Cable briefs

Press, 2 May 1981, Page 8

Cable briefs

Clamp lifted The South Korean authorities have set free the wife of the political dissident, Kim Dae Jung, from partial house arrest imposed since the de- - claration of toal martial law in South Korea. Mrs Kim’s husband, who was one of the first to be detained when full martial law was clamped down, is serving a life jail term after being found guilty of sedition last January. Mrs Kim told NZPA-Reuter that she had been informed by the police that she would be allowed freedom of movement from today. No reasons were given. The police have also released the president of the former major Opposition New Democratic Party, Kim Young Sam, from house ar-rest.—-Seoul. Priest killed? A disfigured body which may be that of a missing American priest has been found in San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador. The face was unrecognisable, but the shoes and clothes indicated that the body may be that of the Rev. Roy Bourgeois, a priest of the Roman Catholic Maryknoll order who disappeared four days ago. The murder of the three American nuns of the same order several months ago provoked an uproar in the United States. Father Bourgeois had arrived on April 23 to translate for TV crew.— San Salvador. Scout sues A 19-year-old boy scout, praised by his scoutmaster as a model leader, has sued the Boy Scouts of America for expelling him because he was a militant homosexual. The scout, Timothy Curran,

is being supported by the American Civil Liberties Union in his $580,000 claim for damages against the movement’s , regional council. He accused the organisation ~ of violating his civil rights and, illegally discriminating against him, It was the first known case of this type against the Boy Scout movement, which has some 13 million members around the world.—Los Angeles. N-leak fault The recent leakage of radioactivity from the Japan Atomic Power Company's Tsuruga nuclear power station in Fukui. Western Japan, resulted from a combination of faulty design, op- . erational, and security j weaknesses and human er- 1 rors, a Government panel has concluded. The panel said that radiation inside the plant at no time exceeded' the plant's minimum safety 1 standard and radioactive I waste water was not disposed of through the ordin- I ary drain system, as orgi- * nally feared—Tokyo. Hua appearance A beaming Chinese Communist Party chairman, Hua ; . Guofeng, whose demotion is widely expected in the next few months, made a rare public appearance when he led Chinese leaders attending a gala concert to mark May Day. But the party strongman, Deng Xiaoping, who Western observers believe holds a large share of responsibility for Mr Hua’s relegation, was absent from the event, held in the cavernous Great Hall of the People. Diplomats said it was difficult to read much significance into the absence of Mr Deng, since many other Chinese leaders were not at the concert.—Peking.