S. Korean Dissidents Postpone Protests

SEOUL, South Korea — Nationwide rallies, originally scheduled for this week to push for constitutional reform in South Korea, will be postponed until next year, opposition leaders said Saturday.

The decision was made in a meeting attended by Lee Min Woo, president of the New Korea Democratic Party, and Kim Young Sam and Kim Dae Jung, the country’s best-known dissident leaders. They did not say why they postponed the demonstrations, but they apparently wanted to avoid violent confrontations with the government.

Last weekend, a scheduled rally by the opposition New Korea Democratic Party was foiled when the government of President Chun Doo Hwan deployed about 70,000 troops in Seoul.

When the opposition announced Wednesday that it would hold rallies in nine cities on Dec. 13, the governing Democratic Justice Party said an all-out effort would be made to prevent them.