The World - News from Dec. 18, 1988

South Korea’s National Assembly, controlled by the opposition, voted 127 to 102 to reinstate thousands of civil servants dismissed by former President Chun Doo Hwan. But officials of the ruling Democratic Justice Party said they will ask President Roh Tae Woo to veto the bill. The opposition lacks the votes to override a veto. Roh’s government has said the former employees would receive half their salary for the past eight years, but the opposition bill would give them full back pay. Chun, who came to power in 1980 in a military takeover, fired nearly 9,000 government employees and launched a “social purification” drive, in which hundreds of reporters, military officers and professors also lost their jobs.