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DEMOCRACY IN ACTION

S. KOREAN GOVT. IS HUNTING ANTI.USFK ACTIVISTS

Yonhap ,the S. Korean semi official news agency, wrote yesterday...

23 more protesters face arrest warrants for anti-U.S. violence

South Korean prosecutors sought arrest
warrants Sunday for 23 more anti-U.S. activists who staged violent protests against Seoul's plan to expand an existing U.S. military base south of Seoul.

It brought to 60 the total number of activists, against whom arrest warrants were being sought. On Saturday, prosecutors requested the court to issue arrest warrants for 37 protesters.

Korea Herald..

Prosecution to seek arrest of 60 others who trespassed on restricted land

The prosecution is seeking arrest warrants for 37 activists and farmers who are suspected of organizing violent protests Thursday over plans for a U.S. military base in Pyeongtaek, a top prosecutor said on Saturday.

"The prosecution has requested a court to issue arrest warrants for the leaders following the government's stern policy against illegal violent protests," said Lee Kwi-nam, head of the prosecution's public security bureau.

About 540 demonstrators were detained Thursday after they scuffled with riot police who evicted them from their makeshift headquarters at the Daechuri Elementary School at the rural town, 70 kilometers south of Seoul. The government deployed about 15,000 riot police and soldiers and 700 security workers to the farmland near Camp Humphreys to enforce a delayed land expropriation for the expansion of the U.S. base. About 120 on both sides were injured during the clash.

The prosecution also said it will seek additional arrests of about 60 protesters who attempted to violate the farmland shut off by the military during last week's collision. While riot police evicted the protesters from the school, engineering soldiers set up a barbed wire fence around the land designated for the U.S. base's tripling in size by 2008.

On Friday, some activists and residents cut off the wires and trespassed on the land where unarmed soldiers were on guard. While the soldiers blocked the demonstrators equipped with wooden sticks from entering the site, dozens of soldiers were injured and 11 were taken to a military hospital by helicopter.

Police apprehended an additional 90 protesters on the spot. The prosecution is poised to request arrest warrants for 60 of them, according Lee.

"We cannot help but take strict legal actions against violent protesters who oppose the U.S. base relocation," Lee said.

The prosecution will arrest those who are suspected of intentionally creating a situation of military-civilian confrontation, he added.

If the additional 60 are arrested, the number is expected to exceed 100 in total, marking the largest security event in nine years since leftist students' protests in 1997. In the student rallies, 195 demonstrators were arrested.

Meanwhile, the protesters' committee in Seoul rallied in front of the Defense Ministry office on Saturday, calling for the exoneration of those arrested and the resignation of the defense minister and the police commissioner.

"We demand for the defense minister and the police commissioner to take full responsibility and resign for the coercive eviction of residents and all the problems caused by the expansion plan," the group said in a statement.

In the evening, some 800 civic activists and students held a candlelit protest in downtown Seoul, censuring the government's action. Later, they marched about 2 kilometers to Myeongdong Cathedral, but no clash with police was reported.

Farmers and civic activists have resisted the government's order to leave the land in Pyeongtaek to make way for an expansion of the U.S. camp which will become the U.S. military's chief installation in Korea by 2008. The U.S. military plans to relocate its Yongsan Garrison in downtown Seoul and the 2nd Infantry Division near the border with North Korea to the region.

http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2006/05/08/200605080005.asp

Yesterday, according to VoP, about 3,000 people protested in downtown Seoul, near Gwanghwamun, against the relocation og USFK and the state terror. But please remember in Seoul are living about 12,000,000 people... So it seems that, unfortunately, nobody really is interested...

Please check out this, Korean article...

광화문 메운 3천명, "평택 연행자 석방"

Please check out also..

www.saveptfarmers.org

..for a more personally view of a non.korean, please check out this..

http://blog.myspace.com/weicave