Students Protest S. Korea Deaths

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Students Protest S. Korea Deaths

.c The Associated Press

 SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - About 1,000 students marched through downtown
Seoul today in the biggest protest yet against alleged killings of civilians
by U.S. forces at the start of the Korean War.

On Sept. 30, The Associated Press reported accounts by American veterans,
corroborating those of South Korean villagers, that their unit killed
hundreds of civilians at No Gun Ri, South Korea, during the early days of the
1950-1953 war.

``We protest the No Gun Ri massacre!'' students chanted in a park. They waved
hundreds of small yellow flags with the same message. Two dissident leaders
had their heads shaven in protest.

The students later marched along one lane of the eight-lane main boulevard
winding through downtown Seoul's busy Chongno and Myongdong commercial
districts. Traffic backed up and frustrated drivers honked their horns.

Students distributed leaflets. But most pedestrians paid little attention.

Police did not intervene. No clashes were reported during the protest rally
and march that lasted 2 1/2 hours.

In a report Thursday, the AP quoted ex-GIs, Korean witnesses and U.S.
military documents as saying that U.S. Army officers ordered the destruction
of two strategic bridges in early August 1950, killing hundreds of civilian
refugees streaming across them.

Today's protest was organized by South Korea's largest student group,
Hanchongryon. Earlier protests against alleged killings of civilians by U.S.
soldiers during the Korean War drew dozens of demonstrators.

Hanchongryon, which is known for its anti-U.S. views, has led violent street
protests in the past, but its influence has decreased sharply in recent years.

The government outlawed the group because it supported the withdrawal of
37,000 U.S. troops based in South Korea as well as other key demands made by
communist North Korea.

Today's protesters reiterated their demand that Washington withdraw U.S.
troops to ease tension on the divided Korean peninsula.

They also demanded that South Korea abolish its National Security Law, which
forbids activity that is deemed beneficial to North Korea. Students say the
law is used to suppress political dissent.

The two Koreas are still technically at war because no peace treaty was
signed at the end of the Korean War. Their border is the world's most heavily
militarized.

AP-NY-10-16-99 0547EDT