KING CASE AFTERMATH: A CITY IN CRISIS : World Reacts With Shock and Criticism to Los Angeles Riots : Opinion: French President Mitterrand blames Bush’s political ideology. Libya calls violence a black <i> intifada.</i>

As the world reacted in horror Friday to the violence in Los Angeles, France’s leader said President Bush’s ideology was to blame for the rioting, and Libya spoke of a black intifada in America.

“I don’t want to give advice, out of respect for this great country, but as you are asking my opinion, I think there is an absence of social legislation and protection,” French President Francois Mitterrand said in a radio interview.

“George Bush is a generous man who embodies an extremely conservative political ideology, and American society is conservative and economically capitalist,” Mitterrand said. “Here are the results.”

In Libya, which is under sanctions partly instigated by Bush over the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, the state-run radio and television devoted more than half their news programs to what some called “the intifada of the blacks.”

“This shows the injustice of the American system,” a commentator on Libyan Radio said, comparing the riots to the Palestinian uprising in Israel’s occupied territories. “It points to the racial segregation in the United States, to attacks on blacks and to George Bush’s weakness. He is not fit to be President.”

Some government leaders joined in the criticism of America’s race relations--but most stayed silent about a crisis that for many was a reminder of tensions at home over immigration.

Japanese expressed shock at what they perceived as the deep racial divisions racking America. One educator, Hayato Yamanaka, warned that the same could happen to Japan, which prides itself on its homogeneity, if it liberalizes immigration.

Both Japan and South Korea cautioned their citizens against traveling to Los Angeles, and Britain advised its citizens to be careful while visiting the city.

In Seoul, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said the South Korean government had ordered its consulate in Los Angeles shut down temporarily after it was attacked by a band of blacks in a truck.

South Korean President Roh Tae Woo “asked the U.S. government to take steps to protect our Korean residents there,” the spokesman added.

From the Vatican, Pope John Paul II offered his sympathy and his prayers to the residents of Los Angeles and appealed for “a renewed spirit of solidarity” among Angelenos.

The Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, said John Paul “was deeply saddened to learn of the violence which has erupted in Los Angeles.”

“He joins you and all the faithful in asking God, the father of peace, for the restoration of civil harmony and a renewed spirit of solidarity among all citizens,” Sodano said in a telegram to Los Angeles Cardinal Roger M. Mahony.

The Pope, who visited the city in 1987, asked Mahony “to kindly express his sympathy to those who have suffered injury or loss, and above all to give assurance of his prayers for those who have died.”

International Reaction

Japan: Japan’s largest travel agency--Japan Travel Bureau Inc.--suspended tours to Los Angeles for three days. “We can’t ensure travelers’ safety,” said the company. Some commentators warned that the same thing could happen in Japan--which prides itself on its homogeneity--if the country liberalized immigration laws.

Britain: Media gave top billing to the violence in Los Angeles. One right-wing British daily said U.S. “justice (has been) mocked by prejudice.” Britain’s Foreign Office said it was advising travelers to avoid “areas where there is rioting” but was not banning travel to the city.

Germany: In Berlin, German leftists said the poor in Los Angeles and worldwide were “victims of fascism” who should topple capitalism, as they marched on May Day, Europe’s Labor Day. Many European countries are grappling with racial tensions, largely involving immigrants.

France: Socialist President Francois Mitterrand used the occasion to criticize U.S. policy. The riots were “above all a racial conflict and racial conflict is always wed to poor social programs,” he said. “George Bush is a generous man, who embodies an extremely conservative political ideology, and American society is conservative and economically capitalist. Here are the results.”

South Korea: President Roh Tae Woo asked today that all means be used to ensure the safety of Korean-Americans after the South Korean Consulate in Los Angeles was closed when it came under attack during the rioting. Relations between 300,000 Korean-Americans in Los Angeles and blacks have been tense. South Korean’s consul general in Los Angeles has asked NBC television to refrain from airing violence involving Korean-Americans and African-Americans, saying that it would provoke confrontations, the Foreign Ministry said.

The Vatican: A telegram from the Vatican to Los Angeles Cardinal Roger M. Mahony said the Pope was praying “for the restoration of civil harmony and a renewed spirit of solidarity.”

Spain: In Madrid, the center-left El Mundo said Los Angeles reflected a global trend, in which white minorities are getting richer and “the masses of dark and yellow skin, every day (are) worse off, poorer and pushed toward despair.”