S. Korea Regime Launches New Crackdown on Critics

The government launched a sweeping crackdown against its critics Friday, blocking rallies in several South Korean cities, rounding up scores of activists, intercepting the funeral procession of a shipyard worker killed in a labor dispute and returning his body to his family for burial.

The day’s activities, culminating in violent confrontations between police and several hundred students in a working-class suburb of Seoul, represented the government’s greatest show of force since it promised democratic reforms two months ago.

Coming after two months of relative liberalization, the new hard line seemed to be sparked by fears of cooperation by radical students and labor activists in protests.

Police Block Rallies

But the day’s activities also seemed to mark a failure, at least for now, by dissident leaders to align themselves with workers who have struck hundreds of companies recently. A leading dissident organization had called for a general strike and massive rallies in several cities to mark the death last Saturday of the first worker killed by police this summer, but police blocked the rallies and the strike never materialized.

Perhaps the most dramatic event of the day came when 2,000 police turned back a funeral procession from the Daewoo shipyard on Koje Island. Colleagues of the slain worker, Lee Suk Kyu, 21, had planned to bury him in the provincial capital of Kwangju--site of a bloody anti-government uprising in 1980--against the wishes of Lee’s family. But police, in effect, hijacked the hearse and led it to the family hometown of Namwon.

Workers had argued that Lee, who reportedly was killed by a police tear-gas grenade during a demonstration one week ago, should be buried near the victims of the 1980 uprising as befits a “hero of the working-class struggle.” Family members had pleaded to have Lee buried in their hometown.

Workers simply took the body and headed for Kwangju, prompting the family to boycott the funeral. But police met the procession of 28 buses and cars in Gosong and forced all but two of them to return to Koje Island, where the Daewoo shipyard is located.

About 600 strikes continued around the country Friday. Since President Chun Doo Hwan acceded to opposition demands for free elections and other reforms on July 1, more than 2,000 companies have experienced labor disputes.

In the past few days, the government has signaled a harder line against such disputes, contending that “impure leftist elements” are to blame for many.

Police authorities said they have taken 74 people into custody on charges of inciting labor disputes.

About 5,000 police massed at Yongdongpo outside Seoul to prevent a rally Friday night. The National Coalition for a Democratic Constitution, which organized the June protests that helped bring the promise of reforms, had called for memorial meetings to honor Lee Sok Kyu.

But only a few hundred students gathered, and the massive show of force limited them to hit-and-run skirmishes.