberal opponents accuse the government of reverting to a policy used by past authoritarian regimes in South Korea including that of late president Park Chung Hee, father of the current president.

Around one-hundred-30-thousand demonstrators from 53 labor unions and civic groups took part in the protest, making it the largest since 2008, when citizens rallied against the government’s resumption of USA beef imports.

Labour groups have been denouncing government attempts to change labour laws to allow larger freedom for companies in laying off workers, which policymakers say would be critical in improving a bleak job market for young people.

Park called on Abe to decide on the issue to cure the pains of history as agreed upon between the two leaders during their first one-on-one meeting in Seoul on November 2 to speed up talks on the comfort women, or the Korean women forced to serve in the Imperial Japan’s military brothels during World War II.

The issue has gained urgency in recent years as the victims are dying off. In 2007, more than 120 South Korean victims were alive, but the number has since dropped to 47, with their average age standing at almost 90.