Around 3,000 people participated in an “Occupy Seoul” rally on Saturday, part of a worldwide protest against capitalist “greed,” as well as various social problems.

Participants, who included students, workers, farmers and shopkeepers, gathered outside Deoksugung palace, near Seoul city hall, for the protest, part of a demonstration taking place in more than 400 cities in 25 countries.

The “Occupy” rallies began in New York’s Wall Street on September 17.

“Angry 99 percent of Koreans against 1 percent, Occupy Seoul,” they shouted.

The protesters also spoke out against price hikes, high college tuition fees, tax cuts for the rich and the government’s controversial Four Rivers Project which they say is destroying natural ecosystems.

“Such problems have arisen because one percent of the population is working against the common good,” said Father Hugo Park Jung-woo, secretary of the Korean Bishops’ Committee for Justice and Peace.

“Everyone can own property, but they should utilize it following God’s will. We need to help neighbors in need,” he urged.

“It is natural that 99 percent of the population gets angry when so few have got so much,” added Andrew Kim Duck-jin, secretary-general of the Catholic Human Rights Committee said.

Choi Young-jun, organizer of the Seoul rally, said protesters will gather again next Saturday.