SOUTH KOREAN unions staged a general strike and rally yesterday calling for the release of their jailed leaders and President Park Geun Hye to quit.

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions said 220,000 members from the public transport, civil service, construction and education sectors took the day off or left work early as part of the protest.

The government claimed the figure was just 70,000, labelling the action “political” and “illegal.”

Five-hundred civic groups joined the protests by up to 30,000 workers in Seoul and other cities.

And up to 1,500 street vendors and small businesses closed their doors or displayed stickers demanding Ms Park’s resignation.

The KCTU march in central Seoul stopped at the headquarters of “chaebols” — family owned conglomerates — Samsung, SK, Lotte, GS and Hanhwa.

Ms Park’s confidante Choi Soon Sil is accused of abusing their relationship to squeeze those firms for tens of millions in “donations” to her K-Sports and Mir foundations.

In her address to the nation on Tuesday Ms Park evaded calls for her resignation and tried to divert parliament from impeachment proceedings, but opposition parties vowed to go ahead with the vote.

“Ignoring people’s calls for an immediate resignation, Park shifted responsibility to the parliament,” KCTU acting president Choi Jong Jin told the Seoul rally.

“Today’s general strike and citizens’ resistance will pave the way for the Park Geun Hye administration to step down.”

KCTU president Han Sang Gyun was jailed for five years in July for organising a 2015 anti-government protest.

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