President Roh, Setback at the May 18 Memorial Ceremony

On May 18, nearly a thousand student activists of the Korea Federation of University Students Councils (KFUSC) or Hanchongryun staged an impromptu demonstration during the ‘May 18 Gwang-ju Democratic movement Memorial’ ceremony.

President Roh Moo-hyun was unable to pass through the main gate and arrived 18 minutes late due to the ensuing chaos. Several parliament members from the Grand National Party or Hanara-dang were physically attacked by the student demonstrators.

The police were caught off-guard as the demonstrators were supposedly there to stage a peaceful rally. The police however, had to fight with the demonstrators, who turned violent and unlawfully occupied the streets.

When assemblymen Suh Cheong-won and Lee Jae-oh tried to enter the main gate, they were caught by the student demonstrators and jostled by the crowd. After the memorial ceremony, Assemblyman Choi Byung-ryul had to climb over a guardrail in order to avoid the angry mob.

At 11:20 a.m., even after the memorial ceremony was over, the protestors continued their rioting. The police then brought out fifteen riot police companies and dispersed the crowds with force by 11:45 a.m. The student demonstrators apparently were demanding legitimacy of the KFUSC or Hanchongryun and disavowal of the U.S.-Korea Summit announcement.

Meanwhile, Blue House spokesman Yun Tae-young announced: “It was an unforeseen incident and I don’t think there were any problems with the President’s security. The situation wasn’t threatening at all.”

The VIP Security Division of the Police announced: “We were informed of the demonstration but failed to stop the students who were among the normal visitors. So far, we’ve received no special instructions concerning arrest of the instigators of the demonstration.”

shjung@donga.com