S. Korea Opposition Rallies in Taejon

Thousands of demonstrators chanting “down with dictatorship” marched Saturday through Taejon, South Korea’s sixth-largest city, and students and police clashed in Seoul in the latest wave of anti-government protests.

The march through central Taejon paralyzed traffic in the city center. Demonstrators chanted “Restore democracy” and “Bring down the military dictatorship of Chun Doo Hwan” and called for reunification of North and South Korea. Before the march, the opposition New Korea Democratic Party staged a rally at a Taejon sports stadium, fifth of a series in major cities since the party launched a campaign for electoral reform in February.

Organizers said the rally at the sports stadium attracted 30,000 to 40,000 people. Police put the figure at less than 10,000.

In a speech read for him in the stadium, opposition leader Kim Dae Jung repeated the opposition demand that President Chun Doo Hwan abolish the present system under which the president is elected by an electoral college. The opposition wants direct elections for president. In Seoul, thousands of students staged demonstrations demanding Chun’s resignation, witnesses said.

Riot police fired tear gas to disperse about 2,000 protesters who chanted “Yankee go home,” “Down with dictatorship” and “Restore democracy” after a memorial service at a cemetery containing the bodies of 185 people killed in the 1960 uprising that toppled President Syngman Rhee.