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While the "Protests against U.S. beef likely to continue", as yesterday's the S.K. press predicted... 

LMB ORDERS CRACKDOWN ON ANTI-GOV'T MOVEMENT! 

Today's Korea Herald is reporting:
President Lee Myung-bak yesterday ordered a tough response to violent and otherwise illegal protests against U.S. beef imports.
He expressed concern that radical activists have taken the helm of the candlelight vigils, turning them into a movement that challenges state authority and negates the "national identity."

"But protests challenging the national identity, and the illegal violent rallies, should be distinguished from policy critics and should be sternly dealt with," Lee said.

Law enforcement agencies warned that they will crack down firmly on assaults, blackmailing, malicious rumors and other illegal activities. Police chief Eo Cheong-soo reported to the president that, though the number of demonstrators is declining, law and order has been seriously damaged by a few extremists who have resorted to violence.

The police agency has secured warrants to detain 12 leaders of a civic coalition which is in the vanguard of the month-long campaign against the beef imports. The agency will take legal action against others involved in illegal actions, said the commissioner general of the National Police Agency.

Police and prosecutors are jointly conducting an extensive investigation into spread of false rumors and calumny regarding U.S. beef, largely on the internet.

The inquiry also targets the blackmailing of advertisers of major newspapers which are seen as supporting the government's beef policy.

The candlelight vigils appear to be losing steam. But protest organizers pledged to continue to fight and expand their agenda to a wider range of issues such as the privatization, economic policies, industrial relations and education...

 
Meanwhile yesterday, for the first time, pro-gov't forces - incited by the S.K. extreme reactionary press, such as Chosun Ilbo(*), JoongAng Ilbo and Dong-A Ilbo ("조중동") - started with violent attacks against anti-gov't protesters:

A 50-year-old woman, identified as Park, lies in a hospital in Seoul on June 23 after having been beaten by approximately 10 members, among them a pastor(!!!), of a conservative association on the same day.

Park held a one-woman demonstration to keep the Korean Broadcasting System, or KBS, independent. She began her demonstration at around 5 p.m. on June 23 in front of the building’s headquarters when 10 members of a conservative association beat her indiscriminately, saying, “We should kill all of the leftists”

The person who carried her to the hospital said, “The members of the association struck her with a square bar and the kicked her after she fell down.”

The fifty members of the conservative association, including the 10 who beat the woman, fled at 9 p.m. when 1,000 people arrived on site after hearing news of the incident. (Hankyoreh, 6.24)

Related article: 

☞ Clash Escalates Between Candlelit Ralliers, Conservatives (K. Times)

* Here just some (disgusting) examples from Chosun Ilbo:
☞ Legitimate Protesters or Hooligans?

☞ True Colors

☞ Protest Leaders Show Their True Colors