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Yonhap published yesterday following stuff..

Prime minister to announce position on anti-U.S. protests

South Korea's prime minister will appeal to anti-U.S. activists to stop staging violent protests against the expansion of a U.S. military base located south of Seoul, the premier's office said Thursday.

Prime Minister Han Myung-sook will announce a "message to the people" after a breakfast meeting with 14 community leaders from all walks of life to discuss the matter Friday morning, the office said.

During the meeting, Han will express concern about a series of violent rallies and discuss ways to persuade activists to abstain from such rallies, it said.

Han mentioned the announcement plan during a meeting of deputy premiers and ministers that she presided over to discuss pending state issues, according to government spokesperson Kim Chang-ho. The issues included the nation's declining birthrate and plans to sign a free trade agreement with the United States.

Tensions have risen ahead of another set of large-scale anti-U.S. rallies planned for this weekend.

In a press conference Thursday, the Pan-national Committee to Deter the Expansion of Pyeongtaek U.S. Base, a coalition of more than 100 anti-U.S. civic groups, reaffirmed the rally schedule in spite of a police ban.

"On Saturday and Sunday, we will hold rallies as scheduled in a peaceful and popular manner with people from all walks of life participating," the committee said.

About 10,000 labor activists and students are schedule to join coalition members in Pyeongtaek on Sunday to protest plans to expand Camp Humphreys, about 70 kilometers south of Seoul, after they wrap up a similar rally in downtown Seoul on Saturday.

The police have stood firm, saying they will not sanction such rallies. They plan to block all roads leading up to Daechuri, a contested farming village, to prevent protesters from approach the site.

Civic activists are feared to clash with police and soldiers again during this weekend's planned protests. About 8,000 riot police have been stationed near the site, along with 3,000 soldiers, including 600 military engineers, to guard the area.

Meanwhile, some 300 conservative groups convened an emergency meeting in downtown Seoul on Thursday and called on the government to deal sternly with illegal protests by anti-Americans.

"We will begin activities to defend the free democracy and government power after forming a network next week," the spokesman said.

The groups will also hold rallies in Pyeongtaek on May 20 and in Seoul three days later to criticize the anti-American activists and support plans for the U.S. base relocation, the spokesman added.

Last Thursday, about 540 demonstrators were detained after a clash with riot police and soldiers who evicted them from their
headquarters, an elementary school near Camp Humphreys. More than 200 people on both sides were injured.

Military engineers built a 29-kilometer-long wire fence around
the area that is designated to become the new headquarters for
U.S. troops in South Korea. The Pyeongtaek City government zoned
2.85 million pyeong (one pyeong equals 3.3 square meters) as a
restricted area for military facility protection.

But anti-U.S. protesters and villagers cut through the fences
and clashed with riot police again on Friday, and police
apprehended an additional 90 protesters.

Prosecutors secured six more arrest warrants on Tuesday, but
were forced to release 17 anti-U.S. activists in connection with
last week's violence. That brought to 16 the number of
anti-U.S. protesters who have been arrested following two days of
violence.

As part of a 2004 deal with South Korea, the U.S. plans to relocate its Yongsan Garrison in downtown Seoul and the 2nd U.S. Infantry Division near the border with North Korea to Pyeongtaek, a city of 350,000 people, over the next three years.

Camp Humphreys is set to triple in size by 2008 and become the
U.S. military's chief installation in South Korea as part
of a global U.S. troop realignment for strategic flexibility.

South Korea plans to draw up a master plan on expanding Camp
Humphreys by September, along with studies on its environmental
impact and exploration of cultural assets. Construction is
scheduled to begin in October at the earliest.

But some farmers and organized protesters have defied
government orders to leave the site and vowed to plant a new
spring rice crop.

About 30,000 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea, a legacy
of the 1950-53 Korean War. The two Koreas are still technically in
a state of war since the Korean War ended with an armistice, not a
peace treaty.

http://english.yna.co.kr/Engnews/20060511/610000000020060511182412E1.html

PLEASE, DO NOT LISTEN TO THEM!!

JUST REMEMBER THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN FRANCE,

OR BETTER IN NEPAL..

ONLY IF WE USE OUR POWER, FORCE, ON THE STREETS ..some call it violence.. THEY, THE RULING CLASS, ARE WILLING TO LISTEN TO US!!

 反자본주의..

 反제국주의!!

PS..

Today.s newspaper JoongAng Ilbo is writing following..

Permit or none, protesters promise Pyeongtaek rally

The reactionary newspaper Chosun Ilbo published yesterday following articles..

Pyeongtaek Protests Grow Into Ideological Confrontation

A coalition of activists opposing the relocation of U.S. military bases to Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province will go ahead with renewed protests there on May 14, despite police warnings. Amid fears of fresh violence, groups opposed to the coalition on Thursday announced they will stage their own demonstrations in favor of the relocation of U.S. Forces Korea headquarters there starting May 20. That effectively turns the issue into an ideological dispute between left and right.

In a press conference at Korea Confederation of Trade Unions offices on Thursday, the coalition said it would hold “peaceful and acceptable” demonstrations involving people from all walks of life in Seoul on May 13 and in Pyeongtaek on May 14.

Read the full article here..

http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200605/200605110019.html

Violent Pyeongtaek Protests Find Scant Public Support

Some 81 percent of the public oppose violent demonstrations against a planned new U.S. Forces Korea headquarters in Pyeongtaek .......HARRHARR... I CAN.T BELIEVE...... 70 km south of Seoul, and 66 percent condemn intervention from outsiders in the matter, a poll suggests. The Office for Government Policy Coordination on Thursday announced results of a poll by TNS Korea of 1,000 adults nationwide. While the vast majority opposed violent protests, 17 percent said the base expansion must be quashed by violence if necessary. Some 58 percent said the intervention of outsiders claiming to act on behalf of evicted residents at the site was politically motivated, while 35 percent believed it came to help the locals. Sixty percent said protestors wanted the USFK pull out of the peninsula and 34 percent said demonstrators meant to protect the livelihood of locals. Asked about the military’s response to the protests, 65 percent said it needs to take harsher measures to protect itself, but 30 percent felt the military was right to restrain itself. Respondents felt the government should accept peaceful demonstrations (49 percent) but curb violence by mobilizing more police (47 percent). An overwhelming majority of 75 percent said it was too early to call for the withdrawal of the USFK, 22 percent said American forces should go. An even bigger majority or 86 percent said activists were unjustified in likening their protests to the 1980 Gwangju Democratic Uprising. Meanwhile, the chairmen of the human rights committee of Korea’s four main political parties visited Pyeongtaek on Thursday afternoon to meet activists and residents there to hear from them whether government efforts to quell the protests violated protestors’ human rights. http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200605/200605110030.html

Btw.. Korea Herald and JoongAng Ilbo are not less reactionary as Chosun Ilbo...