“All the professors have been taking part in the previous protests individually. This time, we decided to bring a stronger voice as a group,” Professor Yoo Yong-tae from the university told The Korea Herald.

Yoo, who came with his wife, said he was ashamed to face students in classrooms. “Many of the people involved in the scandal are or were professors. Most of those holding the government positions will come back to university when they finish their jobs there, and it makes me angry.”

Professors for Democracy, among other groups, also came out to denounce the president who is accused of allowing her long-time friend to meddle in state affairs.

“President Park should resign immediately and the ruling Saenuri Party should also back down,” Seoul National University professor Choi Gap-soo said in his public speech in front of Jongno Tower. He vowed to give up on his vacation time and fight against the scandal.

The professors gathered there at 3 pm before joining the main candlelight vigil in the Gwanghwamun Square later in the evening.

“Park Geun-hye used a secrete secretariat (to run the country) and has created a panic. If Park wants things to return as normal, she must step down and receive the people’s judgment,” said Yang Hae-rim, a philosophy professor from Chungnam National University.

Recently Ewha Womans University President Choe Kyeong-hee resigned after she was accused of giving Chung Yoo-ra, daughter of Choi Soon-sil, the president’s long veiled confidante at the centre of the scandal, special treatment in the admissions process and for academic grades.

Yoo went on to criticise the recently-sealed military intelligence sharing agreement between Korea and Japan.

“The Park government has no authority to handle diplomatic issues now. It was an absurd agreement,” he said.

Many professors attending the rally also voiced their opposition against the state-designated history textbooks. The government was harshly hit by the public when they announced to publish history textbooks compiled by the state a year ago but pushed on with the project. A preliminary version of the books are to be released Monday.

“The (state) textbooks should be discarded right away. It is only deceiving the growing youth of the country,” Professor Yang of Chungnam National University said.

Yoo also echoed disagreement. “The history textbooks are not something that the country can force on its citizens.”

On November 7, 728 professors from Seoul National University released their official denunciation statement — the largest number of professors to do so from one university.

Professor Kim Young from Inha University in Incheon claimed that universities nowadays have become “a subcontract factory” under the current administration.

“Productivity and quantity is more emphasised in our research and we are losing the core value of education. We should cut out the old practices and start anew, first by pushing Park out of office,” Kim said.

After the professors’ group finished their speeches on state affairs, they marched a couple of hundred metres to Gwanghwamun Square where the main rally was being held. Citizens and students followed the group shouting. “Park step down!”

As of Sunday, some 2,330 professors signed in the denunciation statement and more are set to join, according to Professors for Democracy.

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