Violence flares over US bases in S. Korea

Anti-US protesters and farmers fought pitched battles with South Korean riot police on May 4 and 5, as authorities moved to clear rural townships to pave the way for a new US military base. Residents, mostly elderly farmers and young activists who have recently moved to the area, are demanding a stop to the construction. About 1,000 protesters, many wielding bamboo sticks, clashed with more than 3,000 South Korean soldiers and riot police armed with batons in Pyeongtaek, an area about 44 miles south of Seoul where land for the base has been allocated. Another 7,000 police were deployed in the area. After a day of fighting that left more than 200 people injured, South Korean forces on the evening of May 4 secured the site with water cannons, helicopters and bulldozers. The protesters had barricaded themselves in a shut-down elementary school in an attempt to stop the clearing of the site. At late afternoon, about a dozen activists chanting anti-US slogans were still atop the two-story building where they remained surrounded by riot police more than seven hours after the raid began. "Withdraw American troops!" shouted the activists, refusing to come down. By nightfall they had been evicted, the school demolished and the site roped off by 18 miles of razor-wire fencing. "We were crushed and trampled by the South Korean military–all for the sake of America," said Lee Seong-rip, a protester and staffer for the Democratic Labor Party. "It is a very dark day for Korea." The US military headquarters in Seoul is expected to be relocated to Pyeongtaek by 2008. Anger grew in Pyeongtaek over the need to demolish several farming villages and to clear rice paddies to make way for the new facilities next to an existing base, Camp Humphreys. The second day's fighting started outside the townships as about 1,500 anti-US protesters and unionists regrouped overnight and began marching into the fenced-off site. What began as rowdy shoving and fisticuffs involving hundreds on both sides turned more violent as the day progressed. Some protesters broke through the newly erected fence and charged at unarmed soldiers with sticks, injuring scores. Several protesters, police and soldiers were wounded in the fighting. The Defense Ministry said 11 soldiers suffered serious injuries and were airlifted by helicopter to a military hospital just south of Seoul. Reuters photographer Lee Jae-won and about a dozen other journalists, wearing helmets and armbands identifying them as media, were beaten by police. Witnesses on the scene said fighting continued late into the night. The government has offered residents financial compensation to move out, but about 70 households continue to resist, according to the Defense Ministry. Local residents who remain say no amount of compensation would justify the move. "Do not insult the residents who are fighting here," said Kim Ji-tae, who leads the farmers remaining and protesters in the area, in an open letter to President Roh Moo-hyun on May 5. "As we said a number of times, we are not interested in compensation. What we want is to continue living here." Yoon Kwang-ung, the defense minister, said the base relocation, which had been agreed to by Seoul and Washington in 2004 and authorized by South Korea's Parliament, could no longer wait. About 30,000 US troops are stationed in the country. "This is precious land that generations of farmers have made rich," said Song Hyun, 86, on the edge of rice fields before the police moved in. "It is heartbreaking that they are trying to take such good land away from us." On May 8, prosecutors secured arrest warrants for 10 protesters who were detained on May 4 and released another 27 after a district court declined to issue warrants for them. The government vowed stern measures against future violent protests, threatening military trials for civilians who trespass on the US base in Pyeongtaek or assault soldiers guarding the area.