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