The south Korean National Police Agency (NPA) announced Thursday
August 29, that thousands of their forces had invaded all 23
university campuses for a second straight day. In pre-dawn raids
police arrested another 250 students. The NPA also said they seized
an additional 25 truckloads of literature from the students for a
total of 35 truckloads since Wednesday. The raids continued Friday
August 30, with 16 campuses invaded and 160 more students arrested
bringing the total to 760 since Wednesday and over 7,000 arrests in
two weeks of severe repression of the youth and students. Police
also closed Hangchongnyon's computer communications network as well
as its Home Page and computer discussion group.
The NPA said it is making every effort to disband
Hangchongnyon, the Korean Federation of University Students
Councils, which is now routinely described as "communist and
therefore illegal." Hangchongnyon organized a unification festival
on August 12, which was brutally attacked by the south Korean armed
forces. The youth and students are calling for the reunification of
the Korean homeland, the ouster of U.S. troops from the Korean
Peninsula and the repeal of the fascist National Security Law that
violates all democratic rights.
The NPA said there will be "continuous and regular raids on
university campuses to arrest the key members of Hangchongnyon."
The south Korean media is silent on the plans and resistance of the
youth and students except for one brief mention of a press
conference by Hangchongnyon which called on all south Koreans to
"resist this murderous assault!"
Shawgi Tell
University at Buffalo
Graduate School of Education
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
