It has included K-pop fans, gamers, and feminist groups, along with quirky flags that read “introverts” and even an “orchid society”.
“As someone who supports sexual minorities, I think that the reason so many of them are coming out to the impeachment rally is because they want to create a better society,” student Song Min-ji, 21, told AFP.
‘White Skull Squad’
But while some Korean youth are trying to spread their liberal values and a lot of Yoon’s extreme supporters appear to be elderly retirees, he also has a group of young defenders who are causing concern.
Last week a far-right youth group held a press conference in parliament where it named its sub-unit “Baekgoldan” or “White Skull Squad”.
The name refers to a unit that cracked down on pro-democracy protesters in the 1980s and 1990s, including some deadly beatings.
If the investigators move “forward with executing an arrest warrant for the president or deploy special police units, it could potentially lead to a civil war-like situation,” its leader Kim Jung-hyun said at a highly controversial press conference in parliament last week.
“In such an unstable environment, the risk of foreign intervention or extreme social chaos could increase.”
Shin said the young men were becoming more extreme — including a group “that even advocates martial law”.