S. Korea Opposition Leader Demands Release of All Political Prisoners

Opposition leader Kim Young Sam on Monday demanded that all political prisoners in South Korea, including those accused of being Communist organizers, be released from prison by Friday.

He declared that unless this is done, President Chun Doo Hwan’s recent announcement of sweeping democratic reforms would amount to nothing more than “a fraud and a handout.”

Nevertheless, Kim indicated that his opposition Democratic Reunification Party will begin negotiating a new constitution with Chun’s government even if its demands for the prisoners’ release are not met.

Later in the day, without referring to Kim’s demands, Justice Minister Chung Hae Chang issued an uncompromising set of orders to the nation’s prosecutors. He told them to deal harshly with “impure elements” and “radical leftists” trying to take advantage of what he called the lame-duck period before Chun is scheduled to step down in February, 1988.

Interrupted by Chants

Outbursts of complaints are occurring, the minister said, because of the “liberalization wave,” encouraging “pro-Communist forces and anti-state elements” to try to infiltrate society at large.

Kim made his lengthy statement during a morning press conference that was loudly interrupted by the shouts and chants of more than 100 recently released political prisoners and mothers of those still in government jails.

The protesters, wearing headbands demanding “Free all prisoners of conscience,” forced their way into the fifth-floor room where Kim was reading his statement to reporters. The demonstrators began chanting “Free them all, free them all,” and staged a sit-in that continued throughout the day.

Kim’s bodyguards and aides formed a human barricade in the doorway to block the group, which called itself the Freed Laborers and Citizens Committee, but the angry demonstrators, many of them students and workers, pushed through.

“Our door is always open to receive you and to hear you,” Kim told the group after they sat down on the floor. “You do not need to barge in like this.”

Nonetheless, many observers saw the confrontation as a sign of the split between the moderate and more radical factions of South Korea’s political opposition as it prepares to challenge Chun’s Democratic Justice Party in the direct presidential elections that the president and ruling party Chairman Roh Tae Woo have promised will be held before Chun steps down.

One opposition party organizer, Paek Nam Chi, commented in the hallway of the party headquarters: “It is true, this split. But they want everything overnight. How can that be possible? We are saying, ‘Please wait. Let’s sit and talk first.’ ”

Once the freed prisoners had presented their demands, they did listen patiently in the sweltering room to Kim’s eight-page statement. At several points, they applauded him enthusiastically.

Addressing himself to the speeches of Roh and Chun two weeks ago announcing direct presidential elections and reforms that included press freedom and political amnesty, Kim declared in his prepared statement that “any so-called democratization can be no more than a fraud and a handout if there are still any political prisoners in our jail.”

Condemns Government

Despite the government’s release of 534 political prisoners and declaration of amnesty and restoration of civil rights for 2,335 others who had served jail terms previously, Kim condemned Chun’s government for failing to implement any concrete reforms.

“Even though a full two weeks has passed since the June 29 announcement (by Roh) and the July 1 presidential confirmation (by Chun), not a single sign of self-determination or democratization can be seen in any part of society, any level of society or any functional area of society,” Kim stated.

Kim also called for a “a careful inquiry into the realities of the Kwangju incident,” the 1980 massacre of students, workers and middle-class residents of the southern city that many Koreans blame on Chun, Roh and three other former generals. The crowd of former prisoners responded by shouting “Execute the murderers!”

Kim also condemned the indiscriminate use of tear gas last Thursday by riot police breaking up a peaceful protest and funeral march for a student killed by a tear-gas canister during last month’s violent anti-government demonstrations in Seoul. The funeral drew as many as 1 million people into the streets, and Kim said the police response “further inflamed the people’s anger and indignation.”

“The police of this nation must terminate their role of supporting a dictatorial way of life and be reborn as the security arm of the people,” Kim declared. “The death of (student) Lee Han Yol must become the occasion for removing tear-gas canisters from the hands of the police once and for all.”

Although Kim set Friday, which is Constitution Day and a national holiday, as the deadline for the government to release all prisoners--including, by name, several student leaders that the government alleges are Communist ideologues sympathetic to Communist North Korea--he made no specific threat to break off negotiations if Chun fails to comply.

“If, however, this reasonable proposal . . . does not come about, then the government must offer its apology before the people and seriously reconsider its course of action,” he said.

Within days of the government’s announcement of reforms, both Kim and fellow opposition leader Kim Dae Jung vowed to break off negotiations with the government on a new constitution that would embrace a new age of democracy. But they have since backed off.

That softening of the political opposition’s stance was among the reasons that the freed prisoners stormed into Kim’s party headquarters Monday, several members of the group said.

Asked her opinion of Kim Young Sam, one mother of a political prisoner said: “I myself consider him a fighter for democracy, and we are all depending on him to defend the rights of the people.

“But there are many fears he may not be as strong as we would like him to be. . . . What he must realize is that the government is not afraid of this (political) party. It is afraid of the people.”

The group listed five demands: From the government, it wants all political prisoners freed, and the abolition of all laws banning freedom of assembly and political demonstrations, including the national security law. From opposition leaders, it demands that negotiations be broken off with “the murderous regime”; that ruling party Chairman Roh not be listened to, and that the U.S. presence in South Korea and American political interference in internal affairs be removed.

When he finished his statement, Kim quickly left the packed conference room and retreated to his private office two floors below, where he met with some foreign journalists.

Chanting and Stomping

There, he took pains to stress that there was no difference between his party’s moderate stand and that of the so-called radicals, who continued their chanting and foot-stomping two floors above. And he said he agreed with all the group’s demands and said its leaders apologized to him for having interrupted his press conference.

“If there was any difference between myself and the student group, why would they give such applause to my statement?” Kim asked rhetorically.

“After 26 years of dictatorship, it is natural to see some kinds of demands such as these by the people,” he added. “We understand their state of mind. They are frustrated and helpless. Their sons and daughters are in the jails on fabricated charges that they are Communists.”

Kim stressed that even the so-called radical Communists, whom Chun’s government has said it will not release from prison, should be freed along with other political prisoners.

“I believe we should release all of these people from prison--all of them--and then see if they will become Communist activists again,” he told the reporters.

Kim said that he agrees even with the demand by the group of students and mothers on removing U.S. interference in South Korean affairs.

“What they are trying to say is the U.S. government has been supporting the Chun Doo Hwan government and it is still supporting it,” Kim said. “Therefore, they are trying to state that the U.S. government should stop supporting the Chun government, and we agree.”

On the subject of opposition unity, Kim reiterated that fellow opposition leader Kim Dae Jung does plan to join his party next week, following a tour of his home region of Cholla, and that there will be a unified opposition front during the upcoming presidential election.

“We will never compete by vote,” Kim said of himself and the man who did oppose him twice in the past. “And we will have one single candidate, period. We are sure we can work this out.”

Kim added that he will decide before Aug. 15 whether to run for president.