South Korean authorities announced last Friday new measures to
attack the rights of Korean students. Korea University and many
others have shut down what they call "unauthorized student circles,
especially those suspected of leaning to leftist ideologies." They
also said they will take steps to cut off financial sources for
"militant students." Korea University Thursday ordered the closure
of the head office of Hanchongnyon, or the Korea Federation of
University Student Councils.
Hanchongnyon organized the "unification festival" of youth and
students calling for the peaceful reunification of Korea, the
ouster of U.S. troops from the Korean Peninsula and the ending of
the repressive "National Security Law." The south Korean government
outlawed the festival and ordered its police and military to
violently attack the students, injuring hundreds and arresting
5,800.
Yonsei University has also attacked the students by filing
lawsuits against Hanchongnyon and individual student demonstrators
for $12 million in material damages caused when the police attacked
the students on that campus.
Every level of the south Korean "civil" state has turned the
students' demands into a law and order issue. They have effectively
criminalized the mass of students and outlawed any discussion on
the questions of reunification and the withdrawal of U.S. troops.
This open fascism further exposes the fraud that the Republic of
Korea (RoK) is a "civilian" and "democratic" state. The RoK remains
a fascist state and under the guise of being "civilian" and
"democratic" it hopes to continue indefinitely as a U.S. puppet,
separated from its kin in the DPRK , and exploited and enslaved by
U.S. imperialism.
Shawgi Tell
University at Buffalo
Graduate School of Education
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
