kotaji 거타지

The Guardian and Times correspondents report from the scene as the violence on the streets of Seoul begins. I think David Watts’ piece for the Times is particularly interesting and I’ve highlighted some of the sentences that caught my eye. Does anyone have confirmation of the assertion that Korea University was not thought of as radical, because I had thought it was the opposite? Maybe Korea Uni was only radical after June 1987.

There are also some interesting differences between the two reports which may reflect a difference in the time they were filed. Becker for example talks of a soldier being killed, although it is not clear that there were any soldiers on the streets and he may have mistaken riot police for soldiers. Watts, on the other hand, presumably describing the same incident, only says that “a policeman was severely injured when a police detail ran out of tear gas”.

Protests mar gala for Chun’s successor: Police injured and 2,000 students detained during South Korean violence
David Watts
The Times, June 11 1987

Thousands of students were detained across South Korea last night when anti-government rallies turned to violence as President Chun named Mr Roh Tae Woo as his party’s next presidential candidate.

In the early hours students were occupying a cathedral in central Seoul, surrounding themselves with burning barricades while riot police fended off a barrage of stones.

During the day a policeman was severely injured when a police detail ran out of tear gas and students attacked in force, severely beating the officers with stones. A police post was set on fire in Seoul and students occupied the lobby of a hotel.

There were other incidents across the rest of the country, including the hijacking of a train. The state radio said about 2,000 protesters were detained around the country.

Guests leaving the gala reception celebrating the naming of Mr Roh Tae Woo had to wipe their eyes as tear gas wafted across the hotel entrance. The afternoon began with the glittering formal nomination of Mr Roh by a national convention of delegates of the Democratic Justice Party in a vast indoor stadium, complete with a pop singer and a comedian.

It ended with scattered street battles which left the centre of the capital largely deserted as police and students confronted each other with stones, fire-bombs and tear gas.

In at least one incident students initiated the violence by pelting riot police with stones. In another, students from Korea University, which is not normally regarded as militant, staged a sit-down demonstration singing hymns and anti-government songs.

Lacking one of the gas masks which are now de rigeur for Seoul political protests. The Times correspondent fashioned one out of surgical mask, cotton and gauze. But even cotton daubed with toothpaste was insufficient to act as a barrier to the gas, which temporarily blinds and burns exposed surfaces.

The Government had ordered companies to get their workers home early in anticipation of the protest rally, but many were caught in the volley of gas.

Mr Roh’s endorsement of the convention was a foregone conclusion. There was no other candidate, and this close friend of President had long been expected to step into his shoes. Of the 7,309 ballots cast at the convention, 7,260 were for Mr Roh.

With the endorsement of the President and the party, he is expected to win the presidential election at the end of the year, despite yesterday’s clashes.

Mr Roh, a more impressive speaker than President Chun, committed himself to a more democratic approach to government. ‘The current period of time strongly demands that democratic ideals, institutions and practices be firmly established,’ he said.

Mr Kim Young Sam, leader of the National Council for a Democratic Constitution, attempted to drive to the original focal point of last night’s rally, the Anglican Cathedral, but was prevented from reaching the building by a phalanx of riot police.

In a speech he was to have made there, he accused the Government of maintaining its power through violence and falsities.

Whatever Mr Kim’s sentiments, one popular song heard at the DJP convention seemed to point the way to the future under Mr Roh: ‘My Way’.

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Korean protesters batter soldier to death
Jasper Becker
The Guardian, June 11, 1987

Anti-government demonstrators battered at least one soldier to death yesterday in some of the most violent and widespread protests since President Chun Doo Hwan seized power in South Korea eight years ago.

A deployment of 120,000 soldiers and police failed to crush protests in 16 cities which left at least one demonstrator close to death.

As President Chun celebrated the nomination of his chosen successor demonstrators ran riot in central Seoul, fighting police with rocks and clubs, burning vehicles, commandeering public transport, and occupying the lobby of a luxury hotel. Thousands of ordinary citizens sounded car horns for nearly 15 minutes in an unprecedented display of opposition.
…

President Chun had planned a day of triumph when his friend and supporter, Mr Roh Tae-Woo was formally named as the Democratic Justice Party’s candidate in this year’s presidential election.

Mr Roh, a former general who supported the coup which brought President Chun to power, was the only candidate. The opposition claims that without the reforms the elections are undemocratic and cannot legitimise the regime.

President Chun boasts that when he steps down in February at the end of his seven-year term it will be the first peaceful transfer of power in South Korean history.

Although the Government swamped every street corner in central Seoul with riot police in green combat uniforms and black helmets, armed with shields and clubs it failed to contain the violence.

A press photographer witnessed and tried to prevent demonstrators battering one soldier to
death and severely injuring four or five others before reinforcements arrived.

The injured student demonstrator is on a hospital life support system after a teargas cannister struck his head, causing brain death, during a protest at Yonsei University.

Canister fragments severely injured a second student yesterday, according to a report by the South Korean news agency.

At 9 pm, thousands of demonstrators were still holding running battles with the police in the narrow streets round the Roman Catholic cathedral in Seoul.

Overnight the government had detained 2,300 people as well as the 3,000 arrested on Tuesday.

Although reports from the provinces had still to come in last night, television coverage of a soccer match in Masan between South Korea and Egypt showed players walking off the pitch overcome by tear gas.