Koreans Demand Prisoner Amnesty : Protesters Press Ruling Party; Issue Sours National Reconciliation Moves

Demonstrators demanding freedom for all political prisoners clashed with police here Saturday as the issue of prisoners’ amnesty continued to sour moves toward national reconciliation.

Mothers, wives and other supporters of political prisoners protested at the headquarters of the ruling Democratic Justice Party, throwing eggs at the building and shouting, “Down with dictatorship!” Fifteen women were detained as police broke up the demonstration.

Tensions heightened today after a 21-year-old Yonsei University student, who had been hit in the head with a tear-gas canister June 9 during anti-government street violence, died in his hospital bed after four weeks in a coma.

Police Surround Hospital

Soon after the death, thousands of government riot police, fearing renewed violence, sealed off the hospital where Lee Han Yol had been declared brain-dead but kept alive on life-support machines since his injury last month.

Relatives and fellow students had kept a 24-hour vigil at Lee’s hospital room to prevent police from covering up his injuries and anticipated death, and a banner picturing a bloody Lee held in a friend’s arms was often hoisted during students’ protests.

Opposition leader Kim Dae Jung said he hopes that Lee, who was the second demonstrator to die as a result of the three weeks of violence, “will now become a burning torch lighting the way for the path of democracy in this country.”

Before the women’s demonstration Saturday, Kim Dae Jung and the nation’s other main opposition leader, Kim Young Sam, announced their resolve not to begin scheduled talks with authorities of the ruling party on the latter’s proposed major democratic reforms until President Chun Doo Hwan’s military-backed regime frees all political prisoners.

Disagree on Numbers

The two sides do not even agree on the number of such prisoners.

The National Council of Christian Churches’ human rights commission lists about 1,800 “prisoners of conscience,” but the government has indicated it is willing to set free only part of a list of 1,100 people who it concedes were arrested in political disputes. Some opposition leaders, Kim Young Sam among them, have asserted that as many as 3,000 political prisoners are being held.

The Justice Ministry announced this morning that it will begin freeing political prisoners on its list Monday. Officials said that 170 prisoners will be set free then and that another group of 310 will be released Friday.

While prisoners’ relatives were demonstrating Saturday outside the ruling party’s headquarters, party Chairman Roh Tae Woo was holding a brief, acerbic meeting inside with 13 women representing the protesters.

A party spokesman asked journalists to leave as the meeting was about to start, whereupon the women pounded the table and finally walked out, demanding that the journalists be allowed to stay.

Refuse to Shake Hands

Roh, who set the reconciliation process in motion last Monday by announcing major concessions on all opposition demands, including that of the political prisoners, overruled the spokesman, and the women returned to the meeting. But they refused offers of a handshake that Roh made to each of them.

Cho Sun Ja, the mother of a jailed Seoul National University student, told the ruling party chairman in a trembling voice that his proposals for change were most welcome.

“But after watching the follow-up developments,” she said, “we doubt if the current regime has a genuine will to carry out democracy. We don’t believe that an atmosphere for a grand reconciliation can be created by keeping (some) political prisoners in jail.”

“I made a decision for democratization for the purpose of achieving a grand unity and reconciliation of the people,” Roh replied, telling the women they should wait to see the results of the government’s amnesty announcement.

When Roh left the room, not heeding the women’s demands that he remain for further talks, they began shouting slogans and were forcibly removed from the building.

Talks Linked to Releases

Kim Young Sam and Kim Dae Jung, the two opposition chieftains, chose a Saturday press conference to announce that until the prisoners are freed, they will not proceed to talks with Roh and others on other points of the reconciliation plan, which includes direct popular election of a president to succeed Chun and freedom of the press among its concessions.

Kim Dae Jung, who was the opposition’s candidate in 1971, the last time a free and open presidential election was held here, said the opposition is not demanding that the government turn loose “murderers and Communists.” But he said that prisoners branded as Communists for propaganda reasons must be freed.

“The government should discuss with us who should be set free,” he said.

Diplomatic sources said that police and intelligence services are reluctant to free some of the jailed student leaders.

“They think they have bagged some of the top organizers--the leaders who actually control the underground leftist network in the country,” one Western diplomat said. “There’s a strong sentiment (within the government) to hold onto these people.”

Kim Dae Jung, who himself has been jailed, subjected to house arrest and stripped of his civil rights on subversion charges, said that he and Kim Young Sam will carefully examine lists of prisoners to be freed and awarded amnesty that the government is expected to announce this week before proceeding with any other items on the reconciliation agenda.

Urge Caretaker Cabinet

The two Kims also said they have agreed to recommend that President Chun relinquish his post as president of the Democratic Justice Party and form a “pan-national” caretaker Cabinet, including members of the opposition, to supervise elections and the transfer of power when Chun steps down next Feb. 25. They added, however, that they would not make their recommendation a prerequisite for proceeding with negotiations on constitutional and legal reforms.

Korean newspapers reported Saturday that Chun is considering handing the party presidency to Roh, the chairman, although a ruling party spokesman denied the reports. There were no indications that Chun would accept any bid that a caretaker Cabinet be named.

Kim Dae Jung also said he would join the Reunification Democratic Party, which is headed by Kim Young Sam, as an adviser when the government restores his civil rights, as it has promised to do.

The two opposition leaders, who fought each other in the aftermath of President Park Chung Hee’s assassination in 1979, pledged anew to maintain a firm alliance and said they would hold regular weekly meetings to plan joint strategy.

They also reaffirmed the opposition’s determination to field a single, consensus presidential candidate against Roh, the ruling party’s candidate to succeed Chun.

Meet at U.S. Reception

Later Saturday, Kim Dae Jung met Roh and U.S. Ambassador James R. Lilley for the first time at a heavily guarded Fourth of July reception at the ambassador’s residence.

Kim’s meeting with Roh, a former army general who took part in the coup that brought Chun to power in May, 1980, was polite but icy.