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No Violence Reported at Base Rallies

Posted May. 22, 2006 03:01,   

한국어

A series of rallies for and against the U.S. army base relocation were held one after another in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, over the weekend, but did not cause any conflicts.

A total of over 1,500 members of conservative groups, including the Paengseong Merchants Association in Pyeongtaek, the War Veterans Social Club in Pyeongtaek, and the National Council for Advancement, held a rally for governmental authorities before the main entrance of Camp Humphreys (K-6), a U.S. army base, to denounce the opponents of base relocation.

The conservatives insisted that the government accelerate the relocation to strengthen the Korea-U.S. alliance and national security, saying that “no attempt to bolster leftist ideological conflicts challenging governmental authorities should be excusable.”

The Pyeongtaek Affairs Committee consisting of civic society groups in Pyeongtaek held “a marathon race against the U.S. army base relocation to Pyeongtaek” in the Pyeongtaek public stadium yesterday morning.

However, voluntary activities for rural communities, which the Korean Teachers and Education Workers’ Union and the Coalition of Korean University Students scheduled on rice field in Daechu-ri over the weekend, were cancelled.

Meanwhile, the Paengseong Affairs Committee (PAC), comprised of residents in Daechu-ri and in Dodu-ri, Paengseong said yesterday that the Special Commission on USFK Affairs under the Prime Minister’s Office proposed an official talk to resolve the relocation issue on May 20.

An official of the PAC said, “The special commission called some PAC senior management members on May 17 requesting an online talk, which we rejected. But, at this time, we are planning to notify the time and place for the requested talk after discussion with residents, since the request was delivered through an official letter.”



Kyung-Hyun Nam bibulus@donga.com