Leaflets lead to arrests

Press, 7 August 1985, Page 10

Leaflets lead to arrests

NZPA-Reuter Seoul Seven students were arrested yesterday for publishing what prosecutors said were seditious leaflets connected with the student occupation of the United States Information Service library in Seoul last May. The prosecutor, Park Soon-Young said the students were charged with violating the national security law because the content of most of the leaflets was identical to North Korean propaganda against the South. The national security law is aimed at protecting the country from subversion and has a maximum penalty

of death. Prosecutors said they would call for jail sentences of up to seven years. “It is feared that the campus could be contaminated by Leftist ideology if we leave such pro-commun-ist leaflets alone,” Mr Park said. The seven were arrested as 20 others stood trial in connection with the occupation of the library, during which they demanded the resignation of President Chun Doo Hwan and an apology from Washington for what they perceived as a United States role in the crushing of a uprising in Kwangju city in 1980.

Ham Un-kyong, alleged to have led the occupation by 73 students, told the court that they chose the library for their sit-in because, “the effect of a rally there would be far-reaching at home and abroad.” Although United States diplomats negotiated a peaceful end to the protest after four days, the students won international publicity for their opposition to President Chun, which Western diplomats said helped spark a recent Government action on dissent. Prosecutors said they sought 14 more people in connection with the publication of the leaflets.