Seoul Crackdown on Dissidents Reported
The government Saturday announced a crackdown on leftist dissidents, news reports said. The Yonhap news agency said authorities prepared a list of 6,090 dissidents and have begun investigating them, with the chief targets being student activists and members of labor and religious groups.
“From now on, a stern, steady crackdown will be placed on any groups related to left-leaning activities,” Shim Myung Bo, a spokesman for the ruling Democratic Justice Party, said.
In Seoul, about 2,000 anti-government student protesters clashed with riot police, witnesses reported. The demonstrators called for a new constitution and denounced the National Security Law, under which opposition party legislator Yoo Sung Hwan was charged last week, the witnesses said.
The opposition New Korea Democratic Party said it would step up its campaign for a new constitution and fight for the release of Yoo, who was arrested Thursday.
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