arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)

NGO rallies ensure tensions run high on first day of ASEM summit

Tensions ran high on the first day of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM)
yesterday as tens of thousands of civic group members staged sporadic
rallies against globalization.

There were scattered clashes between demonstrators and police as radical
protesters attempted to breach security cordons or march toward the ASEM
venue in southern Seoul. A few demonstrators reportedly suffered injuries in
the confrontations.

Early in the day, some 2,400 people, mostly members of the Korean
Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), a militant umbrella labor group, and
students, staged an unlawful rally near the Yoksam subway station in
southern Seoul to denounce ASEM-promoted globalization.

Chanting slogans like "We oppose ASEM" and "We oppose economic
restructuring," the protesters held a peaceful one-hour demonstration in
which they called for a cut in work hours and improved working conditions.

After the rally, which was led by the KCTU, the demonstrators attempted a 1
km march to nearby Kangnam subway station, but were promptly blocked by
some 3,000 riot police who stood guard in and around the rally site.

In the process, demonstrators hurled chunks of brick and wielded wooden
sticks to counter riot police officers' baton blows. At least two protesters
reportedly suffered injuries and were dispatched to a nearby hospital.

Two police helicopters flew overhead, monitoring the clashes.

The National Police Agency, which has repeatedly vowed to crack down on
any unlawful rallies near the ASEM venue, mobilized some 20,000 riot police
to ensure the safety of foreign leaders attending the two-day Seoul ASEM.
The agency notified the KCTU late Thursday that the labor union would not
be
permitted to hold a rally at Yoksam subway station.

"We protested the agency's decision not to allow our rally and proceeded
with our plan today as we wanted to get our anti-ASEM and antiglobalization
messages across to foreign leaders attending the ASEM," said Sohn
Nark-koo, executive director of the KCTU's Education and Publicity
Department.

Sohn estimated that some 4,000 people attended the rally, compared with the
police agency's estimate of 2,400. The KCTU earlier predicted some 5,000
people would turn out for the demonstration.

Hours earlier, some 150 student activists also staged running demonstrations
in and around subway stations in Seoul, shouting anti-ASEM slogans.

At 8:40 a.m. some 20 leaders of radical civic groups, including Dan
Byung-ho, chairman of the KCTU, briefly clashed with riot police as they
attempted to breach security lines to deliver a letter of protest against
globalization and the ASEM to the foreign leaders attending the Seoul
summit.

As they failed to gain access to the ASEM conference center, they read the
letter at the site, protesting ASEM-promoted globalization and neoliberalism.

In the afternoon, some 20,000 members of domestic and foreign
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) held a massive antiglobalization rally
at Seoul's Olympic Park.

The demonstration was organized by the International Organizing Committee
of the ASEM 2000 People's Forum, which claims to serve as the counterpart
of the official ASEM forum. During the rally, the private forum announced a
resolution, the "People's Vision," which was adopted by participants in a
plenary session at Konkuk University Thursday.

Instead of concentrating on economic issues, the resolution called on ASEM
leaders to focus on the environment, trade unions, sexual equality and
human rights, as well as farmers, children and the right of self-determination
for minorities.

The international body of the people's forum is composed of about 100
foreign NGOs and some 130 domestic civic groups. The Seoul Organizing
Committee of the ASEM 2000 People's Forum was set up last October with
the support of some 130 local civic organizations.

After the rally, participants staged a 3.7 km march from Olympic Park, about
2 km away from the ASEM venue, to the Chamsil Main Stadium.

Updated: 10/21/2000
by Kang Seok-jae Staff reporter