Word: chun
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...seizing police officers as prisoners, and of police barging into university classrooms, eloquently summed up the volcano of unrest that erupted last week throughout South Korea. Day after day thousands of university students gathered on campuses across the country to demand democratic political reforms from the government of President Chun Doo Hwan. They staged marches, hurled fire bombs, seized buildings, chanted antigovernment slogans and burned effigies of Chun. To prevent the campus rioting from spilling into the surrounding streets and possibly igniting more disorder, police used armored cars and tear gas, and charged with clubs in wave after wave...
...were students the only South Koreans involved in what amounts to a deepening confrontation with Chun's rule. A congregation of about 1,200, including 800 Protestant and Roman Catholic clergymen, took part in an overnight prayer vigil for political reform at the Ahyun Methodist Church in downtown Seoul. About 40 participants had their heads shaved by amateur barbers as a sign of their determination to carry on the protest campaign. An estimated 750 riot police surrounded the church to prevent additional people from entering. Eventually, the police broke up the meeting with force, injuring 27 participants...
...After Chun's announcement, the opposition called for a renewed dialogue with the government and warned of political troubles to come. The President, however, has expressed no desire to talk with either of the Kims. In fact, the police have tightened security around Kim Dae Jung, who has been under house arrest for the past two weeks. Unless Chun reopens talks, said Kim Young Sam, "resistance and uprisings" would be unavoidable. Others made similar predictions. Said Stephen Cardinal Kim Sou Hwan of Seoul, whose influence goes far beyond the country's 2 million Roman Catholics: "The people's dream...
...development of democracy in Korea." Privately, though, State Department officials expressed chagrin. "We're pretty disappointed about what's happened in South Korea," said one diplomat. "The whole situation just doesn't look as good as it might, and that's caused by all the parties involved, not just Chun...
...prevent demonstrations, some 100,000 policemen went on alert, combing 52 colleges and universities and detaining more than 4,000 people. Officials seized leaflets and firebombs. Nonetheless, by midweek the predictions of political troubles came true. Throughout the country, 13,000 students mounted rallies denouncing Chun. At several campuses, youths battled police with homemade bombs and stones. Such unrest was not part of the President's Olympic program...