S. Korea Acts to Halt Violence at Election Rallies : Police Order Stepped-up Security; Test Likely at 4 Gatherings Today

After three straight days of mounting campaign violence, deplored by the ruling Democratic Justice Party as a “serious political development,” police authorities Friday ordered security stepped up for future rallies.

The test may come today when all four declared or prospective presidential candidates will hold separate rallies. The prospect of violence has already led Roh Tae Woo, the ruling party nominee, to switch the site of a planned outdoor rally today in Taegu to an enclosed arena instead.

Roh appearances on Wednesday and Thursday were disrupted or aborted in the cities of Kwangju and Iri in North Cholla province, an opposition stronghold. In Kwangju, he was hit by an egg and temporarily blinded by a tear-gas grenade thrown by a protester. In Iri, a clash between police and rock-throwing students forced him to call off his appearance.

On Tuesday, Kim Jong Pil, a prospective candidate in the December election and, like Roh, a conservative, was harassed and shoved by student demonstrators when he tried to speak in Iri.

Riot Police Shunned

None of the candidates seem eager to appear on the stump surrounded by riot police. Despite his troubles in Iri, Kim Jung Pil declared Friday, “Such a measure is absolutely not required. . . . We will solve problems concerning security in our own way.”

Ruling party leaders reportedly were trying to devise schedules to keep their campaign violence-free, which may mean more indoor rallies by Roh.

“We will exercise patience in efforts to hold elections in a peaceful and fair manner,” declared Lee Min Sup, the party spokesman.

So far, no appearances by Kim Young Sam and Kim Dae Jung, opposition candidates and rivals, have been disrupted. But neither has yet campaigned on the other’s home turf. That test may come Nov. 1, which Kim Dae Jung has scheduled a rally in Pusan, Kim Young Sam’s hometown.

Kim Dae Jung, asked to comment Friday on the outbreak of violence, said: “Continued use of violence can threaten the election itself. It can be exploited by those who do not want elections and democracy.”

‘Deceived the People’

According to press reports, his rival Kim Young Sam declined to comment on the disturbances. But Kim Dong Ryong, secretary of the opposition Reunification Democratic Party, suggested that the protests marked “public rejection of Roh, who deceived the people with his June 29 declaration,” implying that authorities have not fully complied with all of the political reforms promised in that declaration.

In Kwangju, the egg and tear-gas incidents were blamed on relatives of students killed in the May, 1980, uprising there, a demonstration-turned-insurgency that was brutally put down by armed troops. Roh told a news conference that he had not expected a warm reception in Kwangju.

After a long period of silence since the labor strife of August, another protest group, Minmintu, student radicals opposed to the presidential election, has been active in recent weeks. The group is promoting a boycott of next Tuesday’s referendum on constitutional amendments that authorize the voting, South Korea’s first direct elections in 16 years.

‘Some Plausible Grievances’

“Those involved in violent protests may claim to have some plausible grievances against certain political figures or unfortunate incidents in the past, like the Kwangju affair,” the English-language Korea Times said in an editorial in today’s editions. “Notwithstanding, it must be stressed that no political violence for whatever reason or in whatever form is permissible, especially at a time when the nation is headed for democratization in a precarious situation.”

The official campaign has not yet begun. It will commence 10 days after the election day is fixed. By agreement of the ruling and opposition parties, the voting will take place no later than Dec. 20.