Record Numbers March for Park's Ouster

Way over a million protesters braved sleet and icy temperatures on Saturday to call for the ouster of President Park Geun-hye over a snowballing corruption scandal.

Organizers said a record 1.5 million people converged in downtown Seoul and another 400,000 across the country.

Once again the protests were remarkably peaceful for Korea and no one was arrested or injured.

Holding banners that read "Arrest President Park" and "Surrender Now," the protesters stopped just 200 m short of the presidential office and attempted to surround it.

Foreign media were awed by the sheer size of the candlelight protests, which the New York Times described as "almost festive." China's Xinhua News said Koreans "opened a new era of demonstrations," while Japanese broadcaster NHK said it was the "largest demonstration since the 1987 pro-democracy protests" that ousted military dictator Chun Doo-hwan.

Organizers said 50,000 protesters gathered in Daegu, Park's traditional stronghold, as well as 70,000 in the southwestern city of Gwangju.

More protests are planned for this Saturday.