South Korea Frees One of Two Dissidents Under House Arrest

The house arrest of a leading dissident was lifted Friday night, but aides said police kept him from attending a meeting today of an opposition group trying to change the constitution. Another leading dissident remained under house arrest.

Kim Young Sam, 58, who is special adviser to the opposition New Korea Democratic Party and co-chairman of the dissident Council for the Promotion of Democracy, was put under brief house arrest shortly after noon Friday. Police escorted him from a restaurant to his home and told him to remain there, aides said.

Overnight, however, the restrictions were lifted and Kim set out for a coffee shop near the blocked-off council headquarters for a meeting with supporters.

When he arrived, witnesses said, large numbers of police were on hand and turned him away. The witnesses said that before Kim left, he told the police their actions “did not serve the country but an individual.” The statement was an apparent reference to President Chun Doo Hwan, whose government opposes a petition drive to change the constitution and allow direct presidential elections instead of an electoral college system.

To Prolong Chun’s Rule

The anti-government forces charge the present system favors the regime in power and is intended to prolong Chun’s rule.

The other leading dissident, Kim Dae Jung, today remained under the strict house arrest that was put in effect against him Wednesday after he and 200 supporters signed one of the petitions.

Police entered major universities across the country Friday night in search of what authorities described as “impure” materials. That term often is used in connection with anti-government leaflets or other documents regarded as subversive or leftist-leaning.

Student activists have joined the campaign to collect signatures in support of the constitutional changes.

Government Issues Warnings

The New Korea Democratic Party, a militant new opposition group, launched the petition campaign Wednesday despite repeated warnings from the government that such action was illegal and would not be tolerated.

Kim Dae Jung, who is under a suspended 20-year prison sentence on a sedition conviction that stripped him of his civil rights and barred him from political activity, returned home last year after two years of self-imposed exile in the United States.

The two Kims are South Korea’s best-known opposition figures, and serve as co-chairmen of the Council for the Promotion of Democracy, a dissident organization that played a key role in forming the new opposition political party.

Members of the party held a caucus Friday and joined Lee Min Woo, the 70-year-old party president, in vowing that the petition campaign would continue despite the tough government reaction.

Chun wrote South Korea’s current constitution after seizing power in 1980 during the turmoil that followed the assassination of President Park Chung Hee.

The opposition contends that the signature campaign represents nothing more than the right of South Korea’s almost 40 million people to petition their government and is hoping to collect 10 million signatures.

During the afternoon, U.S. Ambassador Richard L. Walker, accompanied by the embassy political officer, Thomas Dunlop, called on Foreign Minister Lee Won Kyung, the ministry said.

The ministry declined to disclose the purpose or any details of the meeting, but it was known that the American mission here was seriously concerned over the recent political confrontations.

In Washington, the State Department also expressed concern, especially over the right to petition and the reimposition of house arrest orders on Kim Dae Jung.