The World - News from Jan. 22, 1989

Leaders of about 20 South Korean dissident groups formed a new alliance to coordinate their fight for greater democracy and reunification of the Korean Peninsula. An estimated 3,000 activists massed on a Seoul campus to launch the Coalition for a National Democratic Movement, which is seen as having the potential to develop into a hard-line reformist political party in South Korea. Riot police stood outside the campus to prevent any anti-government protests, but the dissidents dispersed peacefully. The coalition--known by its Korean acronym, Chonminyon--plans to hold a street demonstration in Seoul today to denounce “repression of labor rights.” Leaders said the alliance also will push for the withdrawal of foreign troops and nuclear arms from South Korea.