Youths Attack U.S. Office in South Korea

Radical students shouting “Drive out Yankees!” firebombed a police bus today and wounded 13 officers during an attack on a U.S. government office in the southern city of Kwangju, police and U.S. officials said.

Two of the officers were hurt seriously during the attack at the U.S. Information Service building in downtown Kwangju, the U.S. Embassy said in a statement. Police said four students were arrested.

The statement said fighting broke out in the mid-afternoon when about 100 protesters began hurling firebombs at the building, hitting the police bus, which had about 30 people aboard.

Car Destroyed by Fire

No one was injured in the building, but a car inside the compound was destroyed by fire and another was slightly damaged, the statement said. About 10 windows in the information center’s library also were damaged, it said.

U.S. Embassy officials said seven assailants scaled the center’s roof from inns nearby while police outside fought back protesters.

“From there, they hurled Molotov cocktails, steel pipes and tiles which they ripped from the center roof,” the officials said.

The students on the roof also carried a placard that read “Repeal armistice agreement, conclude peace treaty,” according to Yonhap, the South Korean news agency. South Korea and North Korea fought a war in 1950-53, and both sides technically are still at war, with no peace treaty signed.