35,000 Protest in S. Korea; 10th Dissident Dies

About 35,000 protesters demanding the ouster of President Roh Tae Woo battled riot police with rocks and firebombs Sunday and today in South Korea’s two largest cities.

A high school student who set himself on fire two weeks ago died, bringing to 10 the number of dissidents dead in more than five weeks of protests calling for democratic reforms.

About 1,500 riot police today attacked a hospital compound with water cannon and tear gas trying to retrieve the body of a student protester who died in an earlier clash with police.

Students hurled rocks and firebombs at police from behind barricades for an hour before being driven inside Paik Hospital in downtown Seoul, witnesses said.

Police tore down the trash and plank barricades and moved to within 15 yards of the hospital morgue but were unable to fight their way inside to take the body, witnesses said.

In Pusan, the country’s second-largest city, about 25,000 students and workers charged out of the gates at Pusan University and occupied streets near the school.

Thousands of riot police firing tear gas from black armored vans stopped the protesters from marching to the center of the city, about 200 miles southeast of Seoul. The protesters, who had gathered from across the country for two days of rallies at the university, wielded firebombs, rocks and iron pipes in the choking gas.

In Seoul on Sunday, fierce fighting erupted after police blocked 10,000 students and workers from marching through downtown. Riot police charged protesters trying to occupy the city center.

News reports said more than 100 people were injured in Seoul and Pusan. There were no immediate police reports of arrests or injuries.

The nationwide protests had eased after Roh replaced the prime minister and reshuffled his Cabinet. But a new wave erupted after a 25-year-old student, Kim Kwi Jong, died May 25 after she was trampled during a protest in Seoul.

In Kwangju, 160 miles southwest of Seoul, Kim Chul Soo, an 18-year-old high school senior who set himself ablaze May 18, died early Sunday. He was the seventh to die by self-immolation in the five weeks of unrest. Another protester died under mysterious circumstances.

Counting Kim Kwi Jong and the student fatally beaten by police April 26--the incident that triggered the protests--10 people have died and more than 3,000 people have been injured.