700 S. Korean Students, Police Clash
About 700 students hurled firebombs and stones at police Thursday in clashes at Seoul National University after a memorial service for a student who died after police torture, witnesses said.
Protests against the government also were reported at 13 other universities.
Witnesses said at least five students were taken away and three others injured in a three-hour clash at state-run Seoul National University that followed a memorial marking the 100th day after the death of dissident student Park Chong Chul, who died after police torture on Jan. 14.
A 100th-day rite is an important Buddhist practice in which mourning for a deceased person formally ends.
Slogans and leaflets during Thursday’s demonstrations accused the government of President Chun Doo Hwan of stifling democracy because of his April 13 order suspending debate on constitutional reform until after the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
Chun, a former general, is scheduled to step down when his seven-year term ends next Feb. 24.
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