>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Rick Rozoff) : > >STOP NATO: °NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.COM > > > >Activists demand U.S. troop withdrawal from South Korea > >By KYONG-HWA SEOK, Associated Press >MAEHYANG-RI, South Korea (June 24, 2000 8:02 a.m. EDT >http://www.nandotimes.com) - More than 1,000 villagers and activists >demonstrated Saturday, the eve of the 50th anniversary of the outbreak >of the Korean War, demanding an end to the U.S. military presence in >South Korea. >The protests in this remote seaside village and Seoul, the capital, were >the latest in a recent series of anti-U.S. protests mounted by students >and civic activists in the run-up to the war anniversary on Sunday. >The two protests were largely peaceful and there were no reports of >arrests or injuries. >"Pull out U.S. troops," about 1,000 villagers, students and activists >shouted outside a U.S. bombing and gunnery range at Maehyang-ri, a >seaside village 50 miles southwest of Seoul. >The protesters demanded the shutdown of the Koon-Ni range, saying that >it causes unbearable noise and injuries. There were no bombing exercises >Saturday. >About 37,000 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea to cope with >military threats from communist North Korea. >Anti-U.S. protests have increased in South Korea since early May, when a >U.S. fighter jet with engine trouble dropped six bombs on the range. >U.S. officials said the jet had to drop the bombs to lighten its weight. >Villagers claimed that six people were slightly injured and that >buildings were damaged by the impact. But U.S. and Korean investigators >said the bombs caused no injuries or property damage. >The U.S. Air Force suspended exercises on the range in mid-May pending >investigation. It resumed exercises early this week. >"Shut the range," protests shouted as they tried to march on the range >which were guarded by 3,000 riot police. >Among the protesters was an American Roman Catholic priest. A resident >of South Korea for 36 years, the priest, Robert Sweeney of Niagara >Falls, N.Y., said the range should be closed for humanitarian reasons. >"The U.S. military is killing people. They make a garbage dump of the >environment. Pollution, stress, miscarriage and broken windows. This is >Korea, not the U.S.," he said. >South Korea's Defense Ministry has ruled out moving the bombing range >and instead intends to relocate 236 homes close to the range to avoid >friction. Villagers oppose the plan. >The range has been used by the U.S. military since the end of the Korean >War in 1953. Villagers claim that nine people have died in accidents >linked to the range, including a pregnant woman killed when shrapnel hit >her in 1967. >In Seoul, 150 students and activists scuffled with South Korean riot >police as they tried to march on the U.S. military compound, shouting >"Yankee go home." >Guards quickly closed the compound's steel gate, and 300 helmeted South >Korean riot police quickly moved in to block the march. Protesters >blared anti-U.S. slogans from loudspeakers mounted on a van. > > >______________________________________________________________________ >To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >GET PAINLESS BUSINESS FINANCING! >Comparison shop for, apply for, and secure financing from the >nation's best-known financial institutions. One short application >gets you the financing your business needs. Get the financing you >need today at LiveCapital.com! > >http://www.bcentral.com/fcsponsor/livecapital __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
