Korean Leader Warned Not to Be ‘2nd Marcos’ : Rally in Pusan Is Largest of Chun’s 7-Year Rule

Emboldened by the ouster last month of President Ferdinand E. Marcos of the Philippines, South Korean opposition forces Sunday staged the largest anti-government demonstration in the seven-year rule of President Chun Doo Hwan.

An estimated 20,000 people gathered in and around a theater in this port city to hear opposition leader Kim Young Sam warn Chun that he can have a peaceful revolution now or a violent one later.

“I hope Chun will not be a second Marcos, (but) if he keeps turning a deaf ear to the demand for democracy, he will have to flee the country,” Kim told a wildly cheering crowd.

Kim, a former leader of South Korea’s largest opposition political party, has spent about a third of the last 6 1/2 years under house arrest.

First of Three Rallies

Sunday’s demonstration was the first in a series of three major provincial rallies planned by a coalition of opposition groups that aims to collect 10 million signatures to try to force Chun to rewrite his constitution and allow direct presidential elections.

Chun, in an apparent response to the impetus given by the Marcos ouster to the mood for democratization in this country, has relaxed some of the restrictions previously imposed on opposition political activities.

Riot police, which in the past have prevented opposition politicians from even entering the headquarters of their own parties, did not keep Sunday’s rally from being held, but they did prevent post-rally demonstrations. The signature drive for constitutional reform, at one time deemed illegal by the government, has also been allowed to go ahead.

Chun, a former general who seized power in a military coup in 1980, had a new constitution written later that same year and attained the presidency in an indirect election by an electoral college in which he got 92% of the vote.

Neither Kim Young Sam nor Kim Dae Jung, an opposition leader who polled 46% of the vote in South Korea’s last direct presidential elections 15 years ago, was allowed to run against Chun in 1981.

Kim Dae Jung, who was scheduled to address Sunday’s rally, was prevented by police at Seoul Station from boarding a Pusan-bound train Sunday morning.

Anticipating that action, Kim Dae Jung prepared a taped speech that was broadcast here in Pusan to the theater audience and a large overflow crowd outside.

Since returning from exile in the United States a year ago, Kim Dae Jung has been under house arrest 13 times.

‘Golden Opportunity’

Kim Dae Jung called Marcos’ ouster a “golden opportunity” for Koreans to restore democracy in their own country.

Although Chun has promised to step down and give South Korea its first peaceful transfer of power in modern history, he has opposed rewriting the constitution until after the 1988 Olympic Games, which Seoul is to host.

Chun has also called on the opposition to cooperate with the government in what he called a period of “grand politics”--essentially a period of non-confrontation between opposition and government forces--to ensure the success of the Games.

Chun has warned that Communist North Korea plans to sabotage the Olympics. And in recent days, Defense Minister Lee Ki Baek and Information Minister Lee Won Hong have warned that North Korea is stepping up activities in the military and propaganda fields.

However, Kim Young Sam told Sunday’s rally that Chun’s invoking the Olympic Games as a means of putting off constitutional reform is no different from the political use Adolf Hitler made of the 1936 Olympics.

“To delay democracy is to deny democracy,” Kim Young Sam said. “People do not exist for the Olympics; it is the Olympics which exist for people.”

Stadium Use Barred

Kim Young Sam also accused the government of “using absurd means” to try to prevent the holding of public rallies for constitutional reform. He said that the government prevented his people from renting a large stadium, forcing them instead into a small theater.

A university professor here confirmed charges by Kim Young Sam that the government put pressure on civil servants and students not to attend Sunday’s rally.

“We were instructed not to go Sunday, and we were also told to tell our students that the rally will be dangerous,” the professor said.

An employee of an affiliate of the giant Hyundai group of companies, however, denied opposition allegations that large companies told employees not to take part.

Organizers of Sunday’s rally intended to march from the theater to the office of a local opposition politician, but thousands of riot police, using skillfully coordinated crowd-control tactics, quickly broke up the crowd and prevented people from joining the demonstrators.

Police wearing sports clothes and identical white running shoes, pushed demonstrators onto narrow sidewalks. Linking arms, the plainclothes riot police cut off the entrance to the street in front of the opposition politician’s office, keeping marchers delayed by another group of police from joining early arrivals.

Several hundred riot police in military uniforms and metal shields waited in underground passages and a nearby subway station.

Although the march ended without incident, several hundred students shouting “Down with dictatorship!” and “Restore free elections!” attempted unsuccessfully to charge through police lines.

In an interview before the rally, Kim Young Sam said that the government was “particularly nervous about the rally in Pusan” because riots here and in neighboring Masan on Oct. 16, 1979, led to the assassination 10 days later of former President Park Chung Hee.

His Power Base

Sunday’s rally marked the first time in more than seven years that Kim has given a public address in the Pusan area, which is his power base.

Members of the theater audience gave Kim a standing ovation, clapping and shouting his name for minutes after his speech.

But the crowd jeered a crew of the government-owned KBS television network filming the rally. South Korea’s government-guided media have not interviewed major opposition politicians since Chun seized power in 1980. Television news rarely mentions opposition functions.

Kim Young Sam said that the government is “particularly unhappy” that he and Kim Dae Jung have joined forces. The two Kims, who are not related, created an organization called the Committee for the Promotion of Democracy, which, together with the opposition New Korea Democratic Party, as well as labor and Christian groups, has formed the core of the movement for constitutional reform.

The next constitutional reform rally is scheduled to be held March 30 in Kwangju, which is Kim Dae Jung’s power base.